Atlas 101.21400 used w/accessories, $1,500, plan to buy... thoughts?

[Manual Mac]

You did just fine on the 618, nice lathe.
i can see a small mill on the horizon for you.
welcome to the rabbit hole!

 

[skcncx]

Congratulations!
I was seriously considering this one too, but it was on the small end of what I'm looking for, and it's 100 miles away and harder to schedule a trip.
I don't think you paid too much for the condition and goodies. It's a mystery why metal lathes are on the higher end here. With all the industries around after WWII, and machinists having a lathe at home, you'd think there'd be a surplus. I've looked on and off for years, and the cheap ones are either industrial monsters, or look like they just came out of the Titanic Machine shop.
Kudos on getting it set up and running.

Yea, I guess it just depends on location. It's odd that for far less $$ I could have purchase 4-5 lathes close by that were the size of my truck and larger... but the small ones, hard to find and or in must restore condition... I guess demand and it's a larger market for benchtop lathes for us hobbyists. I'm not sure I would have been able to drive 100 miles... time is precious between work and family and available vacation time to take a day to do it.. After a couple hours of driving w/gas prices... shipping to your door, even larger stuff makes life easy.

 

[Aaron_W]

Yea, I guess it just depends on location. It's odd that for far less $$ I could have purchase 4-5 lathes close by that were the size of my truck and larger... but the small ones, hard to find and or in must restore condition... I guess demand and it's a larger market for benchtop lathes for us hobbyists. I'm not sure I would have been able to drive 100 miles... time is precious between work and family and available vacation time to take a day to do it.. After a couple hours of driving w/gas prices... shipping to your door, even larger stuff makes life easy.

The bigger the lathe the smaller the market. You can easily move a 618 with 2 guys and a Honda Civic, and even an apartment dweller can find some bench space for it. Once you get to 16" swing / 3500lbs and larger it becomes a pretty niche market.

 

[pkemner]

Back in the 80's, the man who let me use his mill and lathe told me he saw a nice lathe go at an auction far less than $100. Something really cheap. I asked him why he didn't buy it for me. Turns out it was 30 feet long with a swing of several feet.

 

[mmcmdl]

Back in the 80's, the man who let me use his mill and lathe told me he saw a nice lathe go at an auction far less than $100. Something really cheap. I asked him why he didn't buy it for me. Turns out it was 30 feet long with a swing of several feet.

The majority of companies end up paying someone to come get these machines out of their factories . These companies then rebuild the machines and try to re-sell them . I haven't seen too many of the larger machines move recently . Maybe one day they'll fill a need .

 

[wa5cab]

As far as QCGB's go, there have been a few built over the years. But unless you are just lucky, you would probably wait a long time for one to come on the market. However, if you study the threading table carefully, you can probably pick two gear setups that will only require one pair of gears to change to switch from roughing to finish feed rate. Which won't be too bad.

And I have already said all that I;m going to say on pricing.

 

[skcncx]

As far as QCGB's go, there have been a few built over the years. But unless you are just lucky, you would probably wait a long time for one to come on the market. However, if you study the threading table carefully, you can probably pick two gear setups that will only require one pair of gears to change to switch from roughing to finish feed rate. Which won't be too bad.

And I have already said all that I;m going to say on pricing.

At this time, I've done some aluminum turning just to get the feel for it... and I'll just set my gears up for .004 feed rate per turn and run with it that way... I realize now after spending some time and just turning larger 6061 aluminum stock to smaller diameters playing with different cutters HSS, carbide with different coatings, tried drilling then boring... I have a long way to go before I attempt threading and special gear setups for that.

Even now, feeding manually by crank wheel gives me some feedback on how fast, depth of cut, etcs... heck, just noticing the different type of chips coming off and with and without cutting fluid (just tried WD40 at the moment).

Oh yea, brushing off the chips with your bare hands is a bad idea.. sharp little suckers. Coming from woodworking where dust doesn't have razor sharp edges... gotta retrain my brain.

 

[cross thread]

A tip I would like to share , because I found this out just the other day . This might not be the case with other Atlas 6 inch machines but it is on mine . I would spend some time getting the tailstock zeroed in and then move it , it was not coming back in place , the fix is to loosen the lock bolt , push the tailstock over to one side and zero it . Now when you have to move it and then come back to drill , push it over to the same side and lock it down . The easiest way to zero it in is , with centers , one in the headstock and one in the tailstock . Bring the tips together , loosen the lock bolt , push it over to one side now adjust with the set screws on each side of the tailstock get the center points to line up . You can also do this with a test indicator .
Mark .

 

[skcncx]

A tip I would like to share , because I found this out just the other day . This might not be the case with other Atlas 6 inch machines but it is on mine . I would spend some time getting the tailstock zeroed in and then move it , it was not coming back in place , the fix is to loosen the lock bolt , push the tailstock over to one side and zero it . Now when you have to move it and then come back to drill , push it over to the same side and lock it down . The easiest way to zero it in is , with centers , one in the headstock and one in the tailstock . Bring the tips together , loosen the lock bolt , push it over to one side now adjust with the set screws on each side of the tailstock get the center points to line up . You can also do this with a test indicator .
Mark .

I'll have to check... I really just go it all setup on my bench and tried turning a few things... haven't really dialed anything in yet, but I think it came pretty much ready to go... everything is very tight and smooth, no play in anyting.

After changing the gear box last nights to a feed rate of .0024" per revolution, my surface finish improved massively over manually cranking the feed rate wheel. I must have been feeding too fast. This was with a carbide insert on 6061 aluminum 1" diameter rod... I was in one of the faster settings... not sure exact RPMs, plan to hook up tachometer and a variable speed motor. I was also able to take a deeper cut. I may bump that up to the .0039" per/rev feed rate and see.... but wow, what a huge improvement. I just hope I don't wear out the half nuts and lead screw prematurely... previous owner reserved the automatic feed for threading only... but I'm not sure I plan to. Maybe just buy some extra half nuts if I can find them at a good price.

 

[British Tool]

So, I believe I have found the lathe for me... right size, condition and several extras, appears to be in great condition by someone who took care of it.. let me know your thoughts and any tips for my first lathe.. $1500, maybe high, but all the extras and condition seems like a reasonable deal.

Would like digital DROs and variable speed motor on newer stuff, considered a Micro Lux 7 x 16, even a Taig (they are likely just a bit too small for me to grown into) but I think this is a great option to start on and turn some nice parts. Aluminum and plastics is all I really care about, maybe steel.

Craftsman (aka Atlas) 618 Model 101.21400 (Serial 0173XX)

Comes with 3 jaw chuck, 4 jaw chuck, Faceplate, Steady Rest, Quick change tool holder, Live centers / dead centers, Indexable threading tools, Boring bars, Change gears, Indexable cutting bits, Micrometer carriage stop, 3 tail stock chucks, Manual, extra lead screws, cross feed screws, saddle screw, misc carriage parts, possibly MT2 collet holder (not sure what collet size, I'd assume ER25 or ER30).

Condition/History/Price $1500...one owner since new, used as hobby, lathe rebuilt with new roller bearings. Owner seems to really have cared for it. Pics seems to confirm great condition.... planning to take a look and pick up soon.

I know next to nothing about lathes but have read a lot to land on what I think is good for me and understanding the overall capabilities of this model.

Not sure about
- Do these have zero resettable dials?
- Is the cross feed powered? (My neighbors larger 12" version does)
- Headstock nose is 1" x 10 TPI with MT2 taper... is that common or can easily find adapters and collet holders?
- Doesn't come with milling attachment, will look for one.


Any tips, tricks, accessories I should care about, things stay away from, etc...

I'll take it if you pass!