Topcraft's New 10d

wa5cab

wa5cab

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*** This thread was split out of the sticky Serial Number thread. ***

Chuck,

Where is the ON-OFF switch mounted (in the headstock casting or in a separate box mounted on the front of the headstock)? Is the change gear cover fabricated (has square corners) or cast (has rounded corners)? Best way to answer would be with some photos, starting with a full front view of the entire lathe.
 
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Short answers? in the headstock casting, and the change gear cover cover is cast. I promise I will post pics tomorrow. The tag I mentioned is 2 x 3 1/8, and reads -Atlas Quality- shop equipment since 1911- Atlas Press co Kalamazoo Mich. U.S.A.-, and is black and silver, their are 2 -96t gears, and it has a strange threading chart inside the cover. what I mean to say, is I haven't run across another chart like it in my reading yet, I have owned it since July, and have just started to clean it up. I will post pics tomorrow
 
Just thinking, could the D stand for deluxe? or is it just wishful thinking on my part. Until I got it, I knew, (and still know) very little about Atlas lathes. I still have a lot to learn.
 
OK. Thanks.

Try to post a photo of the threading chart. I have copies of several and will compare them.

I have or have copies of Atlas Catalog 15 and Atlas Catalog 26 (and a couple of earlier and a bunch of later). So far, nothing in between has shown up. The back geared lathe photos in #26 match your description except that they show the later compound slide. They also show the early (two stud) compound swivel. Those in #15 show early fabricated gear cover, headstock with separate switch box, early compound slide with small wheel instead of crank, and of course early compound swivel with studs.

I'm pretty sure that the D prefix means 10D, not Deluxe because I have a report of one with an A suffix that is stripped down. However, what (or whether) cause the nomenclature change from 10 to 10D is still a mystery. No catalog yet has ever mentioned 10D. But it was used on a lot of part numbers. I think that we are going to find, if we ever do, that the defining change was the headstock casting change from separate to integral switch.

I forgot to ask whether your compound swivel is held in place by two vertical studs with hex nuts on top or by two horizontal square head screws.
 
Two vertical on each side. One top and one on bottom holding the shaft
 
OK. I wasn't aware of any on bottom. But you have to remove the nuts from the two top ones in order to remove the compound swivel and install the milling attachment, for example? Then that at least agrees with the serial number quoted in the early catalogs. Which say that the change was made at S/N 3970. The note appears as early as Catalog # 25, which seems to have been printed near the end of 1937.
 
I was a bit tired last night, and I misunderstood the question about the compound slide. It has the two vertical screws with half nuts to tighten them. I actually panicked a little when I bought the milling attachment, as it was for the newer dovetail post type with the horizontal square head screws. Easy fix tho, I bought one of the later style off Ebay, and it fits the machine and the mill attachment nicely. Pics are coming
 
Well, let's give this a shot, if it works more to come later.IMG_0359-(1).jpg IMG_0360.jpg
 
Wow, that's in really remarkable condition for its age. It doesn't look like it's been repainted or had any botched repairs made to it. Nice lathe. Do you have the tailstock for it?
 
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