Atlas/crafstman lathe help

[borjawil]

Hey everyone new to metal lathes, since I haven't used one in about 13 years back in high school. Picked up an Atlas 618 MK2 (10100 model) for $200 and figured it'll work for turning bushing, spacers, and smaller metal projects. Ive done some research on it and see the gears are pot metal basically but these looked well greased and the teeth are not pointed from wear. Bed shows gouges/wear on the edges towards the chuck. I did not received any tooling with it. I have downloaded and manual and will read through it for operation.

Now on to what I need help with. What all needs to be inspected and how do I do so? Explain it like I'm an idiot.

things that concern me are:
1) the shaft that runs from the chuck to the multiple pulley assembly has play. As in if I hold the pulleys I can turn the chuck about 1/4" or so in either direction .
2) What i believe is called the cross slide that sits on the saddle? The saddle does not move, however, pushing/pulling the cross slide will move about an 1/8". Is there an adjustment? something to tighten it up? What do I check here?
3) Reading the manual i see that the pulley belt should be disconnected when using the auto feed and some other things need to be done. A better explanation on that would be great as it never says to reconnect the belt
4) Whats the difference between the back gear drive and auto drive?

Thanks guys I appreciate any help I can get. When naming a part please describe it and the location on the lathe so I can better identify and learn.

 

[T Bredehoft]

I have a Clausing version of the same lathe, bought it 2 years ago. at that time it had no (zero) wear on the ways, was in like new condition.
1) my lathe has between 3/16 and 1/4" movement as you describe. I think it's normal.
2) the saddle has on it the cross slide and the compound, the one that swings at an angle. I have the compound removed from mine, with at four tool post on it. The gibs are very snug, but there is .013 movent of the shaft without movement of the cross slide. There is a slotted screw securing the metal cover on the back of the cross slide that also secures the nut for the feed screw, if this screw is loose the nut can flop around some, but I wouldn't expect 1/8th of an inch. This screw should be tight.
3) not sure what this is talking about. There is no Auto FEED, power feed, Under TO ENGAGE DIRECT DRIVE and CHANGING SPINDLE SPEEDS it tells you to "Remove Belt-Pulley GUARD, not the belt/pulley. Later says to replace GUARD. I run with mine off, changing speeds often.
4) back gear is slow rpms, open drive (auto?) is high rpms. the lever on the right side of the headstock, *Fig. 8 Part A) behind the spindle shifts the gearing into low range when pulled toward the operataor. The ring (Fig. 7, part A) on the end of the spindle (pull out/push in) engages/disengages high speed and must be disengaged when low range is engaged.

While the gears are not steel/iron, they are not pot metal, either, they are quite satisfactory for the work they do, keep light grease on them.

Keep asking questions, that's how we all learn.

 

[borjawil]

hey thanks for the quick response! i just disassembled the carriage and see why there was slop. cleaned it up, lots of old grease and metal flakes. when using my auto feed there is some light chatter. worse in left than right. some grease helped but its still there. how quiet should it be when using the feed? any tips on adjusting the gear clearance?

 

[T Bredehoft]

Gear clearance. Cut a strip of paper from a brown grocery (paper) bag 1/2" wide. Place a piece of this an inch or so long between each pair of gears when they are in place. Apply enough pressure that the paper is tight, tighten the gear on the banjo and roll the gears to remove the paper. Do this for each place two gears mesh. Lube gears with White Lithium Grease or equivalent.

I haven't been able to use power feed on any speed in high range without tool chatter, the lathe is just too light .I use back gear, the two slowest speeds for almost all power feeding. I have lots of time, I use the shop to help time pass, so if it takes 10 minutes for a cut, so be it.

 

[borjawil]

Yep I know the paper trick from RC trucks. I tried that but will try again on all gears I can get to. I was using the belt on what I believe the slowest speed is - smallest pulley motor side, largest lathe side. Question, why does the lathe have 4 pulley sizes and the motor 3? Ive lined up the motor pulley with the smaller of the 4 on the lathe. Also, no tooling as of yet, still cleaning and adjusting. I have smooth carriage movement near the chuck now, but about 2/3 away from the chuck its not so smooth, maybe bent lead screw. No more slop in my cross slide either. Its getting there slowly...

 

[borjawil]

Well after going through everything this machine is pretty simple compared to the engines ive worked on amongst other things. Looks like my back gear is chewed up and loose. Still engages (have not turned anything yet) but rattle. There some play in it though I'm not sure if thats between the c-clip and gear or from teeth being broken/worn. Guess Ill have to get a new gear and find out. Other than that everything seems to be set up correctly and the chatter from the gear is a lot better now that I figured out the order to set them up in.