Atlas/Craftsman Serial Numbers and Bearing Dates (if applicable) For Database Entries

OK. Thanks. FWIW, by the time that the 28910 came out, Atlas was no long selling the cheaper change gear models. The machine will do quite well with carbide cutters. On being a little tight toward the tailstock, over the decades, a thin layer of varnish tends to accumulate there because the carriage seldom runs over it but the area tends to getsoiled some from oiling the part of the ways that the tailstock runs between. A good cleaning and polishing with Varsol and the finest Scotchbrite nylon pad may improve that a little.
 
Date confirmation for QC54, ser 088491: I managed to get my spindle apart today and found a date on the bearings (both the same) 11/21/50
This was not a job I hope to repeat any time in the future. It all went according to plan until the last inch or so. I ended up using a gear puller to get the LH bearing off the shaft. I still have the re-assembly ahead, but I'm working on cleaning everything was best I can before I do that.

2018-01-20 11.34.36.jpg
 
Thanks. There is an odd thing about the Atlas 10". The highest serial number that we have is only slightly higher than yours, 088786, with a bearing date of August 14, 1951. We have 16 records where the owner did not give the serial Number, but the odds of them being later machines is pretty slim. Yet the 10F is supposed to have remained in production up until 1957. The same isn't true of the Sears 12", where the highest bearing date that we have is 1951 but the highst serial number is almost 10,000 higher.
 
wa5cab said:
Thanks. There is an odd thing about the Atlas 10". The highest serial number that we have is only slightly higher than yours, 088786, with a bearing date of August 14, 1951. We have 16 records where the owner did not give the serial Number, but the odds of them being later machines is pretty slim. Yet the 10F is supposed to have remained in production up until 1957. The same isn't true of the Sears 12", where the highest bearing date that we have is 1951 but the highst serial number is almost 10,000 higher.
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Interesting.... I suppose it's possible the headstock and bed didn't start out together, but I don't have any reason to believe they didn't I have an address label in my documents that lists Capital Machine Tools in Tampa, FL. I have no idea if that has any pertinence to my machine.
 
Well, that isn't likely as the serial number is on the bed and identifies it as being off of a 10F. About the only things of that nature (mixed vintage parts) that are fairly common would be an early bed (serial number below about 9000) with 10F headstock and/or carriage.

I'm sure that Capital Machine Tools was once an Atlas distributor.
 
Just made a deal on a 10F. The PO gave it a (bad) paint job, but thats about it. Needs a good cleaning etc. Will be picking up in the next few weeks. Going to take a bit to get functional, but will be a nice little machine afterwards.

Here's a few pictures I took when I went and had a look at it. Seems to be a fair amount of extras, I will make a list once everything is home and sorted.

Location: British Columbia
Purchase Price: $300 (Trade value)
Extras: TBD

From what I've read, I peg this unit at late 1941, early 1942. M# H54 S# 027771

More pictures to follow

IMG_1782.jpgIMG_1786.jpgIMG_1789.jpgIMG_1794.jpgSerial.jpg
 
Well, as it has the final version of headstock casting with the rectangular power switch escutcheon, I would have guessed early 1942. But a straight-line calculation based on the serial numbers and the nearest two known bearing dates and the assumption that production rate was constant over the period puts the date as 23 July 1941. Given what happened a few months later, production rates probably went up after 7 December. Which would put the straight line date too early. So your guess is probably as likely as the calculation.
 
I have an Atlas 10F with power cross feed, quick change gear box, babbit bearings, vertical counter shaft and a 54" bed. It doesn't have a badge. The serial number is on the top of the end of the bed V 11475 S. It belonged to my Grandfather but I got it after he passed away back in the early '80s and I didn't get any paperwork with it. In the late '80s I took it apart and cleaned it and it was sitting in pieces on the bench in the garage when I went back to college in Missouri. After I graduated, I had a job offer and they paid to move me to FL. I told the movers not to touch it and I would put the parts in something. I was called in the house and when I came back out to the garage ten minutes later, new workers were in the garage and the lathe and all the parts were gone. That was 1994. I looked for half the parts for years but they were gone. After a hurricane in 2004 we had some water damage and I was tossing stuff in the garage and found a coffee can in a box with all the small parts wrapped in newspaper and dry. The next year I put it back together again. I have most of the accessories for it also and I purchased a 5C collet chuck for it. I've used it quite a bit since then. I've always wondered what year it was made somewhere probably between 1938 and 1947. Any better guess?
 
Based on several other serial numbers, I would date the original V54 (that was the original model number) to late 1938. The QCGB came out circa 1948. When it was actually bought and added to your Grandfather's lathe is impossible to say as if the gearboxes have any serial numbers, we don't have any of them. And although production of the 10" lathes ceased in 1957, the gearboxes were probably still available for sale into the 1960's.

It sounds as though the machine had an interesting life.
 
Does anyone know what year the motor switch changed from being oval to rectangular? I have a drum switch and I don't have a plate on the toggle switch hole. I thought about just making a plate and painting it then putting on a toggle switch along with one of those on / off plates that mount under the nut. Just for looks really. I could wire it in series with the power to the drum switch.

I think the original motor and wiring was on the shelf under the lathe when I first got it in 1981 but it looked so old that I decided I didn't want it and would rewire it with a new(er) motor. The lathe was sitting on the bench. I also left the pulley on the motor all which I came to regret. I made the stepped motor pulley on the lathe out of aluminum. I polished, reworked and made most of the new parts for the lathe on the lathe. It sorta made me ponder the chicken and the egg issue. When you go back and look at all of the accessories for the early lathes and the different kinds of machinery Atlas was making it gives you al lot of admiration for the designers and manufacturing operation and workers.

Also, I just bought a set of vertical countershaft belt guards on ebay a few days ago for $175 + $25 shipping. I've found that it is best to buy rather than make parts for it if they are available. I'm still looking for the ultimate stand and chip pan. I think the idea about using a wide toolbox rollaway has merit, but ultimately the lathe needs to be on it's own legs to the floor. You don't want anything attached to a tool storage box to vibrate it. It can damage anything with ball bearings in it.

It looks like my lathe was made about 1938-1941 based on the oval switch plate casting hole (below)... Thanks to everyone
 
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