618 New To Me

how about that? Robert would know for sure, or it might be countershaft off a similar sized lathe. Those bronze bushed lathes can do lovely work, arguably better surface finish than roller bearing lathes, just can't go quite as fast.
 
That is the Craftsman version of the countershaft, and earlier Craftsman 6" lathes had bushings instead of the roller bearings on an Atlas. They are both nice machines. There's a picture of a Craftsman countershaft at:
http://www.homeshopsupply.com/upgrades.html
Scroll down a bit.
 
Congrats Pat!
My second machine was an Atlas 618 (15 years ago) that someone gave to me. Not nearly as pretty as yours when I got it, but it polished up wonderfully. You will love it. You can do some real work with that. Really nice span of speeds for slow turning and high rpm small diameter stock turning.
And you even have the milling attachment!

Bernie
 
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Matt , yes spin spd . down . I'm not working for $ anymore .
pebbleworm , thanks for that link . They have nice stuff at very friendly $ .
Bernie , DR . , yes milling att . that will be fun .

I spent the day messing around with the little thing , all good fun . Took apart the head stock and the back gear , piece o' cake .
I 'm now trying to work up something clever with the counter shaft /motor , and a proper mount for the whole set up .
Thanks guys !
PS here is a nice link http://www.lathes.co.uk/craftsman6inchmk1/
 
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Pat,

As nearly as I have been able to figure out, over it's production life the Atlas 619 (with 1"-10 spindle nose threads and Timken roller bearings) came with three different countershaft assemblies. The first one, apparently only made a couple of years, was sorta similar to the one on the early (up to 1957) Craftsman 12". The bracket mounted to either the rear of the bed or to the left leg (I have never come across a rear view photo of the original version). The part with the pulleys (that moves to tension the belts) was, judging by later known part numbers, the same as on the two later models. The "A" revision bracket (which you have) is short and mounts to the bench behind the actual lathe, with the countershaft hanger assembly standing up above it. This was used on the 618 for a while and was used on the 101.07301 throughout its production life. The "B" revision bracket was taller, with the same hanger assembly hanging down.

In all three cases, the motor pulley is a small 2-step one. The only changes ever made to this pulley were the change from 1/2" to 5/8" bore and later from Zamak to aluminum. The hanger assembly is apparently the same in all three cases and should have a 4-step cone pulley between the hanger legs which is externally identical to the spindle cone pulley. The large pulley hanging on one end of the actual countershaft spindle is 2-step (outside diameters 7.5" and 9.0"). All of the catalog photos show this pulley as hanging on the left end of the countershaft spindle, and the motor behind the countershaft bracket. A lot of owner photos show the large pulley on the right end of the spindle and some show the motor between the bracket and the lathe.

One other point about which there is a lot of Internet disinformation is that only the 101.07301 had the 1"-8 spindle nose threads. The 618 and later 101.21400 always had 1"-10.
 
Thanks for the link brino , but for some reason I get a log in error when I click on it . I did however get a manual off the bay

yeah....there is likely a minimum post count you need to reach for some sections of this site......I keep forgetting about that.....
At least you have a manual...
-brino
 
wa5cab , thanks for taking the time to type all that . I was wondering about the dia's on the motor pulley , the bay manual is a repop and for a bearing spindle . thanks guys .
 
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