Atlas craftsman lathe

[kgstakes]

Well we’re moved and I’m setting up the shop and I believe it was here that we were talking about atlas craftsman steel lathes.

 

 Anyway I dug out my craftsman lathe and yes I need a new base and deep cleaning but this is what I have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr PR]

We had one of these in the shop at work - back in the corner collecting dust while all the work was done on a larger lathe. It came from one of the fellow's dad who bought it back in the 30s or 40s. I disassembled it and cleaned it. Then I put it back together and aligned it and it worked really nicely. Very solid!

 

Yours should last forever.

[CPDDET]

Sold under the Sears name. But manufactured by??

Just curious.

[Gregory]

2 hours ago, CPDDET said:

Sold under the Sears name. But manufactured by??

Just curious.

Atlas Press Tool Company

[wefalck]

Everything you ever wanted to know about this (and other) lathe(s): http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas/index.html

 

But beware, it may make you drool, when you see what kind of attachments etc. once were available.

[Bob Cleek]

3 hours ago, wefalck said:

But beware, it may make you drool, when you see what kind of attachments etc. once were available.

And still are available on eBay or from after-market manufacturers... for a price.  

 

Check out "Mr Pete 222" or "Tubal Cain" (same guy) on YouTube. He's a retired shop teacher with great instructional videos on the Atlas/Craftsman 12' lathes. Everything you even wanted to know. 

 

I believe you can look up the age of yours with the serial number on lathes.co.uk under the Craftsman entries. There were a number of refinements over the several decades that this lathe was manufactured. There are many of them floating around and so parts are readily available. They are somewhat of a cult thing now. They aren't state of the art anymore with CNC and DRO features, but they'll do anything you could possibly need to do (including milling with the milling attachment) on a medium to light duty 12" manual lathe. If you have one that hasn't been "destroyed" along the way by misuse, they are certainly worth restoring. They're worth money even if they are trashed because of the continuing market demand for parts. (Threading gear sets are still available if you are missing any. Be careful not to "crash" the gears and damage the gear teeth. The gears are made of Zamac, a relatively weak alloy and it's not difficult to break teeth if you don't know what you are doing operating the lathe. Not to scare you off, but lathes are not a machine you ever want to learn how to use by just "fiddling" with them and they can be very dangerous in the hands of an untrained operator. All the operating manuals for these lathes are available for free online. Google them up.

 

I love mine. I picked it up along with just about every possible attachment (except a taper jig, darn it... but those are still made by an aftermarket manufacturer) from a retired old school machinist's widow for a very reasonable price. 

Edited May 1 by Bob Cleek

[thibaultron]

This is an Atlas 6" lathe. You can get "Lathe Operations" by the Atlas Lathe Company, from various places, do a goggle search. There is also a book by Southben, "How to Run a Lathe". Both are excellent books on teaching how to run a lathe. They are both for the larger 10 or 12" Atlas and 9" Southbend, but the same principles apply. The Mr. Pete videos recommended above are also great.

 

Atlas is still in business, sort of. They bought Clausing Machine tools, and use the Clausing name. They don't make the Atlas lathes, or parts for them any more, the Atlas line was dropped in the 70s, or early 80s.

[Bob Cleek]

8 hours ago, thibaultron said:

This is an Atlas 6" lathe.

Indeed it is! I should have looked more closely at the photos. They appear quite a bit alike. The 6" is a sweet small modeling lathe, but they don't seem as available on the used market as the 12"-ers.  

[paul ron]

i love lathes. that sears will last forever. i had a nice lathe at the job that was as big as a locamotive, 3, phase so no stopping it. the engeneering dept made everything on that thing, even did screw threads as well as acme thread in n out for nuts too n gears... it could handle any job you threw at it. i miss the shops we had.

 

now, id be very happy with a small desktop lathe.

Edited May 3 by paul ron

[kgstakes]

The only thing I wish it had was bearings for the headstock.  Has bronze bushings ??  Not sure if Bronze or not but no bearings.  Seems tight (no slop) so that's good.  Just have to take the time and really clean it up and maybe give it a new paint job (same color).  I have to make sure I still have it but I also have a faceplate, tooling (bits) takes 1/4" I believe maybe 3/8" cutters, dead center for tailstock (wish I had a live center) course they can be bought MT 1 tailstock.  Head is a MT 2 I believe. 

 

I know I messed up one of the pins in the head, didn't know what I was doing at the time, know better now.  It doesn't have a thread knob?? on it that broke long time ago.  I probably won't be cutting threads that way anyway.  Don't know if others vibrant or make allot of noise but my does.  It's probably the way I have to belt to the motor rigged up.  Dad and I built the cabinet many many moons ago and hung the motor on a hinge for belt tension (probably not the right way to do it).

 

I have many "irons in the fire" before I get to really dig into the lathe project, it does run now just needs a good cleaning and lube.  Works great, I've turned hubs (see picture) for a 1/8 scale stagecoach I was building and have turned other wood projects on it.  Never have tried to turn metal on it yet.  Just messed with it with wood.  Yeah, I know some say don't turn wood on a metal lathe some say it's fine.  It's the only lathe I had at the time so......... yup.

 

Thanks to everyone that commented and gave suggestions on the lathe.  Appreciate each and every one of you and look forward to getting back to modeling soon.  First day of work (new job) so that'll be interesting.  Again thank you !!

 

 

 

[wefalck]

A glass-hard spindle on bronze-bushing, properly lapped-in, at that time was considered superior to ball- or roller-bearings in terms of cocentricity. And they live long, when kept oiled properly. Today, the quality of (pre-stressed) roller-bearings is equal. My watchmakers lathe has a glass-hard spindle on glass-hard steel bushing - still probably the best you can get for fine work.

[Bob Cleek]

10 hours ago, kgstakes said:

The only thing I wish it had was bearings for the headstock.  Has bronze bushings ??  Not sure if Bronze or not but no bearings.

See: Atlas 6-inch Lathe (lathes.co.uk) :

 

"Styled to closely resemble its larger brother, the "10-inch", the Atlas 'Model 618'  6" x 18" (3.5" centre height) backgeared and screwcutting lathe was in production from 1936 until 1974 and then, in Mk. 2 form, until 1980. Enormously popular in America - it was affordable and with a specification that allowed it to undertake the majority of jobs likely to be encountered in a home workshop - its likely that the lathe made its first appearance not as an Atlas but badged for the mail-order company Sears, Roebuck under their Craftsman identification tab as the 101.07300. This initial Craftsman model, which carried an inadequate 3/4" x 16 t.p.i. spindle thread, a headstock that lacked backgearing and a countershaft unit and belt-tensioning arrangements of a very elementary, lightweight design, was sold at the very competitive price of $42. However, it was made for one year only before being replaced by the much better specified 101.07301--as listed in the post 1938 catalogs shown here :

 

Craftsman 6-inch Lathe Catalog Extracts (lathes.co.uk)

 

Note advertisement text in left-hand column: "Ground steel spindle runs in auto-lubricating bronze bearings that are adjustable."

10 hours ago, kgstakes said:

Don't know if others vibrant or make allot of noise but my does.  It's probably the way I have to belt to the motor rigged up.  Dad and I built the cabinet many many moons ago and hung the motor on a hinge for belt tension (probably not the right way to do it).

That may simply be a belt issue. I've heard several reports of surprisingly smoother and quieter running of the very similar Atlas/Craftsman 12" lathes when old standard drive belts were replaced with correctly-sized new Accu-link adjustable link "V" belts or the equivalent. The Accu-link belts are a boon for lathe owners because they permit belt changes without the need to disassemble the headstock and back-gearing assemblies to get a non-opening belt around the belt wheels. 

 

10 hours ago, kgstakes said:

Never have tried to turn metal on it yet.  Just messed with it with wood.  Yeah, I know some say don't turn wood on a metal lathe some say it's fine. 

There's no problem at all turning wood on a metal lathe other than the need to keep the lathe clean. Wood chips and shavings and sawdust easily finds its was into motor armatures and gearing, quickly absorbs oil, and creates a nasty gunk that isn't particularly healthy for high-tolerance machine tools. Sheilding from sawdust and careful vacuuming up after wood working is required for proper maintenance. That said, if one has any great amount of wood turning to do, it's probably easier to buy a wood lathe, which are relatively inexpensive, especially on the used market, than to keep a machinist's lathe clean if it's being regularly used to turn wood.

 

[paul ron]

babbit bearings

https://autowise.com/babbitt-bearing/

 

were used on many machines back in the day, usually fitted with zerk grease nipples. 

 

sintered bronze press in sleeve bushings were also used.. they had oil caps fitted for lubrication. 

 

https://autowise.com/babbitt-bearing/

 

 

 

[thibaultron]

I second the link belt recommendation! I used them on my 12" Atlas, and they made a huge difference.