# Atlas 3982 Restoration Is It Worth It?



## SloppyJoe (Oct 15, 2022)

New member here.
First time, short time.

I've inherited an Atlas 3982 that seems in pretty good shape except for very mild surface rust here and there that can be removed easily with steel wool.
It comes with several attachments.
Is it worth restoring?

I'd love to learn how to use it. It seems like a lot of fun.

Thanks in advance.


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## great white (Oct 15, 2022)

I'd put it together and use it. Other than being partially disassembled, it doesn't look like it would take much to put it back in fighting trim.

That's a great little unit as a first lathe and will take quite a while for you to "outgrow" it.

If you do decide part it out, just that milling attachment alone tends to ask 400-600 on ebay, the QCGB is even more...


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## Martin W (Oct 15, 2022)

IMHO I would put it to use . Looks like a really nice lathe as is. From the pictures a little cleaning and oiling and you have an excellent machine to learn on.
Cheers
Martin


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## francist (Oct 15, 2022)

Milling attachment, what looks like maybe a taper attachment in the back of the pan, and hardly a scratch on it -- what's not to like?


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 15, 2022)

That is a beautiful machine.  You may check around and learn how to run it.  I have a good friend who is a retired professor at MIT and he taught machine tool engineering. I can email him and see if he can help you find a tutor.  Email me and I'll forward it to him.  Put your info and attach those pictures and I'll write him.   Richard@handscraping.com    Rich


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## Jake M (Oct 15, 2022)

SloppyJoe said:


> Atlas 3982 Restoration Is It Worth It?​




No.  You should carry it out by the road and sell it for cheap.   

If you don't want my advice though, and you're gonna keep it anyway.....  It's well equipped, appears to have been well cared for.  I'd clean it up, and if you don't already know the answer, find out why it's apart, give it what it needs, if anything, and take up any and all local offers for assistance in getting started.  It's a great "beginner lathe", but at the same time, it's also the kind of lathe that a lot of beginners end up moving up to, and a lot of "not beginners" have settled on as being quite suitable as a perminant fixture for home shop use.  If you do want a lathe, I'd call that one a keeper.  I sure wouldn't be restoring it though.  Just looking at your pictures, I'd venture to guess that a few repairs (or maybe just re assembly?) and a little cleanup should have you a nearly new looking machine.


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## benmychree (Oct 15, 2022)

Restore ????????? it appears as new.  What is to restore?  As above noted, find out why the apron is off the carriage, something broken?  Hopefully easy to fix.


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 15, 2022)

The machine looks pristine so I suspect your relative who left it to you was replacing the 1/2 nut or was doing some sort of maintenance on it.  Can you ask someone or is there any cartons near the machine with new parts in them?   Take some close ups of the saddle, that's the part sitting in front of the long bed front, maybe we wanted to take the saddle off to check the lube system.   I would be positive about it.  It has a quick change, taper attachment and milling attachment.  I bet the drawers are full of round chucks, collets and all sorts of tools.   Open the drawers and take photo's for us to see.  Or as I said I have a friend in Boston who could tell you the value or what's wrong with it.  Check with your relatives if your Dad or uncle...who gave you the machine had friends he shared his hobby with.  Be a detective and find out it's history.


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## FOMOGO (Oct 16, 2022)

Looks like it was just unpacked from the factory. Have bigger/better, but it was my first, and doubt I will ever get rid of it. Mike


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## MikeInOr (Oct 16, 2022)

From your pictures your Atlas lathe looks to be in excellent original condition.  Doing any kind of "Restoration" on it would most likely decrease its value.  If there  are maintenance items that need taking care of I would strongly encourage you to do so but I would not substantially alter it from its current condition if it were mine.

I had a 12" Atlas lathe without the quick change gearbox.  It cost me less to switch to a 13" South Bend lathe with a quick change gearbox than it would have cost me to add a quick change gearbox to my 12" Atlas.  IMHO Atlas lathes are kind of entry level lathes but one with a quick change gearbox makes it infinitely more useful than a lathe without a quick change gear box.

That would be a great lathe for learning how to use a lathe!


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## JPMacG (Oct 16, 2022)

MrPete222 on youtube has a series of excellent videos on running an Atlas lathe.

And I agree with others - the lathe is beautiful.  No restoration is necessary or desirable.  A fresh paint job, for example,  would likely decrease its value.


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## SloppyJoe (Oct 16, 2022)

Thanks guys for all the encouragement.
Great knowing I've got a good tool worth my time.

I should have been clear but I had to disassemble as much as I dared when removing it from the basement it was located at. But boy it sure was heavy. Luckily I had an electric stair climber. I had to set up a winch to lift it onto the bench where it's located now.

Right now I'm in the midst of disassembling sub assemblies, cleaning off surface rust and old gummy oil residue. Taking things apart is a great way to understand how something operates. Trick is remembering how it went back together without any leftover parts.

I do have one issue though. When removing one of the assemblies off the raceway, a nut fell out onto the floor. I have no idea where it goes and theschematicsc offer no clues. I've included a photo of it below. It just might be a part that was dropped and forgotten about and has nothing to do the assemblies I was removing. 





















	

		
			
		

		
	
i


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## SloppyJoe (Oct 16, 2022)

benmychree said:


> Restore ????????? it appears as new.  What is to restore?  As above noted, find out why the apron is off the carriage, something broken?  Hopefully easy to fix.


Well restore as in cleaning and lubing.
Its covered in gummy oil mixed with rust and dust.
If it wasn't worth my time I wouldn't want to spend hours doing so for nothing.


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## SloppyJoe (Oct 16, 2022)

Jake M said:


> No.  You should carry it out by the road and sell it for cheap.
> 
> If you don't want my advice though, and you're gonna keep it anyway.....  It's well equipped, appears to have been well cared for.  I'd clean it up, and if you don't already know the answer, find out why it's apart, give it what it needs, if anything, and take up any and all local offers for assistance in getting started.  It's a great "beginner lathe", but at the same time, it's also the kind of lathe that a lot of beginners end up moving up to, and a lot of "not beginners" have settled on as being quite suitable as a perminant fixture for home shop use.  If you do want a lathe, I'd call that one a keeper.  I sure wouldn't be restoring it though.  Just looking at your pictures, I'd venture to guess that a few repairs (or maybe just re assembly?) and a little cleanup should have you a nearly new looking machine.


Ok, it's at curb with a sign on it saying FREE.


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## SloppyJoe (Oct 16, 2022)

JPMacG said:


> MrPete222 on youtube has a series of excellent videos on running an Atlas lathe.
> 
> And I agree with others - the lathe is beautiful.  No restoration is necessary or desirable.  A fresh paint job, for example,  would likely decrease its value.


I'll check him out, thanks.


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## Jake M (Oct 16, 2022)

SloppyJoe said:


> Ok, it's at curb with a sign on it saying FREE.




Probably it'd be like an old recliner.  At free it would sit out in the weather for two weeks, but if you hang a $25 dollar for sale sign on it, somebody will steal it in an hour.   

That "nut" is not a nut, I don't believe.  If this lathe is anything like it's little brother, it's the carriage lock.  Admittedly it kind of acts like a nut, but when you tighten the screw, it pinches against the bed to hold the carriage in position if you were facing a part, or using a milling attachment where you couldn't allow the carriage to move under cutting forces.  Probably (again, based on your lathe's little brother), probably there was a square headed screw going straight down into the saddle, behind the apron  on the right hand side as you're standing in the operator's position.    

Now let me decode what I just said.  What you called a "raceway", we'd call a bed way, or just a "way".  That whole casting that has the ways ground into it, that would be the lathe bed.  Sliding on the ways  would be the carriage.  The carriage is an assembly of the apron (the part you removed from the front, with the lead screw going through it), plus the saddle, which is the "horizontal component" that actually sits on the ways, and the cross slide, and the compound slide, which sit on top of that.  I hope you can sort that out easy enough?  

The Mr Pete 222  recommendation is a good one.  He's a retired shop teacher, a little bit dry, and somewhat dated.  Just about as dated as the machines that many of us enjoy using...  It's a pretty good match.  Highly recommended.


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 16, 2022)

That machine with all the accessories is worth a minimum of$10,000.00 .  You taking it apart make sense.   My friend who lives in Boston is Professor Alex Slocum, who is more famous then Mr. Pete.  https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/slocum@mit.edu   I would bet he can help your or knows someone who can help you in person.  It sounds as if your a good mechanic and after you learn how to run it, you will do just fine.


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## vtcnc (Oct 16, 2022)

Richard King 2 said:


> That machine with all the accessories is worth a minimum of$10,000.00 . You taking it apart make sense. My friend who lives in Boston is Professor Alex Slocum, who is more famous then Mr. Pete. https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/slocum@mit.edu I would bet he can help your or knows someone who can help you in person. It sounds as if your a good mechanic and after you learn how to run it, you will do just fine.



$10k?? Umm…hey Rich, my shop is for sale if you want to swing by and take a look! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 16, 2022)

Look at Grizzly and a new machine that size is $6000.00   If I still had the used machinery dealership I would ask $10,000.00  for that like new machine with the bench and all the goodies.  I am sure I could sell it for that.   Hobby shop forum members are always looking for a deal.  I am talking about people in Boston not an area where no one is buying or working. I bet if I asked Phil Perry one of my old forum moderators who is famous for rebuilding a South Bend Lathe that was called "The Gold Plated Lathe" could easily find a customer for it.  He sells to Rich hobbyists now who buy rebuilt cars and machines.  He told me the Gold Plated lathe is in a showroom between to perfect Etsels.


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