# Craftsman lathe is it a good deal?



## 98rangerll (Apr 14, 2013)

I found a old craftsman lathe for sale for 115.00 I'm real tight on money and it doesn't come with much it has a Jacobs chuck and some change gears no centers or chucks or face plate not even sure if it turns or not is it worth buying and getting a chuck for it or would I be farther ahead to get on ebay and buy on for double the money that has a bunch of stuff with it and not have to search for all the pieces to get it in running order? Any advice guys


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## pdentrem (Apr 14, 2013)

No centers, no chucks, no face plate. 

What does it come with? Kind of missing some important parts. Price out the missing stuff and compare that to a complete setup. 

I would look some where else.
Pierre


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## Uncle Buck (Apr 14, 2013)

No one can give an accurate answer without pics.


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## ChuckB (Apr 14, 2013)

Buck's right.. we need pictures..

My gut feeling though: Save up your money and keep looking..


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## Rick Leslie (Apr 14, 2013)

Like said above: pics help. Also depends on the model, shape and how close it is to you. Shipping adds a whole lot to internet "bargains". I paid a whole lot more for a worn 12" Craftsman about 30 years ago and drove 200 miles to get it. But I needed it then and it's served me very well. You will need some basic tooling before you can use it at all, so figure that cost into the initial purchase price.


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## 98rangerll (Apr 15, 2013)

Got a pic the lady says it has a set of change gears but she didn't know if its a complete set or partial set but other than that what you see is what you get from what she says the lathe is about a our from we're I am I can go pick it up my self so I would have a little fuel witch saves from shipping charges but its still money is money and she says she might come down a little she was talking about 50 bucks but then changed her price to 150 and I told her it wouldn't happen and then she said 115 but now she is talking about coming back down some so ill keep you posted as she goes


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## pdentrem (Apr 15, 2013)

That is a Dunlap lathe, sold by Sears under their Craftsman label. 

There has to be components etc somewhere in the house. They will not be large like a 10" Atlas but try to look around. At least it is only missing the chucks.

Here is a writeup about these lathes.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/craftsman/page4.html

Pierre


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## pecanguy (Apr 15, 2013)

Pass -- keep looking.  You can find a better machine for a little more money.


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## mrgoodwrench (Apr 15, 2013)

I agree. Pass this one up. That is a Craftsman "109", which is notorious for bending the head stock spindle in the event of a crash.  For what it will cost to accessorize this one, you can buy a larger and complete setup on ebay


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## Uncle Buck (Apr 15, 2013)

I agree with everything the others have said here. The lathe was made by a company called AA products for Sears. Save your money and buy something else. While yes it is a lathe, though small, it will give you twice it's weight in frustration trying to really do anything of benefit on it. 

Even a small 6" Atlas would be light years ahead of this machine. Any lathe someone advertises as a Sears, Craftsman, or Dunlap metal lathe 6" lathe that has V type ways will be a AA machine like the one above. There was a previous generation of this machine that will look a bit older and less refined but real official for a small lathe; they are NOT as good as they look. In summation, run from any older metal lathe of this size with V type ways. 

I would give an approving nod to a 6" Atlas or Craftsman lathe with flat ways though. Just know that many folks will tell you to run from virtually any Atlas machines. I am not one of those folks, almost every machine I own is an Atlas/Craftsman machine. I like them, they were what was convenient to me, and they do what I need them to do.


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## itsme_Bernie (Apr 15, 2013)

Pass




Bernie


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## robert1352 (Apr 16, 2013)

I agree at that price you really cant go wrong. I would snap it up in a minute!!


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## itsme_Bernie (Apr 16, 2013)

Like Buck said, the flat way Atlas lathes are great.   I have a 618, the 6in Atlas, and it is fantastic.

You have to be careful with this Atlas / DunLap model. 
If it is cheap enough, I could see the temptation.  But if anything goes wrong, or you actually want to accessorize it, you are putting bad money back in.

WAY better to get any other Atlas in terrible shape, and have fun rebuilding it.

Unless you want to have a little fun, then strip this one down and sell it off.  That IS, IF the spindle is still straight NOW.  These have a 1/2-20 spindle from my memory, which were known to bend.  This makes the machine pretty useless.  
I would also check EBay quickly and see what parts and accessories go for first.

Let us know what you do! 

Bernie


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## Uncle Buck (Apr 16, 2013)

itsme_Bernie said:


> Like Buck said, the flat way Atlas lathes are great.   I have a 618, the 6in Atlas, and it is fantastic.
> 
> You have to be careful with this Atlas / DunLap model.
> If it is cheap enough, I could see the temptation.  But if anything goes wrong, or you actually want to accessorize it, you are putting bad money back in.
> ...



While sold by Sears and others, this lathe never was in any way related to Atlas lathes. This machine and other 6" V way machines sold by Sears was made by a long gone company by the name of Double A or AA. I have several of these machines myself and I would strongly reccommend finding something else to put both time and money into. Pardon my french, but this just must be said, remember this and it will serve you well. "You can't polish a turd" :biggrin:

One last thing to keep in mind, it does not much matter what you do or what you buy to restore or improve that machine, it will never be worth more than a few hundred bucks; and that is assuming you take the time to restore it and pour more money into a toolpost and holders etc etc to outfit it enough to sell it to someone else new to the hobby that is not aware just how undesireable these machines are. You would be lucky to ever even get out of it what you had in it and in fact may not even be able to do that! About the only thing I could suggest a machine like that would be good for would be to clean, repaint and in general restore. Then take the machine and set it on a mantle or shelf as a cute little collectable that looks nice setting on a table or the like. Don't even hook up a motor, just set it there like you would a model car or something.


*NOTE: For anyone that already has one of these old machines I certainly mean no disrespect to you, your machine of choice, or anyone else. (as I said, I have several of these machines muyself) I am simply trying to give this fellow the most honest opinion of this machine that I can. *


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## kd4gij (Apr 16, 2013)

I agree with Uncle Buck, unless penn turning is your goal stay away from this.


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## rammed (Apr 16, 2013)

Search ebay "Craftsman 109" for parts.


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## VSAncona (Apr 16, 2013)

I would buy it and turn around and sell it on ebay for $300-400 and put the money toward a different (better) lathe.


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## wwunder (Apr 16, 2013)

VSAncona said:


> I would buy it and turn around and sell it on ebay for $300-400 and put the money toward a different (better) lathe.



I started out with a 109 lathe, and moved up to the 10" Atlas.  I would say that for that price you should snap it up and use it for a bit or just sell it.  If it has a full set of change gears they are worth the purchase price right there.  I believe the 6" Atlas uses the same change gears as the 109.

A good way to put an inexpensive, but decent chuck is to make an adapter from the 1/2" 20TPI spindle to 3/4 16TPI.  You can then mount a Taig or Sherline chuck on it for ~$70.  I did that on my machine and even made the adapter in place on the spindle so it ran perfectly true.

Good Luck


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## mrbreezeet1 (Apr 16, 2013)

Save your money and keep looking. I had one of those, I was tickled pink for about 2 months.  out grew it pretty quick. 
You are really pretty limited as to what you can do on one of those.


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## 98rangerll (Apr 16, 2013)

Ok we'll I'm passing on this lathe what does everyone thing about the grizzly g0602 lathe


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## ChuckB (Apr 19, 2013)

98rangerll said:


> Ok we'll I'm passing on this lathe what does everyone thing about the grizzly g0602 lathe



I would try to find a decent American machine if you could. 

No offense to Atlas owners (I am one myself.. my second one.. currently have an Atlas commercial  12/36 which is decent.) but I would find a heavier machine. I am restoring a SB 10L. Just finished the compound/apron.. very heavy assembly.. The same assembly on the Atlas is so light and small compared to the SB.. in my opinion, this is what makes the lathe, and of course the ways which on the Atlas are flat and lighter compaired to the SB vee'ed ways. I purchased both for about the same price.. I certianly don't regret buying the Atlas.. as a matter of fact, if need be, I could sell it and get all my money back, but plan keep it, hinging on having room for it (I am running out of space in the garage).. It has been good to me. 

My thoughts on imports.. kind of like motorcycles.. imports are good, but with a poorer resale value in general, exceptions exist.. Old american machines tend to hold their value. Of course you have to weigh in how long you want to wait to find a lathe.  Decent import's are readily available and NEW or used will preform side by side with an American machine. Hindsight: Try to find a decent American lathe, at the right price during your first purchase.. I have had three lathes and if I knew what I know now back then and happen to be low on funds, I would purchased a single machine, probably a SB 10L, that no doubt woud be heavily tooled from the funds used to purchase the other two.. but then again, if I could do it over, based on my situation, I still would have purchased the 2 Atlas lathes and will no doubt keep my current Atlas.

This is just my amature opinion. I am sure others will vary.

Read this link before buying a lathe, no matter what brand you buy:

http://www.mermac.com/advicenew.html

But If you do so, read this one also: 

http://www.mermac.com/klunker2.html


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## The Liberal Arts Garage (Dec 24, 2013)

From way back,when I had to had to turn stuff for very old car restorations, trying to learn how as I worked, I couldn't figure out why chatter was always imminent. I fiddled with tools, speeds, angles,etc. and with a lot of filing made what I needed. My lathe was an old , loose Atlas, and I knew no better. Now that we know more, we can say that all chatter problems are resonance -related; if the circumstances are unfortunate, everything has resonant frequencies.In mechanical circumstances ,we can raise or lower those frequencies with tightness, stiffness, weights added at nodes, stiffening plates,etc.  Let's think about how to analyze these resonances using cheap modern electronics.  No Tektronix scopes, etc please!           BLJHB , and thanks for your time.


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## wa5cab (Dec 26, 2013)

This is 'way off subject and off the purpose of this site, but what's wrong  with Tektronix  oscilloscopes?  Aside for a couple of collectible US  military WW-II vintage Dumonts, I've never owned nor bought for my  department anything else.

Robert D



The Liberal Arts Garage said:


> No Tektronix scopes, etc please!           BLJHB , and thanks for your time.


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## The Liberal Arts Garage (Dec 27, 2013)

wa5cab said:


> This is 'way off subject and off the purpose of this site, but what's wrong  with Tektronix  oscilloscopes?  Aside for a couple of collectible US  military WW-II vintage Dumonts, I've never owned nor bought for my  department anything else.
> 
> Robert D


Dear Robert, Tektronix are the best- Iused to work with them at the SYLVANIA  applied research lab. Only meant to exclude such high- end stuff from my project suggestion........BLJHB


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## wa5cab (Dec 28, 2013)

OK.  

Robert D.


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## ericc (Dec 28, 2013)

Uh-oh.  I just bought one of these.  The price was just too hard to resist.  It is missing a few parts, but the chuck runout does not look bad.  It does not pass the front bearing lift test.  I am going to try to get it working at a minimum expense.  The first think that I wanted to make was RC car parts from 1/4" aluminum round.  If it is too weak for this stuff, then it is indeed a bad purchase.


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## wa5cab (Dec 28, 2013)

As you already have it, if you fix it back to original specs it should do those parts OK.  I won't say "don't have a crash" because the only valid excuses are stroke, heart attack, and anything in excess of 20 kiloton yield nearby.    There is a manual on one variant of AA in Downloads now.

Robert D.


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## wwunder (Dec 28, 2013)

I had one and it should be fine for aluminum.  The biggest issue you will have is the lack of graduated handwheels.  I have seen workarounds using dial indicators, digital readouts, or making/ fitting proper graduated dials.  Without them the work process involves a lot of stopping to check and working to tolerances in range of. 005 to. 010.

Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk


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## The Liberal Arts Garage (Jan 1, 2014)

ericc said:


> Uh-oh.  I just bought one of these.  The price was just too hard to resist.  It is missing a few parts, but the chuck runout does not look bad.  It does not pass the front bearing lift test.  I am going to try to get it working at a minimum expense.  The first think that I wanted to make was RC car parts from 1/4" aluminum round.  If it is too weak for this stuff, then it is indeed a bad purchase.


The front bearing is adjustable- jus tighten(gently) the giant nut inside the headstock.If that won't don't despair. $160 will buy the whole kit; if the shaft is straight and 0.255+001 - 000, just bearings for about $48, plus two suitable beat-up deep sockets and a piece of threaded rod, etc.  Just look on eBay.......BLJHB


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## kd8wdave (Mar 3, 2014)

ericc said:


> Uh-oh.  I just bought one of these.  The price was just too hard to resist.  It is missing a few parts, but the chuck runout does not look bad.  It does not pass the front bearing lift test.  I am going to try to get it working at a minimum expense.  The first think that I wanted to make was RC car parts from 1/4" aluminum round.  If it is too weak for this stuff, then it is indeed a bad purchase.



I have one of these. I saw a comment once that said if you're going to use it, clean it up, learn and USE it! Don't bother painting it. If its a restore to look at, then by all means, paint it pretty and put it on the shelf!
I use mine to cut plastic and aluminum (no steel). I have a full set of gears and then some, and have made a few spares for it including a spindle gear.
It was a 'little' lathe sixty plus years ago, and still is. It is a 'baby' lathe, but
mine was good enough to make a couple of parts for my new to me 12 x 37 lathe when the 12 x37 was unable to 'run'. I probably will sell mine in the near future, but I may just give it to the grandkids (they are old enough now).

Have fun, it didn't cost you much. I use mine also to check straightness of misc bars and stuff with a dial indicator.

cheers


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