Craftsman/Atlas 6", what have I gotten my self into?

OK, It does sound as though you may need a different motor. A general duty 1/3 HP shouldn't stall that easily. Probably the PO put that motor on the machine because it was either free or was the cheapest one he could find.
 
I have a a few motors kicking around. I know I have a 1/4HP and a couple of 1/2 HP. I suspect the belts would slip before the 1/2 motor could do any real damage.

K
 
OK. As a test until you can get a permanent replacement, I would try the physically smallest 1/2 HP one. The two features of a motor that is too large that would generally be considered undesirable would be the cost to run it, and the fact that if something happened like a crash into the headstock, the larger motor might be capable of increasing the damage. Plus of course, a larger motor would normally take up more space. Atlas even in the later years continued to recommend a 1/3 HP motor for the 618, in the Craftsman catalogs they say "at least 1/3 HP". So if you have to buy one, I would go with a 1/3. But to fix your immediate problem, try one of the 1/2's.
 
I never got back on the whole motor thing.

The motor seems to be doing much better now. A couple of things happened, first, and the biggest issue is the input pulley on the counter shaft had walked out a alignment from the motor. The way my machine is setup it wasn't super obvious what had happened but that extra friction zapped quite a bit of torque. Also the cone pulleys both in the head and on the counter shaft are worn so the belt tension changes when I change speeds which adds more friction and draws the motor down easier. I've gotten a feel for it, the "cam shaft" that throws the counter shaft into gear has a little wear in it and allows me to fine tune the tension...for once a little wear helps out! I could get new(er) cone pulleys but this seems to work and I don't feel like spending more money. :)

When everything is so small little things add up quickly.

It's a fun little machine, you just need to be very patient. I've turned some steel, it loves aluminum (in which I have a few projects lined up). I want to try some brass as well, maybe a little signal cannon for the 4th! :)

K
 
Kopeck, I have to ask, is your username your surname? Mine is Kopecki and I just bought the same model lathe last week. Small world.
 
92VwGTI said:
Kopeck, I have to ask, is your username your surname? Mine is Kopecki and I just bought the same model lathe last week. Small world.
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It's Kopishke. Back in middle school a couple of kids couldn't pronounce my surname (which is pretty easy as long as you don't look at how it's spelled) so one of them tagged me with Kopeck. It stuck, high school and college. No one uses it anymore, which is really OK by me but it does make a decent handle for forums and such.

Kopecki is a good one, I bet you've had to spell once or twice in your life. :)

K
 
kopeck said:
It's Kopishke. Back in middle school a couple of kids couldn't pronounce my surname (which is pretty easy as long as you don't look at how it's spelled) so one of them tagged me with Kopeck. It stuck, high school and college. No one uses it anymore, which is really OK by me but it does make a decent handle for forums and such.

Kopecki is a good one, I bet you've had to spell once or twice in your life. :)

K
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I get kopeski A LOT lol
 
92VwGTI said:
I get kopeski A LOT lol
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That's pretty much how we pronounce it (CO-pesky)

I've noticed there's a lot of names that are really similar. I've often wondered if they're truly different names or just variations. In my case the name originates from Germany. To keep things on topic Germans make really cool stuff on lathes. :)

K
 
kopeck said:
That's pretty much how we pronounce it (CO-pesky)

I've noticed there's a lot of names that are really similar. I've often wondered if they're truly different names or just variations. In my case the name originates from Germany. To keep things on topic Germans make really cool stuff on lathes. :)

K
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Germans make a lot of excellent things. I absolutely love a quality German tool. I’m German, Russian, and polish with my surname being of polish descent.

I need to get out and work on my lathe but work has been kicking my butt and I can’t do much until I order and receive a tool post. I’m considering the QCTP from LMS.
 
You won't be sorry for that purchase 92VwGTI . When you get the post also get a 1" travel indicator mount it in the post and measure if there is any movement in the chuck . What you are looking for is actually movement in the spindle . Actually you could do that before you get the post . You can get a travel indicator set up for pretty cheap . I just put new bushings in my 6" and it didn't help because the spindle was worn out . I posted earlier about this so ignore this part if you already read it . My spindle was worn down about .006 , the spindle is not made anymore and a good one is hard to get so I split the bushing on one side drilled a oil hole I installed the whole thing and then carefully tightened up the clamp . I didn't have to over tighten very much and I got the spin wobble down .001 .
I'm in the middle of a project right now , the first thing I had to do was to machine down the head of a SS 5/16 bolt . this was not a real good thing to do on the little 6" because it is a interrupted cut (no lathe likes that) , I went slow the little guy handled it . One thing it had a problem with was when facing the bolt it didn't want to finish getting off the last little ti* . One thing to remember the bolt head is hardened a bit so I didn't push the last part , I just filed it off (it gets polished with a 3M deburr wheel , last op) . Next up I needed to make some spacers and 5/16 threaded bushings . optimum mat. would have been 316L SS no way was I going to ask that of the lathe and I wanted to get this done in hours not days , so 303 was used. It's soft , the spacers (12 of them) had a 5/8 dia. and a 5/16 thru hole and 3/8 wide . Drilling went fine and the part off went so well that I could of just left that finish but I faced them to size anyway . The threaded bushing had me a little concerned because it was 3/4 wide and I had to tap all the way thru but no problem . All in all the 6" preformed well my back not so much .
 
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