Show us your Atlas lathe setup!

[wjstape]

Atlas CNC'd

Atlas CNC'd

[attachimg=1]

 

[KenS]

I made a pair of new gears for my tumbler out of aluminum. They were plenty noisy initially, but as they wear a bit, they are getting quieter. I just grease them with some fibered wheel bearing grease. If you have a milling attachment, you can make your own also.

Mark,

What kind of cutter did you use to make your gears-- involute, hobbing, etc.? A little tutorial would be greatly appreciated for those facing the dreaded crumbling Zamak. Also, why aluminum? Was brass or steel a consideration? Or even plastic?

Ken

 

[SamIAm]

As promised. Some before and during pics. unfortunatly I did not take enough pre pics.
as we all know just like our homes. It will never be done.
The lathe it self started its life as a 10x42H Babbit head. during the rebuild I decided to jump ship on the babbit setup and purchased
a bearing head model and completely rebuilt it. including new bearings where needed.
I also replaced the bushings in the pulley setup so no more wobble/slop. the rest of the lathe was checked all the way down to the QC gear box.

I have yet to go thru my other parts like steady rests etc.. but will do so as well the paint is Rustoleum Hammer finish verde green.
I had painted the parts grey but hated it. so I re painted.


Before

After:


Lathe on Stand (as you can see I have not completed the stand ):
I intend on building a cabinet that consists of plenty of drawers and a small space for possibly a pump/reservoir future?
also I need to add a back splash. I already have a nice drip pan in place. need to update my pics!


Pic of my VFD enclosure:
The VFD is a Teco Fm50 1hp with a .75Hp motor. and the box is Hom3dep0t, And switches 3bay./ Radi0 sh4ck.
I am 1000% happy with this setup. I still need to make a nice faceplate. and also add 1 more switch in the hole on the head stock for On/Off.

 

[rock_breaker]

Re: My Atlas setup

I have an old Atlas that was originally manual change gears. I found a QC box by lucky accident and retrofitted it to the lathe. The picture shows the tool rack I made for the frequently used tools.
The lathe had considerable vibration at high speeds so I took things apart and checked them one by one. I set up a couple of parallel edges to hang a shaft assembly on to find the heavy side. The countershaft large pulley needed some correction by drilling some shallow holes in the rim web. The large backgear on the headstock needed correction. The three jaw chuck needed a lot of correction. After all the work the lathe is very steady at the maximum speed.
The carriage was loose in the middle and tight at the right end of travel. Correcting that is another story. If anyone is interested I will describe how I corrected the problem.
Hugh

Good storage Idea Hugh Having inherited my lathe a also inherited storge ideas. Dad had limited space so he built a shallow cabinet with holes drilled in the edges of 2"X4" for tools over his lathe. He put doors over the front also, kept the tools clean and out of sight. I use a metal kitchen cabinet for my lathe tools, it is cluttered somewhat but is very convient.

Ray

 

[ScrapMetal]

Very nice job on the cabinet.

-Ron

 

[jumps4]

sam your lathe and cabinet came out great, nice work
your giving me ideas thanks
steve

 

[Inflight]

Here is my 10" babbitt bearing lathe with a lever action tailstock being used to broach a keyway.

 

[Inflight]

Thats an interesting looking Tail stock... its not an atlas is it?
if so what brand.

nice setup!

Sam

That's an Atlas brand tailstock. They are not too common but you can see them on ebay from time to time. I got mine for about $25 locally. Unlike the big guys, you have to fully retract the lever then manually swivel the turret to the next tool to index. It works great for short run "screw machine" type of jobs.

Check out the many accessories available for these lathes http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas/page10.html.


Matt

 

[GK1918]

beautifully excellent!!!

the other Sam

 

[Phil Morris]

Here is something from the smaller end of the Atlas range. It is an Atlas 618 MKII. I powered it with a motor and controller from a treadmill. It really worked well and I used it for a few years before I found a larger lathe and passed this one on. I really liked the set up. I built the bench from some scrap extrusions I had been saving.