Repair worn 1930's Craftsman / Atlas ways

[kdtop]

Fixing wear in a lathe is a costly process--generally considered not justified for a common machine like an Atlas. In a nutshell, you would have to totally disassemble the lathe and send the bed out to be reground. The grinding process isn't straight-forward as the bed has to be carefully dialed in and supported so as not to end up with a banana! It may not be easy to find a shop with the capacity for such a job that is willing to take on a one-shot like this. Quite likely to be _very_ costly. OTOH, maybe you already have a good buddy with a high-end machine shop?

Probably, the saddle needs to be reground (or scraped) as there is likely more wear on the operator side. Turcite would then be applied to the saddle and tailstock to 'replace' the material ground away. The Turcite needs to be scraped in to get good contact on all surfaces.

Anything is possible if you throw enough time and money at the issue but most people just move on to a machine that is already in better condition.

Craig

Thanks for the reply. You are right, of course. I should just spend about $2000, get a good lathe, and be done with it. But for now, I am trying to keep the cost of my hobby constrained. So I will spend far more than that amount in time!

Kevin

 

[kdtop]

We have a commercial forum sponsor who does lathe bed grinding. I think someone has already sent in a lathe and found the cost to be reasonable enough.

Do you have more details? I just looked at the commercial forums, and I see only Richard King. I thought his business was teaching scraping. Does he also do ways repairs? Or is it someone else?

Thanks
Kevin

 

[tq60]

Some of the early craftsman lathes are bi-ended...

Remove everything from the bed and look at turning it around.

You may need to some "clever" work but it reverses the wear surfaces and is free.

Meanwhile the hunt for next one continues.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[mattthemuppet2]

I would just work as best as you can with the lathe you have, use it to learn on and keep your eyes open for something better. Really, that kind of reconditioning is not trivial for someone with a good feel for lathe geometry and the means to measure/ check alignment on multiple planes. Being out a bunch of money and time for a lathe that struggles to justify it would be the good outcome, doing the same and having a worse outcome is a strong possibility.

 

[WCraig]

Do you have more details? I just looked at the commercial forums, and I see only Richard King. I thought his business was teaching scraping. Does he also do ways repairs? Or is it someone else?

Thanks
Kevin

P&B Grinding and Machine, a job shop serving Northeast Ohio

P&B Grinding and Machine Inc. in Garrettsville, Ohio, A job shop that manufactures top quality made to order products. Specializing in surface grinding and machining has a team with nearly 70 years of experience in our field

www.pbgrinding.com

 

[macardoso]

Do you have more details? I just looked at the commercial forums, and I see only Richard King. I thought his business was teaching scraping. Does he also do ways repairs? Or is it someone else?

Thanks
Kevin

Welcome to new H-M Commercial member P&B Grinding!

Please take a moment to welcome new member Bill aka @P&B GRINDING! Bill operates P&B Grinding and Machine out of Garrettsville, Ohio and is excited to be a commercial sponsor of Hobby Machinist. We are excited to have a shop sponsor on the forum and looking forward to having his expertise here...

www.hobby-machinist.com

"We generally charge a starting price of $400 for a small Lathe bed (48 to 52", not including the saddle or tail stock)) the cost will only go up due to unusual wear (Over .015),"

 

[Janderso]

Kdtop,
Benmychree advised finding a more sophisticated lathe.
The old Atlas lathes were made for us hobby guys. If the accuracy is no longer adequate, It may be time to update.
I'd sure hate to see you spend good money on that old Atlas. At the end of the day after the investment, you still have your Atlas
This is of course my opinion. There may be some attributes to the lathe I am not aware of.

 

[kdtop]

Some of the early craftsman lathes are bi-ended...

Remove everything from the bed and look at turning it around.

You may need to some "clever" work but it reverses the wear surfaces and is free.

Meanwhile the hunt for next one continues.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

This swap idea is a great idea. I'm going to seriously consider this...... Though as I think about it, the lead screw and advancement rack gear would have to be swapped etc, and that might be tricky....

 

[Janderso]

This swap idea is a great idea. I'm going to seriously consider this...... Though as I think about it, the lead screw and advancement rack gear would have to be swapped etc, and that might be tricky....

I considered sending out my old 13" South Bend lathe bed to a place down in the SF Bay area. It was going to be expensive.
I justified it in my mind because I learned on a 13" South Bend in High School, I used one in Haiti in the early 80's, then I bought one in 2017.
I'm glad I didn't do it, I lost it in the fire.
My newer more modern lathe is so much better!!

 

[kdtop]

I considered sending out my old 13" South Bend lathe bed to a place down in the SF Bay area. It was going to be expensive.
I justified it in my mind because I learned on a 13" South Bend in High School, I used one in Haiti in the early 80's, then I bought one in 2017.
I'm glad I didn't do it, I lost it in the fire.
My newer more modern lathe is so much better!!

Gosh, all it needed was a coat of paint!1 (Just kidding). Sorry to hear about your loss, though it sounds like you had a happy ending.