# Atlas prices



## jwmay (May 8, 2021)

Has anyone else noticed a sharp uptick in Atlas lathe prices in your area?  

A couple years back, I could buy a 618 for 300-650 pretty much any time. A 10F rarely went higher than $1200, and only then if it had a qcgb.  The top line Craftsman Commercials were not much different in price than today.  But I haven't seen a 618 for less than a thousand bucks in a good long while. And regular change gear 10F lathes are 1500-2000 dollars.  Seems like the complete machines are beginning to equal the sum of their parts.   
 I'm a little torn by that.  Glad to see the machines may not get parted out quite so often.  But it sure is harder to find the extras without cheap machines on top of cabinets full of tooling! Ha!  

Anyway I was just curious what people are seeing  where they live.


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## markba633csi (May 8, 2021)

I've been noticing that for a while.  Ebay thing is great if you need a part but it has the undesirable effect of making whole machines harder to find and more expensive- everyone wants to get rich parting them out
-M


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## Ulma Doctor (May 8, 2021)

folks often overvalue their items for sale


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## NCjeeper (May 8, 2021)

I have not been following the lathes, but the shapers and horizontal mills have had a surge in pricing.


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## Aaron_W (May 8, 2021)

Agree with Mike, I've seen those kinds of prices, but watching Craigslist and Ebay, the ones that sell aren't usually that high unless a really nice example.. 

I've been watching the  6" Atlas lathes the past year and they are still selling around $500-600 unless they are really clean and have tooling. Sure I've seen them listed for $2000 but they linger for a long time..
There is a Craftsman commercial for $900 on my local CL, and it has been there for about a week. There was another asking $1500 that was up for well over a month, and I'm assuming the seller finally took a lower offer to move it. Both looked decent in the photos. 
Ebay is a little different since there is a wider audience and some of those high prices include shipping which can add hundreds of dollars to the price.


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## Packard V8 (May 8, 2021)

I recently sold a 618 on a good stand, with decent tooling and gears, for $650 and thought I was getting top dollar.

jack vines


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## benmychree (May 8, 2021)

I think that there much higher quality lathes out there for a good deal less money --- Aaron W can testify to this.


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## wrat (May 8, 2021)

Machine tools are a foundational commodity of any economy.
As the dollar plummets in value, it will require many more of them to purchase items of intrinsic value.  Even the Commodities market can stave it off for only so long.  Copper, Iron, Lumber, etc.  All on a meteoric, yet oddly silent, rise.
Oh, sure, the dollar may not plummet in comparison to soft investments that can be propped up - like fiscal instruments.  But against food and goods, it's sinking with no bottom in sight.
That will include any machine tool of any size and shape and eventually reach right down to used lawnmowers -- what if you can afford the gas to run one.


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## benmychree (May 8, 2021)

I more agree with Aaron W and Ulmadoc, some people grossly overprice what they are trying to sell, hoping for a chance sucker to take the hook.


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## JPMacG (May 10, 2021)

I have not noticed a change in the price of Atlas lathes, but Atlas mills and shapers have risen in price around here.  They are relatively rare compared to lathes.  YouTube videos and forums like this have stimulated interest.


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## Dave Smith (May 10, 2021)

I think the buyers are more to blame than the sellers for the rising prices. they want machines on a quick whim and hunt them down relentlessly willing to pay high prices--- so the demand is up. many of us that have extras are all the sudden willing to part with our treasures at the high prices people are paying. new machines also drive the prices up for the old iron. supply and demand in action. us old folks used to have to wait till our later years to chase our dreams of shop machinery, after we had some extra money. --- young people now seem to have lots of money to spend and can fill their machine shop quickly. 
I think the reason the Atlas mills and lathes and shapers are high priced and in demand is they fit into smaller shops--- and machinists have accomplished a lot with them. they also can be picked up in a small vehicle and don't weigh a ton.
Dave


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## phubbman (May 13, 2021)

They've gone up in my area.  It seems like you need a grand to get a 618 in good shape with tooling.  Luckily, i have mine already.  Of course there are always examples of machines for sale (ebay or otherwise) for crazy high prices.  I think of that more in terms of what they don't sell for rather than what they are selling for.  Exceptions to every rule though.  I still see the occassional good deal, but not often.

I wonder if the price spike wasn't a convergence of the "maker movement" along with the pandemic.  A lot of people were suddenly stuck home looking for things to do, like getting into or expanding that hobby they've always wanted more time for.  Seems like home shop sized machines in general (I noticed the same uptick with old woodworking machines) got quite expensive.  They were already trending up with the maker movement, then jumped quite a bit more with all these suddenly home bound people.


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## Aaron_W (May 13, 2021)

phubbman said:


> They've gone up in my area.  It seems like you need a grand to get a 618 in good shape with tooling.  Luckily, i have mine already.  Of course there are always examples of machines for sale (ebay or otherwise) for crazy high prices.  I think of that more in terms of what they don't sell for rather than what they are selling for.  Exceptions to every rule though.  I still see the occassional good deal, but not often.
> 
> I wonder if the price spike wasn't a convergence of the "maker movement" along with the pandemic.  A lot of people were suddenly stuck home looking for things to do, like getting into or expanding that hobby they've always wanted more time for.  Seems like home shop sized machines in general (I noticed the same uptick with old woodworking machines) got quite expensive.  They were already trending up with the maker movement, then jumped quite a bit more with all these suddenly home bound people.



That and for many the stimulus checks were just free money which may have resulted in some people being a little less concerned with the price. If you have this new found free time, and have a job that let you start tele-commuting so your finances have if anything improved and then you get a check for $1400, well paying a few hundred dollars more than you should to get a new toy now when you can use it kind of makes sense. 

The other side is the supply may have also gone down. I think a lot of the machines on CL and Ebay are spring cleaning machines. Someone is cleaning out the garage and decides it is time to get rid of that old machine they haven't used in years. With the lock down many probably saw that machine under boxes of crap and instead of heading for CL they thought, Hey I have time to learn to use that now.


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## JPMacG (May 13, 2021)

New imports are in short supply.   Precision Matthews, for example, has a lot of stuff listed as on back order or not available.  I guess this is related to the ongoing US-China trade conflict.   So I suppose that might cause the price of Atlas stuff to rise.


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## ARC-170 (May 18, 2021)

It would be interesting to see what the sell price is compared to the asking price. I sold an Atlas Craftsman 12x36 a few weeks ago for $1400. No tooling, just a 3-jaw chuck and a HF drill chuck. I took it apart and cleaned and painted it. I was asking $1900 to leave room for the low-ballers. CL seems to be like that; no matter what you ask, someone always offers you way less. I usually do my homework to get an idea of what something costs new and what it is selling for on CL, then I price my item to sell, and I have an idea of what my item is worth so I can accept a lower offer and get the sale.


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## wa5cab (May 19, 2021)

Just a reminder that describing a lathe only as an "Atlas Craftsman 12x36" covers if I've counted correctly 18 different models (from 101.07360 through 101.28990) made over almost half a century.  So no one can know whether the two quoted prices are from WAY! above average to typical price range.


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## ARC-170 (May 19, 2021)

wa5cab said:


> Just a reminder that describing a lathe only as an "Atlas Craftsman 12x36" covers if I've counted correctly 18 different models (from 101.07360 through 101.28990) made over almost half a century.  So no one can know whether the two quoted prices are from WAY! above average to typical price range.


To be more specific, it was a 101.27440 (I think the bearing dates were 1950, IIRC) with the QCGB removed and replaced with change gears, so it was converted into a 101.07403.


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## Aaron_W (May 19, 2021)

ARC-170 said:


> It would be interesting to see what the sell price is compared to the asking price. I sold an Atlas Craftsman 12x36 a few weeks ago for $1400. No tooling, just a 3-jaw chuck and a HF drill chuck. I took it apart and cleaned and painted it. I was asking $1900 to leave room for the low-ballers. CL seems to be like that; no matter what you ask, someone always offers you way less. I usually do my homework to get an idea of what something costs new and what it is selling for on CL, then I price my item to sell, and I have an idea of what my item is worth so I can accept a lower offer and get the sale.



Wow I'm surprised you did so well on that without a QCGB. I've watched 2 semi-local to me, Craftsman 12x36 with stands and QCGB linger for a couple weeks at $900. I think one was the later "commercial" model with the underdrive stand. The other one came with a nice but non-factory work bench.


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## wa5cab (May 20, 2021)

OK.  Then I am also a little surprised that you got that much for a 101.07403 with no accessories to speak of.


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## ARC-170 (May 20, 2021)

Aaron_W said:


> Wow I'm surprised you did so well on that without a QCGB. I've watched 2 semi-local to me, Craftsman 12x36 with stands and QCGB linger for a couple weeks at $900. I think one was the later "commercial" model with the underdrive stand. The other one came with a nice but non-factory work bench.





wa5cab said:


> OK.  Then I am also a little surprised that you got that much for a 101.07403 with no accessories to speak of.


The buyer said he was working on some "secret project" (something to do with lighting that sounded like BS to me) and needed a lathe because he could have someone else make what he wanted or do it himself for the same price and keep is secret. There wasn't much else available at the time, either.
I kept the change gears, too. It came with nothing, except as noted in my edit to my post above. It was actually a nice machine. Had I had room, I would've kept it.


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## wa5cab (May 22, 2021)

ok.


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