Atlas 612

westsailpat said:
Brother John , what is the # on your machine ? Is this the one ? http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas/page4.html , prolly not rare but a good find !
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M2016 is stamped in bed. This is the 12" version of the 618. I'd love to have that 12" in the link, but first I'll need to build a bigger shop! Thats one reason I was attracted to this one. Has to be one of the original mini-lathes. John
 
From the lathes.uk site. atlas mk1 page 1. About 1/2 way down. Pics would definitly be cool.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas6inch/


A shorter-bed version, the "Model 612", with just 12 inches between centres, was also manufactured - but this seems to be a comparatively rare machine, despite the undeniable attraction of being light enough to be lifted by one person from under the stairs onto the temporary workbench in the living room.
 
From my limited research it seems the 12" model was dropped in 39 or 40. Atlas seemed to be supplying defense plants, which probably had more need of the 618. I also have a personal theory that the military may have been a customer for the 618 armature lathe. Building a product for the civilian market took a back seat to war production for everyone. Expanding this theory, the post war building boom had more houses with basement and garage workshops, making the extra length and weight less of a problem. I can remember as a kid in the 60's several basement shops with a lathe and drill press along with the usual woodworking tools.
 
As I wrote somewhere earlier, the last Atlas catalog that I can find the 612 listed in is one from 1942. It isn't in the L-43 or later ones. So it was made between 1937 and 1942.
 
David S said:
Ok guys. I have a 618 and as far as I am concerned if I don't see a nice picture of a 612....it just doesn't exist. :)

David
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Hey David,
Pictures of my 612 with the tooling etc. that came with it, one of the bench it mounts on and a couple of the drive assm. One is of the countershaft mount that is concidered to be rare/ uncommon as it mounts to the machine itself not the bench. Not real nice pics but all I got right now. Cheers
Rodney
 
Yes, that would appear to be the first version of the Atlas 6" countershafts. It appears in the 1937 Catalog Nos. 26 and 28, catalog No. 31 and the 1939 Catalog No. 39. In the 1940 Catalog No. 40, it has been replaced by the third version.

The only difference that I can see between your machine and the catalog photos is that in all of them, the belt tension lever with the ball on the end sticks up rather than down. "Up" seems to me the safer orientation.
 
wa5cab said:
Yes, that would appear to be the first version of the Atlas 6" countershafts. It appears in the 1937 Catalog Nos. 26 and 28, catalog No. 31 and the 1939 Catalog No. 39. In the 1940 Catalog No. 40, it has been replaced by the third version.

The only difference that I can see between your machine and the catalog photos is that in all of them, the belt tension lever with the ball on the end sticks up rather than down. "Up" seems to me the safer orientation.
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Thanks Robert, yah the lever is in the up position now after I remounted the lathe and adjusted the countershaft for corrct belt tension!
Rodney
 
Thank you Rodney.

That is a nice package indeed. It looks like that is the Jacobs spindle chuck that lets you pass work through the spindle? On my 618 I only gave the spindle chuck and the 4 jaw independent.

Should serve you well.

David
 
Ok David, thanks to Robert I got your drift! These are the pics the PO sent me when I was buying it. I mounted it on a plywood and 2 X 4 stand with a 1/3 HP blower motor I had laying around.

1481.JPG 1481-2.jpg
 
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