6 inch atlas lathe
What I have is a Craftsman Model 101-07403 lathe that was (I got the lathe with 3 and 4 jaw chuck and a lot of tooling for $500) Made an offer that was accepted for the lathe Taiwanese lathes being sold by ENCO and others.īut I caught wind of a used machine for sale, Source said that I would be quite happy with any of the small (and I still consider this excellent advice). One good source advised me to buy a used Southbend Try my hand at other machining endeavors, and began shoppingįor a lathe.
6 inch atlas lathe how to#
I had been learning how to use my mill and was eager to Do not equate them with Harbor Freight machines that are falling apart on the display floor.At the end of May, 2011, I purchased my first (and only) lathe. It met it's design parameters and many machines have survived those 70 years and are still fully functional. The Atlas lathe is what it is, and that is a machine with a design that dates back more than 70 years, that was built to fill a need, using state of the art procedures of that time. I believe half nuts are still available through Sears and maybe Clausing. They maintained a complete, economically priced inventory of spare parts.
6 inch atlas lathe series#
Atlas did an excellent job of support, and every part made for the first series of lathe fits all lathes in the series. The weak point of the machine is the half nut assembly and the fact that half nuts are used in all feeds, not just threading. It is well illustrated, readable, and if followed, it provided all the information a new owner needed to become proficient in the operation and care of his machine.Ītlas lathes do have their drawbacks, but for the most part, they were addressed by Atlas. It is over 200 pages with specific instructions covering all aspects of installation, break in and operation of the machine.
6 inch atlas lathe manual#
They did wear if not taken care of, as does any lathe bed.Ītlas lathes came with the best manual for lathe operation that I have seen. While they do have flat ways, so does the Myford and several other lathes that are considered of precision or high quality. They were, however, well turned out and presentable. Filling the castings and applying many coats of paint added nothing to the utility of the machine, so they did not have a high finish. The castings were cleaned up and finished and painted. It was produced to meet a need at an affordable price. The Atlas lathe can be looked at as the equivalent of the Ford Model T and Model A. That there are many Atlas lathes, mills and shapers in operation today after 70 or more years use with the original Zamac parts attests to the appropriateness of the material. Plastics were not available at the time of the Atlas lathe's design. It was used for gears, hand wheels and other parts that were not stressed by the forces of machining.
It is die cast and was used because it provided an economical means of casting accurate parts to size. They used a line boring machine which attached directly to the lathe and indexed the spindle bearings to the lathe bed.Ītlas used Zamac in many areas as it is an alloy of aluminum, magnesium, copper and zinc, which has a tensile strength nearly six times that of cast iron. The bearings were bored in place after the headstock had been assembled to the bed. The original babbit bearings in the plain bearing headstock were of high speed copper-hard babbit. The bed was inspected on a master surface plate, inspected throughout the assembly and subject to final inspection. These castings were rough milled and allowed to season for several months before finish machining.įar from "grind it and slam it together", the bed was next finish milled and then the ways were finish ground on a specially designed and purpose built surface grinder. The Atlas lathe was designed from the ground up to perform a function at an affordable price.įine grain castings were used throughout where the strength and accuracy of cast iron were required. I stress the word economical, as it differs from cheap. The Atlas lathe was originally designed and built in the early thirties as an economical lathe for home shop and light industrial applications. "In a recent thread Jerry Tiers classified the Atlas lathe as a "Grind the bed and slam it together brand." and criticized it from every aspect from it's finish to it's "poor materials."
They aren't as bad as everyone says and you can still buy all of them new from atlas or used on ebay all day long. My lathe came with two sets and a spare gear mount. I wouldn't say that age has anything to do with zamac, but abuse will kill them.ĭefinitely price out any missing ones and factor that in.