Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work.

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Default 10" Atlas lathe purchase trash/treasure?

Brian,

I just pickup up a very early 12" Craftsmand/Atlas. There are lots of
resources out there, and parts are still availible from a few different
locations. Check out the Craftsman/Atlas group on Yahoo.

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal. I wouldn't worry about the
gears too much. Many many people that I have talked with say that the
alloy was improved over the years, and should handle anything you throw
at it so long as things are lubed correctly.

As far as your investment goes, you could part it out and make a
killing on it if you wanted to. The handwheels alone are going for
well over 30$ on eBay


On 2007-06-03 21:20:46 -0400, said:

I am about to purcahse an atlas lathe in relatively good condition. I
work at a machine shop and one of the older gentleman that works there
mentioned htat he had a lathe just sitting around and he wanted to get
rid of it. So i went to look at it the other day.... heres the story.

He got it from someone in the city that barely used it about 15 years
ago, he never set it up and never used it. He oiled it, and covered it
and let it sit in a friends garage where they did body work on cars.
2 years ago he had to move it, so it ended up in his yard (yes in his
yard) under a tarp with the chip pan over it to keep out the rain.
This concerned me at first but i thought what the hell, its worth
looking at...

I got there, and we tramped through the grass to where it was sitting,
pulled off the blue tarp ( in decent shape) and pulled off the canvas
over it, the chip pan and etc. To my surprise it was in relatively
good shape for sitting outside. IT was an atlas 10" with the
quickchange gearbox and tapered roller bearings. dont know the serial
number cause i forgot to look. Having been oiled and put in a shop,
the dust had adhered to the oil, and hardened to the consistancy of a
latex paint or a cosmoline type coating. I took my fingernail and
scraped it away and underneath the ways were shiny and smothe!!!
There was some surface rust on the chuck, the original toolpost,
tailstock and the chuck in the tailstock. had a piece of scotch-
brite with me and it took care of it with no problem. The crossslide
was free and easy to turn, no noticeable backlash, the saddle was free
buti didnt want to move it too much.... crabbed the chuck and shook it
as hard as i could to see if there was any play, there was none,
spindle spun free, all gears looked good, well greased and intact, the
spindle was shiny with no rust.

He then took me to the garage (filled with crap as many machinsts
garages are, with no room for the poor lathe) and he had boxes of
stuff for it, including an extra 3 jaw, 4 jaw 2 faceplates, dogs,
spindle drill chuck, taper attachment, 3c or 3at collet setup with
drawbar(original atlas i believe), steady and follow rest, brand new
half nut(score!! lol) had the original (working) 1 phase motor mount
and pulleys. so at this point im thinking, how much does he want for
this thing.... He didnt know... and neither did i. I knew it wasnt
worth nothing but i had no idea where to start, i had seen some
similar go for upwards of 1000$ and for as little as 200.

I told him i would think about it and left. saw him at work the next
day and we talked again and i told him that it would deffinately take
work to get running but it was possible to do. and i finally asked,
how much do you want for the damn thing cause i have no idea what to
offer.... we agreed on 300$ and i am gonna pick it up sometime this
week.

So, after this longwinded post i hope someone can tell me if i am in
for a huge undertaking or if my investment is worth it. I am
concerned with parts for this lathe even though i am sure at the
moment it doesnt need any. i know many parts are available from
clausing and ebay but somehow i cant see spending preemium prices for
original gears made of that pot metal zmak.... has anyone rebuilt
parts for these lathes by hand with better materials, or found a
source for new cast iron gears?

Thanks in advance.

-Brian-



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Rex Rex is offline
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Default 10" Atlas lathe purchase trash/treasure?

I agree, you got a bargain.
I'd have been all over that, and I don't need another lathe.

Shane Wolfe wrote:
Brian,

I just pickup up a very early 12" Craftsmand/Atlas. There are lots of
resources out there, and parts are still availible from a few different
locations. Check out the Craftsman/Atlas group on Yahoo.

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal. I wouldn't worry about the
gears too much. Many many people that I have talked with say that the
alloy was improved over the years, and should handle anything you throw
at it so long as things are lubed correctly.

As far as your investment goes, you could part it out and make a killing
on it if you wanted to. The handwheels alone are going for well over
30$ on eBay


On 2007-06-03 21:20:46 -0400, said:

I am about to purcahse an atlas lathe in relatively good condition. I
work at a machine shop and one of the older gentleman that works there
mentioned htat he had a lathe just sitting around and he wanted to get
rid of it. So i went to look at it the other day.... heres the story.

He got it from someone in the city that barely used it about 15 years
ago, he never set it up and never used it. He oiled it, and covered it
and let it sit in a friends garage where they did body work on cars.
2 years ago he had to move it, so it ended up in his yard (yes in his
yard) under a tarp with the chip pan over it to keep out the rain.
This concerned me at first but i thought what the hell, its worth
looking at...

I got there, and we tramped through the grass to where it was sitting,
pulled off the blue tarp ( in decent shape) and pulled off the canvas
over it, the chip pan and etc. To my surprise it was in relatively
good shape for sitting outside. IT was an atlas 10" with the
quickchange gearbox and tapered roller bearings. dont know the serial
number cause i forgot to look. Having been oiled and put in a shop,
the dust had adhered to the oil, and hardened to the consistancy of a
latex paint or a cosmoline type coating. I took my fingernail and
scraped it away and underneath the ways were shiny and smothe!!!
There was some surface rust on the chuck, the original toolpost,
tailstock and the chuck in the tailstock. had a piece of scotch-
brite with me and it took care of it with no problem. The crossslide
was free and easy to turn, no noticeable backlash, the saddle was free
buti didnt want to move it too much.... crabbed the chuck and shook it
as hard as i could to see if there was any play, there was none,
spindle spun free, all gears looked good, well greased and intact, the
spindle was shiny with no rust.

He then took me to the garage (filled with crap as many machinsts
garages are, with no room for the poor lathe) and he had boxes of
stuff for it, including an extra 3 jaw, 4 jaw 2 faceplates, dogs,
spindle drill chuck, taper attachment, 3c or 3at collet setup with
drawbar(original atlas i believe), steady and follow rest, brand new
half nut(score!! lol) had the original (working) 1 phase motor mount
and pulleys. so at this point im thinking, how much does he want for
this thing.... He didnt know... and neither did i. I knew it wasnt
worth nothing but i had no idea where to start, i had seen some
similar go for upwards of 1000$ and for as little as 200.

I told him i would think about it and left. saw him at work the next
day and we talked again and i told him that it would deffinately take
work to get running but it was possible to do. and i finally asked,
how much do you want for the damn thing cause i have no idea what to
offer.... we agreed on 300$ and i am gonna pick it up sometime this
week.

So, after this longwinded post i hope someone can tell me if i am in
for a huge undertaking or if my investment is worth it. I am
concerned with parts for this lathe even though i am sure at the
moment it doesnt need any. i know many parts are available from
clausing and ebay but somehow i cant see spending preemium prices for
original gears made of that pot metal zmak.... has anyone rebuilt
parts for these lathes by hand with better materials, or found a
source for new cast iron gears?

Thanks in advance.

-Brian-



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Posts: 687
Default 10" Atlas lathe purchase trash/treasure?

Don't sweat the gears, just keep 'em oiled.
Only thing I'd think twice about is whether it has a Timken roller
bearings vs babbit and whether or not it has a QC gearbox.

Probably the BIGGEST question in my mind on a used lathe is the
accuracy of the 3 jaw chuck. If you get the thing going and find that
you can't chuck things reliably centered, be prepared to spend the money
and get a set-true chuck.
I bought my 10" Atlas lathe for $125 used in 1972 and, finally, 20+
years later, spent about $400 on a 6" set-true chuck with back plate.
Well worth it.

Pete Stanaitis
-----------------------

Shane Wolfe wrote:
Brian,

I just pickup up a very early 12" Craftsmand/Atlas. There are lots of
resources out there, and parts are still availible from a few different
locations. Check out the Craftsman/Atlas group on Yahoo.

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal. I wouldn't worry about the
gears too much. Many many people that I have talked with say that the
alloy was improved over the years, and should handle anything you throw
at it so long as things are lubed correctly.

As far as your investment goes, you could part it out and make a killing
on it if you wanted to. The handwheels alone are going for well over
30$ on eBay


On 2007-06-03 21:20:46 -0400, said:

I am about to purcahse an atlas lathe in relatively good condition. I
work at a machine shop and one of the older gentleman that works there
mentioned htat he had a lathe just sitting around and he wanted to get
rid of it. So i went to look at it the other day.... heres the story.

He got it from someone in the city that barely used it about 15 years
ago, he never set it up and never used it. He oiled it, and covered it
and let it sit in a friends garage where they did body work on cars.
2 years ago he had to move it, so it ended up in his yard (yes in his
yard) under a tarp with the chip pan over it to keep out the rain.
This concerned me at first but i thought what the hell, its worth
looking at...

I got there, and we tramped through the grass to where it was sitting,
pulled off the blue tarp ( in decent shape) and pulled off the canvas
over it, the chip pan and etc. To my surprise it was in relatively
good shape for sitting outside. IT was an atlas 10" with the
quickchange gearbox and tapered roller bearings. dont know the serial
number cause i forgot to look. Having been oiled and put in a shop,
the dust had adhered to the oil, and hardened to the consistancy of a
latex paint or a cosmoline type coating. I took my fingernail and
scraped it away and underneath the ways were shiny and smothe!!!
There was some surface rust on the chuck, the original toolpost,
tailstock and the chuck in the tailstock. had a piece of scotch-
brite with me and it took care of it with no problem. The crossslide
was free and easy to turn, no noticeable backlash, the saddle was free
buti didnt want to move it too much.... crabbed the chuck and shook it
as hard as i could to see if there was any play, there was none,
spindle spun free, all gears looked good, well greased and intact, the
spindle was shiny with no rust.

He then took me to the garage (filled with crap as many machinsts
garages are, with no room for the poor lathe) and he had boxes of
stuff for it, including an extra 3 jaw, 4 jaw 2 faceplates, dogs,
spindle drill chuck, taper attachment, 3c or 3at collet setup with
drawbar(original atlas i believe), steady and follow rest, brand new
half nut(score!! lol) had the original (working) 1 phase motor mount
and pulleys. so at this point im thinking, how much does he want for
this thing.... He didnt know... and neither did i. I knew it wasnt
worth nothing but i had no idea where to start, i had seen some
similar go for upwards of 1000$ and for as little as 200.

I told him i would think about it and left. saw him at work the next
day and we talked again and i told him that it would deffinately take
work to get running but it was possible to do. and i finally asked,
how much do you want for the damn thing cause i have no idea what to
offer.... we agreed on 300$ and i am gonna pick it up sometime this
week.

So, after this longwinded post i hope someone can tell me if i am in
for a huge undertaking or if my investment is worth it. I am
concerned with parts for this lathe even though i am sure at the
moment it doesnt need any. i know many parts are available from
clausing and ebay but somehow i cant see spending preemium prices for
original gears made of that pot metal zmak.... has anyone rebuilt
parts for these lathes by hand with better materials, or found a
source for new cast iron gears?

Thanks in advance.

-Brian-




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