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

It has been a while since I last looked but I think that you will need to remove the headstock from the bed and invert both the bed and the headstock in order to take a decent photo of either casting number.
 
Hi.

New member here. I just brought an Atlas H54 lathe. If you are still looking for information on the lathes, the name plate on mine shows the Model Number as H54 and the Serial Number is 054658. Cast into the inside of the gear train cover is 10F-28. It has babbet bearings, a rectangular/square power switch plate and a 3/4" diameter lead screw. I have been guessing that it was made in the mid 1940's. If you have a better date for it, please let me know.

If there is any other information that you would want, just let me kn ow and I will try to find it as I work on cleaning it up.

Thanks,

Kim Barron
 
Kim,

Atlas stopped production of babbit bearing head stocks circa mid to late 1945. Around the same time they also ceased production of vertical countershaft assemblies but as yours has a Horizontal countershaft assembly , that's neither here nor there. 10F-28 is the part number of the finish machined babbit bearing headstock and also for the casting and tooling with suitable adjectives. Note that the part number for the Timken headstock housing is the same thing except for the addition of the letter "T" if equipped with Timken bearings,. All of the production history of the Atlas-built machines was lost or destroyed during the numerous moves and name changes that the company has lived through. So they have no serial number nor production history. However, when they introduced the 10F circa 1938 they changed the serial numbers and where they were located on the machine and began the practice of engraving the month and year on the outer races of the Timken spindle bearings. This practice continued until about 1952 or maybe 1953 only no one has yet reported a lathe known to have been made in 1953. So up until about late 1952 there is a date on the 10F's that dates the serial numbers on the Atlas branded machines and which can be used to rough date the 10" machines whether Timken or not. But this only applies to the Atlas machines. Sears had Atlas re-start the serial numbers with each change of mode numberl.
 
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wa5cab,

Thanks for the input. This helps as I at least know that lathe was built in 1945 or earlier. On a babbit bearing machine, where should I look for the date stamping?

As far as I can tell the lathe is in fair shape as the headstock seems tight, the lead screw looks pretty good and the ways do not look too bad. It does needs some clean up and TLC. The biggest issue with that I know about is that the reverser gear box for the power lead screw is messed up (I am finding out that this is not too uncommon). Someone in the past has rigged up the lead screw to lock it to the input shaft so it is powered in one direction. Right now I think that I can live with this as I am guessing that I will be doing hand work on fairly small parts for the most part and I can use the power lead screw in the one direction. Long term I will look into getting the reverser gear box working.

Right now I am planning on doing the clean up, give it a tune up and a good lub and start using it. I may give it a paint job in the future.

Again, thanks for the input!
 
Sounds as though it may not be totally worn out. Unfortunately, short of finding a copy of the original invoice, on the machine, all that you can do is to find the two 10F's whose serial numbers straddle yours and whose bearing dates are known and calculate your machine's approximate date. You will find in Downloads in the Atlas section a dot PDF file which lists the Atlas, Craftsman and AA machines which have been reported to still exist. Where known, the serial numbers are included. If the machines are 10" or 12" and if made by Atlas and if known, the bearing dates are given. If not known, most are estimated. Besides the machine database, the main contents of Downloads are scans of some of the parts drawings and some of the owner's manuals plus scans of various other drawings and manuals.

Because it costs us money each month to maintain Downloads (we have to pay rent to store the files), full access to downloads is limited to Donaer's at the Silver level ($(10.00 per year) or above. The other thing that isn't free here is selling, which costs $25.00 per year and is called "Gold". Payment must be by PayPal.
 
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My ISP went down sometime yesterday while doing an update to this thread. Very little of what I wrote apparently actually got saved. I deleted what little I had written when the server went down and will now try so save this postl
 
wa5cab said:
That's a nice looking restoration. And the spindle bearing journals look better than most. However, it is not a 10D. That would be an Atlas and a 10". And it would have the FWD-OFF-REV gearbox mounted to the bed in front of the headstock instead of the tumbler for that function.

It is either a late 101.07380 or an early 101.07381. And it must have shipped with the cast change gear cover because it has the cutout and tapped holes in the headstock for the motor switch and bezel.

We don't have any printed parts list for the 101.07380 and the one that we have for the 101.07381 shows the later legs and later tailstock. The catalog photo in the 1937 catalog shows the cast cover and early symmetrical legs but later tailstock. The 1936 catalog shows the sheet metal cover and the early tailstock that is cylindrical around the ram like yours. So what source document we have are inconclusive as far as which model to call it. I take it that the nameplate that should have been on the rear of the bed is missing.
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wa5cab
Can you direct me as to finding and or purchasing a parts manual for a Atlas/Craftsman lathe with a ID #101.07381. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You
Thomas
 
Badgerbugger said:
wa5cab
Can you direct me as to finding and or purchasing a parts manual for a Atlas/Craftsman lathe with a ID #101.07381. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You
Thomas
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To notify an intended recipient, use @wa5cab . (he will see this post so you needn't resend)
 
Most of the anti-Atlas rhetoric seems to come from owners of only one brand. whom I will not name as doing so would not do any good and would violate one of the site restrictions. However, there seems to be less of that in recent years.
 
wa5cab
Can you direct me as to finding and or purchasing a parts manual for a Atlas/Craftsman lathe with a ID #101.07381. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You
Thomas
Thomas,, I haven't kept up with Downloads much in recent years but I think that what you are looking for is in Downloads. Try looking for 101.07380 or 101.07383. Be advised that the the 101.0738x were only made for one year and were then replaced by 0740x0x.
 
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