Atlas 10F came to the neighborhood

RandyWilson

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The son of a neighbor has been getting interested in metal working. He's taking welding classes, building a sheet metal brake, stuff. He comes to me for milling and lathe needs. Yesterday he mentioned that they had an old metal lathe in the back of the workshop that he would like to get running. That workshop is... packed, shall we say. They had inherited the lathe and a large tool box of tooling years ago, put in the back of the shop, and never got it running. Never put power to it.

So a path was cleared back to the lathe and I got a quick look. It's an Atlas 10F-28. IT was late and we were heading off to dinner, so I didn't get much time. It seems complete. Lots of tool bits. Quite a bit of mill stuff mixed in. There is center and follower rests, change gears. Stuff. But no tool post that I saw.

In a bit of research this morning, I've hit upon three questions that I haven't found answers to in the forums.

What is the preferred QCTP for a 10" OXA or AXA? I see AXA on 12s, and OXA on 6s. But the 10 owners are apparently a secretive bunch.

Is there an operation manual? I've found parts lists and threading guides, but no operation or service manuals.

And, there is a pull knob in the saddle under the compound that I didn't immediately figure out it does. It didn't seem to (dis)connect anything when pushed

Thanks!!
 
The pull knob is for the power cross feed- a nice feature.
Sounds like a nice find, especially with the rests
AXA would be a good size for a 10F
Pictures!
-Mark
 
OXA is too small for a 10" machine. Mark is correct: AXA is what he'll want.
 
Yeap AXA and the Power cross feed knob pull out to engage a gear that drives the crossfeed screw. It only moves about 3/8”. Be sure to not engage the halfnuts! There is no lockouts!
Pierre
 
The closest thing to an Operators Manual published for the Atlas or Atlas-Craftsman lathe is the one that Atlas and Sears shipped with all of their lathes. Unfortunately, the Atlas Manual of Lathe Operations (or MOLO for short title) didn't start listing the year and edition number on the copyright page until 1954 whereas the 10F was made with very few changes from about 1939 until mid-1957. And there were about 20 different versions of the MOLO printed over the years. Probably the best place ti find MOLO's is eBay, But given the generally poor descriptions that most eBay sellers write, ID'ing the proper edition can be sort of hit or miss.

Several years ago I wrote a history of the MOLO that will answer most questions. During that period, I bought a bunch of them, and sometimes ended up with duplicates. Or if you find a suspect for sale on eBay and want ti send me the eBay Item Number, I will try ti find out from the seller what machine size and model their offering best covers. Unfortunately, most eBay ads for MOLO's don't answer that question.
 
What is the preferred QCTP for a 10" OXA or AXA? I see AXA on 12s, and OXA on 6s. But the 10 owners are apparently a secretive bunch.

Is there an operation manual? I've found parts lists and threading guides, but no operation or service manuals.

And, there is a pull knob in the saddle under the compound that I didn't immediately figure out it does. It didn't seem to (dis)connect anything when pushed

Thanks!!

AXA is a damn near perfect fit on my 10F!

Manuals abound in the downloads section for Donating members!

Pull knob is for power cross slide feed.


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@RandyWilson,

Also, I noticed this the other day but forgot to mention it. "10F-28" is not a model number of any Atlas built lathe or other machine. In this particular case, it is the casting pattern number, the raw casting number and the finish-machined part number for the change gear guard used on the various models of 10F lathes. The model number of your neighbor's lathe would be "10F-(bed length in inches)".
 
The AXA is the correct size of tool post for an Atlas 10”. But be aware that you may have to mill a flat spot on part of the top slide for the tool post to fit.
 
The AXA is the correct size of tool post for an Atlas 10”. But be aware that you may have to mill a flat spot on part of the top slide for the tool post to fit.

Definitely will have to mill a flat.
06dc90cd8f30842f0addc457037d8a91.jpg


Recently installed this on my 10F. Test fitting while the crosswise is still on the mill table.


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