Tool Rest Question

[kgstakes]

I would like to purchase a lathe that I can turn both wood and metal (basically a metal lathe).

Question is:  has anyone ever used a wood lathe tool rest on a metal lathe?  I know I may have to build something to mount it to the cross slide, but I was wondering if this is possible or even worth the trouble.

 

I would probably to mostly wood, but would like the option of turning brass.  I doubt I would ever turn mild steel on it (have a little bigger lathe for that).

 

Speaking of that, I own an Atlas/Craftsman lathe -- I believe 6" turning capacity.  Would I be better off just repairing what I have to repair or replace and use it for everything I want to turn?

 

If the bigger lathe (Atlas/Craftsman) will work, can anyone point me in a direction to get parts?

[Roger Pellett]

If you have the Atlas Craftsman lathe, you have a tool that I have llusted over for years but never owned.  The top of the line lathe for modelmakers would be a Sherline but outfitted with chucks and other accessories to be useful will probably spend $1500++ and you will lose some capabilities; power feed and a good system for turning tapers.

 

Roger

[dvm27]

I do love my Sherline lathe with it's extended bed (17" between centers). Not sure if the smaller version with it's 8" distance between centers would be worth the additional cost. However the hole through the headstock can accommodate a no.1 morse taper so I often use this to turn longer stock. I guess you need to figure out what scale you would like to work in. While the Sherline is essentially a metal workers lathe I use it for turning wood all the time. Their T-rest works just fine and is not expensive.

[kurtvd19]

As to fixing the larger lathe- You can make small parts on a big lathe, but you can't make large parts on a small lathe.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Wood and metal turning ... two different animals, and I wouldn't advise trying to do both materials on one lathe type.  I used to have a Sears wood lathe, and turned furniture parts on it.  There were bolt holes in my home made bench top so I could take it down after one project was done, and it fit on a shelf underneath.   The "bench" was actually the extensions built  6 feet on either side of my Craftsman 10" radial arm saw, and I used either side as a 'standing-up' height work bench.  Sold the lathe and saw when I sold off my wood stock due to forced relocation ... but I kept the bench wings, and they were 'married' into a long bench now in my man cave in our present digs.

[kgstakes]

Thank you for all your input, I messed up on my Atlas Craftsman lathe by not taking it to my father in law and have him go through it.  He was a tool and die maker by trade and he offered to take a look at it and fix anything that was wrong with it.  He passed away this year.

 

The lathe works, just needs some TLC and I've never really dug into to see what really needs to be replaced.  I built a cabinet for ( in high school) and that's in bad shape as well.  That's an easy fix if I just do it.

 

Don't know if anyone has a lathe like mine but any help would be appreciated in finding parts or just advise on what to do.  Some time I'll post pictures of it and where I think the trouble is.

 

Thank you for getting back with me on my lathe questions.  I've been told it's a good lathe, just need to get my rear in gear and really look at it again.

[kgstakes]

This picture is not my lathe but it is the same as what I have.  Fix it and use it??

 

[Landlubber Mike]

I also have a 17" Sherline lathe and mostly turn wood on it.  Works really well.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Try and see if someone with a little lathe know-how can fix your fine machine.  Perhaps there are machinists forums that might lead you to a local resource.  Failing that, a logical examination of the problem might guide you to You Tube videos that can help you proceed.  Heck, I needed to replace garage door springs, and found what I needed to know on the Internet.  Same goes for a variety of mechanical challenges.  Then again, being handy helps a lot too.  Daniel Boone is quoted, "First, be sure you're right.  Then go ahead."

[Roger Pellett]

There is usually a lot of old lathe parts on EBay.  I know buying things on EBay can be chancy...But ?

 

Some parts such as nuts, bolts, bearings, etc. will be standard industrial stock items   Fortunately the lathe is belt driven with speed regulated via stepped pulley so if necessary, the old motor can be easily swapped out for a new one.  You can probably use the lathe without replacing some missing parts.  These lathes regulate the travel of the cutting tool vs. the rotation of the spindle using a series of changeable gears.  This is necessary for cutting threads, but if the gears are missing the lathe can still run.  

 

You should also inventory the lathe’s accessories that you have; chucks, tool posts, etc.  Rule of thumb is that the cost of these will often exceed the cost of the lathe itself.  If you buy a new machine like a Sherline, it will have to be outfitted with new accessories as the old ones will not fit.

 

With the notable exceptions of the Unimat and the various specialized watchmakers lathes the smaller model makers lathes are (by my timeline) a relatively new item.  Back in the 70’s and 80’s  there were lots of books and articles dedicated to using these and similar full sized machines for model making.  I suspect that your lathe has good bones and it’s worth investing some money to restore it.

 

Roger

[oakheart]

Have a look on this website, they have loads of info.

 

http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas/

 

Also as others have said search YouTube someone is bound to have fixed one up already

 

Tim

[kgstakes]

I guess I should have added I can turn on it now for accurate 🤪🤪.  But what I’ve done with it so far seems to work.

 

 Yeah the thread gauge?  Is broke on it.  And a pin is in bad shape to back gear it.  The ways seem good, bed is flat, headstock bearing or what ever it is seems fair to good.

 

 So maybe I’ll around and maybe find a machinist to help with the tough parts/fixes, you all have convinced me to invest more time in it and figuring out what it really needs to have done for what I’m going to be turning.

 

 Thanks everyone for your input, appreciated.

[Bob Cleek]

On 1/1/2024 at 8:24 PM, kgstakes said:

This picture is not my lathe but it is the same as what I have.  Fix it and use it??

 

Yes, what you have there is an Atlas, or an "Atlas/Craftsman" (Atlas badged by Sear, Roebuck, and Co.) 12"X42"16-speed Standard model machinist's lathe. That model was, as near as I can tell from the photo, the introduced in 1939 and continued in production throughout the War and up to the late '40's or early '50's. (You can look up the serial number online someplace and get the actual manufacture date.) There were reportedly a very large number of them manufactured during the War to be used for "piecework" war parts production by home shop machinists. There are still many around in the various configurations in which they were made.  Early Craftsman Metalcraft & Metalmaster 9" and 12" Lathes and  Atlas - 12-inch Lathe (Late Models including the Craftsman) Manual & Data Pack | store.lathes.co.uk at Lathes.co.uk .  

 

I have a Unimat DB modeling lathe, a 1950 Craftsman wood lathe, and one of the Craftsman/Atlas 12"X42" machinist's lathes (which I believe were also made in a 36" bed version.) The metal lathes are fine for turning wood. Tool rests which mount on the cross-slide of metal lathes for wood turning are common accessories for metal lathes. I use my metal lathes interchangeably for wood and metal work and they handle it just as well as my woodworking lathe. The woodworking lathe does have the advantages of being less complicated, handling larger work pieces for the price, and being a lot less expensive to buy over the machinist's lathes, but it won't turn metal and it isn't capable of the high accuracy tolerances the machinist's lathes are. The one drawback with using a machinist's lathe for wood turning, is that unless care is taken to cover the lathe machinery as well as possible when turning wood, the huge amount of sawdust and shavings created by turning wood will end up clogging everything on the oil-covered machinery of the machinist's lathes and require serious cleaning and re-lubrication on a regular basis if they are used primarily for turning wood. I find liberal amounts of tinfoil and masking tape greatly minimizes the problem.

 

The little Unimat is good for turning small parts, drilling, and milling. It's easily moved around and can be operated sitting down at a table. It was given to me for nothing, and I rebuilt it, but just about had to take out a second mortgage to pay for the parts and proprietary tooling necessary to do basic turning and milling work on it. There's an active second-hand parts and accessories market for all things Unimat, primarily on eBay, since they've developed a cult following, but the various attachments and accessories for which the Unimats are so famous are now high-priced collectables. The Unimat SL1000/DB200 (same machine, different model numbers) and Unimat 3 are excellent little machines, but only capable of relatively light weight work in softer metals, plastics, and wood. There are a multitude of YouTube videos and websites dedicated to the Unimat machines. For all their "charisma," I have to say without hesitation that anyone looking for a very small light duty lathe today would be far better off in terms of both price and parts and tooling availability buying a Sherline or Taig mini-lathe or, actually, one of the ubiquitous Chinese Sieg-manufactured "7"by" mini-lathes, making sure it came from one of the top of the line retailers such as Grizzly, who import those machines manufactured to the highest quality control standards. (This is why there is such a large difference between what Grizzly or MicroMark charge for the "7 bys" and what Harbor Freight sells them for.) The "7bys" are very common, their numbers support a huge after-market tooling selection as well as keeping prices low, they are sufficiently powerful to handle machining iron and steel easily, and they have the greatest weight by far of all the small lathes. The single most determinative factor in any machine tool's accuracy is its mass or weight. It's certainly a matter of opinion, but I think it's better to opt for the largest and most powerful lathe one can afford because, as mentioned above already, how much you can do with a lathe is only limited by its weight, working capacity, and power.  Within reason, a large lathe can make small stuff, but a small lathe can't make big stuff.  As has been said about other tools, when it comes to lathes "size matters."  (See: Emco Unimat lathes)

 

BELOW: Very nice Unimat DB200 with basic turning, drilling, and milling tooling, upgraded variable speed continuous duty motor, and table saw and scroll saw accessories at a very reasonable price. A decent basic lathe without tooling and the original intermittent duty motor will run around US $750.00. 

Vintage Unimat SL miniature/jewelers lathe DB 200 w/case, attachments Austria | eBay

 

Several years ago, I was very fortunate to be able to obtain an Atlas/Craftsman 12"X42" lathe very similar to the one pictured in the post above, in very good shape, along with a huge number of attachments and tooling, from a retired master machinist's widow. It had been her husband's personal home machine, and he'd pampered it since it was new in the early 'fifties. It does not have the "quick change gearbox" attachment evident on some later models, so in order to cut any thread known to man or beast requires manually configuring the gear ratios, but that's a minor consideration unless you plan to do a lot of specialty threading of obscure thread types and sizes. It does have an aftermarket reverse rotation switch which is very handy for threading, but which can be a mixed blessing, since an inadvertent change in the rotation direction can cause a 20 pound-plus chuck to unscrew itself from the headstock spindle at speed! These Atlas/Craftsman lathes are highly desirable for home hobby use and there is a fair amount of aftermarket parts and accessory manufacturing ongoing even though the machines are long out of production. As happens with popular models of old machine tools these days, when one wears out, it inevitably is cannibalized by the used parts cottage industry and ends up for sale in bits and pieces on eBay, so you can pretty much find any part you need there. (See: Craftsman Atlas 12" lathe for sale | eBay) As with so much "old 'arn," these Atlas/Craftsman lathes are "oldies but goodies." Mind you, they are somewhat light weight for their capacity, but that's a relative concept and they aren't slouches in the power department. They get some criticism for their flat ways vis-a-vis rigidity, but I've never had any problems with that. If I had the option of a South Bend in the same size category with all the tooling I've got for the Atlas/Craftsman, sure, I'd take the South Bend which was the "Cadillac" to Atlas' "Chevy," but there are a lot more Atlas/Craftsman lathes out there and they're still "takin' a lickin' and keepin' on tickin'." My lathe certainly can do a whole lot more than I'll ever figure out how to do on it, so I'm not complaining.

 

The internet is full of information on the Atlas/Craftsman 12" lathes. All of the original manufacturer's literature is still available, such as maintenance and operation instruction manuals as well as a ton of after-market publications. YouTube is full of videos on the subject. The well-known YouTube retired shop teacher and machining instructor "Tubal Cain" AKA "Mrpete222" has many very helpful videos on these lathes specifically, as well as on machinist work generally and is a very valuable resource. (See (12) Mr. Pete 222 + atlas lathes - YouTube)

 

Hell yes! Your Atlas/Craftsman 12"X42" lathe is worth restoring! It's a real gem that a lot of guys would give their back teeth for. From your description, I'd say it probably needs routine maintenance rather than "restoration." The threading dial gears apparently wear out and are regularly available on eBay. (See: Atlas Craftsman 10" 12" Lathe Thread Dial Indicator 9-63 | eBay ) You should check out your spindle bearings if you have play in the spindle. There are two types of spindle bearings on the Atlas 12's, old school poured babbit bearings and modern Timkin roller bearings. If your babbit spindle bearings are worn (which I've read does occur, but I'm no expert on the subject) you'll have to pour new babbit bearings and that's something I'd find some old school machinist to show you how to do, or perhaps, if possible, you can retrofit your lathe to use the Timkin roller bearings, which are readily available generic parts. It is indeed unfortunate that you didn't have your father-in-law work it over for you before he passed away. I think most of us have one of those sorts of stories in our past!

 

I hope you have a lot of tooling with your lathe. If not, fortunately unlike the Unimats and a lot of other lathes, there's plenty of Atlas/Craftsman 12" tooling around as well as lots of generic tooling that will fit it perfectly since it's all standard U.S. threading and Imperial measurements. The cost of tooling is always a big consideration in choosing a lathe. The rule of thumb is that basic tooling alone will run about as much as the cost of the basic lathe when new. If you have a lathe that can use the inexpensive tooling that's imported from China and India and you don't need the close tolerances of the super-expensive highly accurate U.S. and European tooling, you can save a bundle. There are a few specialty attachments you may want to acquire for your Atlas/Craftsman 12" when you have some "mad money." I would consider a decent collet holder and collet set and the proprietary Atlas 12" milling attachment that permits using your lathe as a milling machine as near "must haves," with the Atlas 12" tapering attachment bringing up a close second. Your Atlas 12" is a "medium" sized lathe that will allow you to do anything you would want to do on any of the smaller lathes while at the same time permit you to do anything larger up to what would fit into its theoretical "capacity envelope" of a 12" by 42" cylinder shape. It's definitely a "keeper" unless for some as yet undiagnosed reason it has some fatal defect that renders it unusable and is too expensive to make repair worthwhile. Should that occur, you probably will have little problem "parting it out" and making enough selling the parts on eBay to buy a new Sherline!  

 

Edited January 5 by Bob Cleek

[grsjax]

Keep the Atlas.  You can turn wood on it no problem.  Just clean the wood chips out of the lathe when you are done.  There is a Facebook group for Atlas lathes that you might find useful for info and finding parts.  Lots of Youtube videos about Atlas lathe operation and repair.

 

Check out this website for wood turning on a metal lathe. https://www.lathematters.com/turning-wood-on-a-metal-lathe/

Edited January 2 by grsjax

[RichardG]

21 hours ago, dvm27 said:

I do love my Sherline lathe with it's extended bed (17" between centers). Not sure if the smaller version with it's 8" distance between centers would be worth the additional cost. However the hole through the headstock can accommodate a no.1 morse taper so I often use this to turn longer stock. I guess you need to figure out what scale you would like to work in. While the Sherline is essentially a metal workers lathe I use it for turning wood all the time. Their T-rest works just fine and is not expensive.

Just as an FYI, Sherline no longer makes the T-rest. I bought the mounting bracket as a spare part from a dealer last year; this leaves me with the T part to make (which should be fairly easy😀). 

[kgstakes]

Last night I Ed looking around and seen that sherline sells a 3 jaw chuck for the atlas craftsman lathe.  I’d this true ??

[Bob Cleek]

36 minutes ago, kgstakes said:

Last night I Ed looking around and seen that sherline sells a 3 jaw chuck for the atlas craftsman lathe.  I’d this true ??

I couldn't say offhand, but, as I recall, the Atlas/Craftsman 12" lathe has a standard 1.5" spindle with a standard thread, so a whole lot of chucks should fit it and there's no trouble finding one. That spindle is a lot larger than the Sherline lathes would have, so I'd be surprised if Sherline were selling chucks with spindle sizes that large.  However, the way lathe chucks are often sold, the chuck itself is a "one size fits all" sort of item in different chuck sizes. The chucks are sold with "backing plates" which are bolted to the back of the chuck itself. The backing plates have differently sized threaded "necks" on them to fit a wide range of spindle sizes. It is possible that Sherline is selling a small three-jaw chuck and that chuck manufacturer (which isn't necessarily Sherline) also offers a 1.5" backing plate that will fit on the Atlas/Craftsman spindle.

[dvm27]

I can find no three jaw chucks for Atlas sold by Sherline. But on a hobby thread they have a discussion on this same topic with lots of possibilities. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/please-help-select-a-new-3-jaw-chuck-for-10-atlas-lathe.520445/. Is there something wrong with the current three jaw chuck on your lathe? Maybe it just needs a bit of TLC?

[kgstakes]

Nothing wrong just big and not sure the jaws reverse.  So the “step”?  If the jaws go from outside — step down to center so you have these big “wings” you have to watch all the time turning close to the chuck.  Just wanted something smaller.  It’s 4” diameter I believe.

 

 Sorry guys the lathe is packed away when my wife and I moved to my father’s house to help him with daily “things”.  Hope you know what I mean without getting into too much detail father.

[kgstakes]

This is what sherline has on there website for 3 & 4 jaw chucks.  Not sure if it would fit my lathe but they say they offer it to sears lathes.  Maybe back in the day sears and craftsman were not together then don’t know.

 

Home » Products » Chucks and Collets » 3- and 4-Jaw Self-Centering Chucks

Our 3- and 4-Jaw chucks are available in two sizes, 2.5″ and 3.1″. They are available with 3/4-16 threads for use on Sherline machines. The smaller 2.5″ chucks are available with other spindle threads to fit machines made by other manufacturers, such as 12 mm x 1 mm and 14 mm x 1 mm for older Unimat lathes or 1/2-20 for old 6″ Sears lathes.

[Bob Cleek]

18 hours ago, kgstakes said:

Home » Products » Chucks and Collets » 3- and 4-Jaw Self-Centering Chucks

Our 3- and 4-Jaw chucks are available in two sizes, 2.5″ and 3.1″. They are available with 3/4-16 threads for use on Sherline machines. The smaller 2.5″ chucks are available with other spindle threads to fit machines made by other manufacturers, such as 12 mm x 1 mm and 14 mm x 1 mm for older Unimat lathes or 1/2-20 for old 6″ Sears lathes.

Note that Sherline is selling these chucks with back plates to fit Unimat DB/SL spindles that are 12mm in diameter x 1mm threading (or 14mm x 1mm for the Unimat 3) or "1/2" by 20 TPI for "old 6" Sears lathes." Sears sold lathes in a variety of sizes. The smallest was a 6" lathe (capable of handling material up to 6" in diameter,) there was a 9" model, and the 12" model made by Atlas. I've never seen a 6" Craftsman lathe in the flesh, but the 9" Craftsman lathe was a nice little lathe. 

 

Back in the day, "Craftsman" was Sears' middle of the line "house brand" for tools while "Craftsman Professional" or "Craftsman Industrial" were the top of the line and "Dunlop" was Sears' lowest quality - lowest priced line of tools (which were later called "Sears," then "Companion," and are now called "Evolv.")   It's only been in recent decades as Sears began its long decline into oblivion that Craftsman tools began to be sold anywhere other than in Sears stores or mail order from their catalog. Stanley-Black and Decker bought the Craftsman brand in 2017 with Sears holding a license to use the Craftsman brand name without paying royalties to Stanley-Black and Decker for 15 years, so now you can buy Craftsman tools at a Sears store (if you can still find one, there's only 13 Sears stores left) or one of the many other stores now supplied by Stanley-Black and Decker.

 

The various old Craftsman stationary power tools were made by leading U.S. stationary power tool manufacturers of the day such as Atlas Press, Co. (in later years bought out by Clausing lathe company), King-Seeley, and Double A Products. These Craftsman tools were identical to the models made and sold by their manufacturers, save for the "Craftsman" label badges and model numbers attached to the tools made for sale by Sears, Roebuck, and Co. This was basically the same business model as Costco uses today with its "Kirkland" house brand. (Interestingly, the "Dunlop" line was named in honor of the man who was Sears' West Coast hardware manager who, in 1937, came up with the idea of making the Craftsman line of hand tools polished chrome plated and rust proof which resulted in a six-fold increase in sales the following year.)

 

The 12" Atlas Craftsman lathes have a spindle with an outside diameter of an inch and a half with eight threads per inch. This is a fairly standard spindle size and threading and there are all sorts of chucks that can be purchased with backing plates that have an inside diameter of 1.5" X 8 TPI, so you should have no problem finding a chuck in the size you desire. In passing, I'll mention that you may want to give some thought to investing in a four-jaw chuck instead of a three-jaw one since the four-jaw chuck is more versatile and accurate than the three-jaw. Four-jaw chucks come in "self-centering" and "independently adjustable jaw" types. For modeling work, you won't need the "watchmaker" tolerances of a Sherline chuck. One of the half-way decent Chinese imports will probably serve just fine. 

 

Here's a YouTube video from Mr.Pete22 / "Tubal Cain" on the 12" Atlas Craftsman headstock and spindle that you might find helpful.

 

 

Edited January 4 by Bob Cleek

[wefalck]

kgstakes, what is actually wrong in your opinion with your lathe ?

 

When pondering lathes it is important to draw up a list of the things and their enveloppe sizes that you are expecting to make. An old rule of thumb is to by a lathe that has twice the capacity you think you need 😉

 

Apart from that the other end of the size range also needs to be considered. If you are expecting to make (lots) of small parts, a chuck is not such a good option for a couple of reasons: it is less precise than collets and the spinning jaws are always a risk for valuable body parts, such as fingers. As you already have a lathe, you may want to look into a collet-chuck for it (I don't think the Craftsman has an internal spindel taper for collets). They are easy to obtain though ES-collets are more for tool-holding and not so good for work-holding. A 5C collet-chuck would be better. On the other hand, as you have thread-cutting capability on your lathe, you could make a collet-adapter four your own lathe quite easily yourself. You could then make one for WW-horological collets to work with really small parts.

 

An engineer's lathe is not ideal for woodturning, as dust can easily clog the drive spindle. A plain lathe would be better. When you turn wood, you should remove the saddle and apron as much as possible without going so far to disassemble the lathe and cover well the spindle in front of the bed. Dito for the backgear etc. I would tape it up. Otherwise you would need a thorough cleaning session as wood dust together with oil makes a nasty combination that can clog vital parts of the lathe easily.

 

To fashion a T-rest (or several sizes for convenience) should be quite simple. You would need to make a bed adapter that clamps to the lathe bed and to which a stem is screwed that carries the actual tool-rest. On the Internet there should be pictures of the (way overpriced) T-rest Sherline used to sell for their lathes, which should give you design ideas. I think that could be done without needing a milling machine, just using stock materials and simple tools.

 

[kgstakes]

I keep going back and forth on getting a smaller lathe or not.  The lathe I have,  this is information from my dad.    Which might be true may not be but here’s what he remembers.  The lathe he believes at first was in the ford motor company plant in Detroit.  Then a man that worked there got it (have no idea if bought out given).  That man had it for a few years in his own garage at home then sold it to a mechanic that would use it to true up arbors for something.  Then my grandfather got it from him which in turn was given to my father and now to me.   Between my grandfather and me it wasn’t used much.  My grandfather got it back in the 50’s it doesn’t look like it had been used much but the headstock does have babitt instead of bearings and the headstock has little if no play in it.

 

 I’ve messed with it a little bit over the years but I’ve never turned metal with it.  Only wood to make scale wagon wheel hubs.  Like the ones shown on this 1/8 th scale stage coach I’ve been building off and on.

 

 

I want to keep this lathe but for my “hobby shop” would like to have something smaller because of space and be able to move it around if needed.

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

12 hours ago, wefalck said:

Apart from that the other end of the size range also needs to be considered. If you are expecting to make (lots) of small parts, a chuck is not such a good option for a couple of reasons: it is less precise than collets and the spinning jaws are always a risk for valuable body parts, such as fingers. As you already have a lathe, you may want to look into a collet-chuck for it (I don't think the Craftsman has an internal spindel taper for collets). They are easy to obtain though ES-collets are more for tool-holding and not so good for work-holding. A 5C collet-chuck would be better. On the other hand, as you have thread-cutting capability on your lathe, you could make a collet-adapter four your own lathe quite easily yourself. You could then make one for WW-horological collets to work with really small parts.

Agreed! A smaller lathe would be a more convenient option for doing a lot of small part modeling work, as I discussed in my post above, although the cost of buying and tooling up two different sized lathes which couldn't share at least some of their tooling may make a second lathe an unaffordable luxury. Unfortunately, in terms of the advantages of collets you mentioned, the 12" Atlas/Craftsman lathes do have a #3 Morse taper headstock spindle which of course will accept smaller MT sizes with an adapter sleeve, but the spindle won't handle anything larger than a 3AT collet or the equivalent in the collet chuck designed for it because the chuck draw bar that runs through the spindle is limited by the size of the spindle hole, so the far more common and much less expensive (for the "bargain models at least) 5C collets won't work in the 12" Atlas/Craftsman lathes. I suppose one could devise a collet chuck that screwed onto the spindle or could be mounted on a #3 or #2 MT, but if one were going to want to use a wide range of small diameter collets, my guess is that they could probably buy one of the Chinese made Sieg "7 bys" and a set of small Chinese made collets for it with the savings realized from not having to buy 3AT collets at $35 or $40 bucks a pop for the Atlas/Craftsman draw bar collet holder! Proprietary collets are very expensive. The Unimat has a screw-on collet chuck which takes hard to find collets. A "basic" set of perhaps a dozen collets and the chuck for the Unimat SL/DBs runs between $1,000 and $1,500 used on eBay if you can find one!

 

I agree about turning wood on a metal working lathe. When I have occasion to do so, which isn't often, I wrap my Atlas/Craftsman (and my Unimat, for that matter) up tightly as you describes with aluminum foil and masking tape. I do the same when I am working with any sort of abrasives such as my tool post grinder. It's not a big job to "gift wrap" it, considering how much work it is to break it down for a thorough cleaning when it's full of solidly packed oil soaked sawdust!  

 

 

Edited January 5 by Bob Cleek

[Jaager]

3 hours ago, kgstakes said:

I want to keep this lathe but for my “hobby shop” would like to have something smaller because of space and be able to move it around if needed.

Penn State sells a universal duplicator that might do as a one off for  the limited number of round deck fixture items on a wooden ship.

https://www.pennstateind.com/store/universal-duplicator.html

 

As for a smaller lathe,  it might be less costly to wait until you reach a point in a build where a lathe's function can't be replicated using a clamped drill or something. 

Most modelers who strictly stick to building wooden vessels will never really need a lathe - or a righteous  small machinists mill.  Both are necessary for working metals to make other machines,  but are self-indulgent gingerbread in even a scratch builder working wood's tool kit if running economically lean.

[wefalck]

I quite agree that up to the early decades of the 19th century not too many turned parts appear on ships and hence there is not much need to replicate such production processes.

 

However, it also depends on the scale you are working in. If you are working in 1:48 or larger, the pieces are big enough to work on with hand-tools, but at smaller scales it becomes more difficult to achieve the needed precision without machine tools. I know, of course, that there are known miniaturists, who just use a simple lathe if at all.

 

Does the Craftsman really have Babbitt-bearings? That sounds strange for such a small machine tool. Such cheap lathes wouldn't have had ground 'glass-hard' steel- or ball-bearings, but normally had bronze-bearings.

 

Coming back to the original question: not everyone is very dexterous with the chisel or graver on a T-rest, particularly the occasional user. Therefore, at least one bench-lathe manufacturer offered a special kind of 'hand-rest' that would be easily replicated in the appropriate size on a lathe (as pictured on http://www.lathes.co.uk/lorch/page3.html:

(incidentally, these are my fingers on Tony Griffith's Web-site ...)

 

You would just need to clamp a metal plate or even a piece of melamin-covered chipboard to the lathe bed as a surface to move around the tool-holder freely.

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

39 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Does the Craftsman really have Babbitt-bearings? That sounds strange for such a small machine tool. Such cheap lathes wouldn't have had ground 'glass-hard' steel- or ball-bearings, but normally had bronze-bearings.

The early ones did. They were first made in the early 1930's and were in production into the late '70's or early '80's. While they remained the same basic machine, they evolved in various ways during the span of their production. I believe that only the early pre-War models had the poured babbit bearings. Thereafter, the headstock bearings were bronze Timkin roller bearings. 

[kgstakes]

I keep calling it a 6” lathe because that is the capability of it.  The plate says 101.07301 which does have babitt for bearings.

 

Dad always called if a 6” lathe so that’s what I’m calling it.  Since my lathe is packed away from the move to dads house I’ll try to find pictures of the head stock on line and post them here so you all can see what I’m talking about with the babitt bearing

 

 

 

 

[kgstakes]

This is the type of headstock I have on my lathe.  This picture was taken from vintage machinery.  I think this is the part of the lathe that needs some TLC.  Not the babitt, but the small pins inside there I've oopsed a few times and maybe broke something because it won't engage the back gears shown in the picture anymore.  The lathe pictured is again not mine.  But the over all condition is very close to the condition of the lathe I have.  Like I said previously, the lathe I have wasn't abused in anyway (just by me trying to figure things out).  And no mine does not have bearings.  So, it could be a pre war era machine, I have no idea.

 

 

 

[kgstakes]

I think I need to clarify something here.  I build all kinds of models and or miniatures.  Yes, I would like to turn at least brass once in a while, but I would mainly be turning wood.  Wood spindles for chairs, staircases, columns on porches, maybe even a pen or pencil kit.  And I guess my biggest worry about the lathe I have is getting to close to the chuck.  That thing will tear you up if to get your finger or something a little to close to it when sanding a little part.

 

I would like to find a much smaller chuck maybe even a 4 jaw.  Or a 1/2" capacity drill chuck to turn stuff.

 

The headstock takes a #2 and the tailstock is a #1.  Really would like to find a live center for the tail stock for it.  That's the first piece I would get for my lathe is a live center.

 

I do realize that mixing metal and wood together on one lathe would be a mess if you're turning metal allot.  With all the lube you have to do for turning metal, oh yeah, turning wood would be a mess to clean up and with all the gears, threads, on a metal lathe full of cutting oil yeah I can see how everyone is saying to cover your machine up.  It would get ugly real quick.