# Atlas Hor/Vert Mill



## LJP (May 13, 2014)

I picked up this Atlas Mill with a vertical head about a month ago. It was in a basement with junk just thrown in everywhere. (Craiglist find, but I was there for a grinder.) When I got it home, I discovered the change gear bracket MF-30 was broken. The knob MF-38 had been been hit by something and was bent over, I put it on the BP and drilled it out. 
I found a replacement part on Ebay for $250, but I decided to spend 5 times that amount in time and make it myself out of 6061 aluminum. The old casting was very brittle.
First I cleaned all the parts of the pot metal casting and glued them back together with Devcon 5 minute epoxy. This allowed me to get good dimensions off the old piece that are critical for the gear train to work correctly. I did a detailed drawing of the part and did a dry run in plywood to make sure the gears were spaced properly. These gears provide 4 different speeds for the table feed, called the Atlas Change-O-Matic. The speeds are controlled by turning the large knob and engaging a spring loaded pin that registers on the back side of the bracket. This is by far the most complicated bit of machining I have done, with a lot of rotary table work on the Bridgeport mill.
I changed Atlas's design a bit, in that I made a separate shaft to mount the knob. This shaft has an oiler that fills a small reservoir with oil in the center and feeds down a v-groove in the original MF 32 Stud, that carries the MF33A Drive Gear (shown mounted on the shaft in the last picture). This drive gear meshes with MF58X which is the Reverse Gear Tumbler Assembly, and provides the power for left and right hand feed of the table.
All my careful measurement paid off and everything fit as it should, first time through, very pleased!


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## Don B (May 13, 2014)

Nice work...!)


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## Marco Bernardini (May 13, 2014)

Excellent repair!
After all, who can make good machines if not good machinists?


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## george wilson (May 13, 2014)

Good work!!!

Make sure on that mill that the power feed gear box has not ruptured. Very thin pot metal housing. I had one years ago that had that happen. The only solution is to make a new housing. I had bought an Atlas for my ageing step father,and the power feed box was split open. He wanted a light machine that we could take apart,and he could lift into his shop in Georgia. He had a neighbor who helped him.


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## frbutts (May 13, 2014)

fantastic job


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## 34_40 (May 13, 2014)

NICE!  You set quite a standard!:victory:


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## omni_dilletante (May 13, 2014)

Very impressive.  Any chance you created a drawing in this process that you could share?


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## VSAncona (May 14, 2014)

Wow! Very impressive, nice job!


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## LJP (May 14, 2014)

omni_dilletante said:


> Very impressive.  Any chance you created a drawing in this process that you could share?



Thanks for all the comments guys.

Omni, yes I have a drawing. I will need to clean it up a bit, but I will post it soon.


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## LJP (May 15, 2014)

I got this mill with no arbor. Bought a new 1" arbor for around $80 from Jeff at "Tools4Cheap".
The support arm above the arbor was so tight in the machine I needed to tap it out with a rubber mallet. I chucked it up in the lathe and took .002" of and it is still very snug.
Found another picture of machining on the rotary table, so thought I would include it.




Found another picture of machining on the rotary table, so thought I would include it.



Created those bosses with a boring head and hand ground cutter. Worked very well


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## LJP (May 17, 2014)

Last part needed for the table feed is the "Yoke" part # MF-26. Again the original is made out of pot metal and was very brittle. I made the replacement from 01 tool steel. All the parts are now made and installed, the table travels left and right as it should.


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