Atlas 12" lathe, pre-buying questions!

Lots of good help, thanks folks!
I wouldn't generally need to turn anything large diameter so a 6" is more than adequate. Length wise I would love to be able to fit at the largest bass clarinet body sections.
Honestly a whole lot of the work is spinning small diameter steel rod, straightening rods, threads, making simple tools on the spot out of steel and brass, holding clarinet sections for tenon work, making sockets for saxophones (turning small diameter brass), etc. Basically its opening up my world of possibilities quite a bit from having just a bench motor.
Also, the argument I'm having in my brain is small Taig/Grizzly style lathe to learn on, then getting something bigger (because these do present limitations in length) vs. investing in a machine like this Atlas that can potentially do it all.

Thanks again,

Mk
 
There are a lot of other videos there.

One thought about getting new instead of old used is the used one if gotten at a reasonable price is that you can sell it later at about the same price. If you buy new and decide to sell later is it will depreciate. Personally if price and space is not the issue I would go for the one that can do everything that you want. You can learn on that one as well as the other.

Another thing to think about is what accessories comes with the lathe. Extra tooling runs into some money and if you can get a lathe that is fairly well equipped to begin with you will not have that expense upfront.

As you are new I would look for one that can be powered up and listened to. You can tell a lot about equipment that you are not familiar with just by listening to it run.

Also if you do get a Atlas or a Craftsman by Atlas Clausing still supports these lathes. Some of the larger items like the headstock and bed are not available but the gears, half nuts and a lot of the wearable items are still supported, a lot of the time cheaper new than what they get for the parts on EBay.
 
From what I have seen, Clausing's prices are much higher for anything they might still have for Atlas- Your mileage may vary- Price a pair of spindle bearings; you'll :faint:
Mark S.
 
I see you live in Washington state. I suggest you take a field trip to grizzly showroom and look at the selection and get a hands on feel of what's available that will work for you and give you a price comparison .
Its the little things such as ,chucks ,live centers, scored tailstock bores & headstock bores, half nuts you cannot see without dissembling that add up to total frustration and cost that will come close to or exceed the value of the lathe.
Remember that parts for a 50 year old lathe no longer in production are used 50 year parts .
While you will get good info here there is no way all the bases can be covered to insure that you will get a good deal.
 
markba633csi said:
From what I have seen, Clausing's prices are much higher for anything they might still have for Atlas- Your mileage may vary- Price a pair of spindle bearings; you'll :faint:
Mark S.
Click to expand...

New half nuts from them are about $34. EBay price for new ones are usually around $60, gear bushing $10, gears are a little more than what they go for on EBay but they are new. Just saying it is worth checking there also.
 
tomh said:
I see you live in Washington state. I suggest you take a field trip to grizzly showroom and look at the selection and get a hands on feel of what's available that will work for you and give you a price comparison .
Its the little things such as ,chucks ,live centers, scored tailstock bores & headstock bores, half nuts you cannot see without dissembling that add up to total frustration and cost that will come close to or exceed the value of the lathe.
Remember that parts for a 50 year old lathe no longer in production are used 50 year parts .
While you will get good info here there is no way all the bases can be covered to insure that you will get a good deal.
Click to expand...

Yes a trip to Bellingham and Grizzly is a nice field trip.:)
 
Not a very helpful post from me, but that first picture with the funnel for chips... what a great idea!
 
markba633csi said:
From what I have seen, Clausing's prices are much higher for anything they might still have for Atlas- Your mileage may vary- Price a pair of spindle bearings; you'll :faint:
Mark S.
Click to expand...


There price for spindle bearings are right in line for precision spindle bearings. You can buy cheaper bearings the same size but they are just that cheep bearings. There not made to the tight tolerance's. with bearings you really do get what you pay for. I have rebuilt spindles that use bearings that run over $90.00 each and take a pack of 4. That said an old atlas lathe or mill you don't really need that class bearing. But I wouldn't use $ 20.00 wheel bearings either.
 
abracadabra said:
Howdy folks.
A little while back I posted about an old lathe I was looking at, it was a Craftsman 109 and thanks to much feedback here, I walked away from the deal.

So recently I've found someone with a 1940's Atlas 12" lathe for sale. This is a little larger than I was looking for, but, the price seems good so I'm curious.

It does not come with change gears, its set up with a 4 speed motor. The owner is including a 3 jaw chuck, dead center, and some basic tooling. He's used it for many years and still using it. The headstock bearings are roller type, recently replaced, no endplay.

I don't have pics right now unfortunately. I can probably get the machine for $400.

Is this a good price for the machine?

First you should know that my usage isn't totally going to be classic machinist usage. I repair musical instruments, mostly woodwinds, and often need to make tools, turn brass and large wood sections of clarinets, etc.
I know the change gears are available online and many other parts.

This is the big thing for me: up til now I've used a hollow shaft bench motor for alot of small jobs, it has a Jacobs chuck that will take 0-1/4" objects which I often need to have mounted in a chuck for various reasons.
I was hoping to be able to do all the work I was doing on the bench motor on the lathe too, but, this would require me to find a way to either mount a 0-1/4" capacity Jacobs chuck to the 1 1/2" 8tip headstock threads (not sure how to do this) OR the seller mentioned using the ER20 collets and appropriate drawbar for the operation. Does this sound like it would work? I'm used to using the jacobs chuck but it seems like the set of ER20's would cover all the ranges I would need. And then I would mount the drawbar in the the 3 jaw chuck?
I'm a little new to the world of lathes but am totally interested in learning, and more than anything want to invest in a good, old machine that will be a joy to use for years to come.

I know this is alot to read, sorry, I hope its not too scattered!

Basically I'm just trying to see if the price is decent, and if I can get it working for me at least on a basic level by having a way to turn small parts in the headstock (small jacobs vs ER20 or other collets)

thanks folks, and I sincerely appreciate the feedback!

mk
Click to expand...

I get the sense that you intend to be machining wood as well as metal, bear in mind that sawdust and lathes don't mix well. You really need a wood lathe and ametal lateh as separate machines.

Yes the metal lathe will machine wood, its just that the sawdust will get everywhere and has a nasty habit of absorbing moisture and promoting corrosion. If you are going to be machining wood only very occasionally and are prepared to thoroughly clean the machine immediately after the job is finished, you might get away with it.
 
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