# The rebirth of the Atlas 618!



## lazyLathe (Mar 28, 2011)

Hi All,

A few weeks ago i picked up an Atlas 618 lathe.




It was painted without any disassembly or cleanup, just a coat of silver paint to hide everything.


I stripped the whole lathe and cleaned everything.
Some parts were sandblasted to bare metal while other more sensitive parts were cleaned with paint stripper and a wire brush.

The ways had some serious damage to them and i was unsure if i could manage to fix it in a way that would still give me a functional lathe.
What i ended up doing was using a two part Cold Weld epoxy.
Mixed it up and filled the damaged areas and then clamped 90 degree angle iron on top to keep the surface smooth and to squeeze out any excess.
This actually worked like a charm!



A bit of light sanding with 1500 and 2000 water paper and a bit of oil and the ways are smooth again!
It still looks a bit rough but the cold weld is so thin it is transparent!
The cross slide works perfectly across the repaired areas and the rust monster has been put at bay!

Shot of lathe assembled after being restored



Headstock and name badge after restoration



Cross slide after restoration



Tail stock restored



I still need to make a platform for the lathe to sit on.
Will fashion it out of wood and have a steel top that the lathe will be bolted to.
The countershaft assembly is still drying, but it is the same colour!

I still need to strip and clean the motor. It is only a 1/4 hp motor but should do for now!
Someone decided to paint it black and again did not do a very good job!
So far i have cleaned one end cap and it is shiny silver aluminium under the paint.
I wil most likely leave it bare and just give it a coat of clear for protection.

Hope you like the way it turned out!
I do not think i will be doing one of these again any time soon!
It was a lot of work!!!
But it looks so much better that when i picked it up!!!

Also have the Mica undercutter that i am restoring along with the special jacobs chucks for holding the armatures. Not too sure what i will do with it, although i hear they are very hard to find!



Let me know what you think!!
Go easy on me, this is the first time i have attempted something like this! 

Andrew


----------



## Tony Wells (Mar 28, 2011)

Looks to me like you did a good job there, Andrew. Nice lathe. 

You're right, the accessories for these old lathes are getting harder to find. Hang onto that commutator kit.


----------



## sasquatch (Mar 28, 2011)

Now you have a decent looking 618 Andrew,, man,,,-- these people that grab a spray bomb and just spray everything are very annoying!!!
 You are fortunate to have got the commutator cutter and the two chucks, i been watching for these for a few years but have been unable to locate any yet for my 618.


----------



## GWRdriver (Apr 5, 2011)

*Re: The rebirth of the Atlas 618!*

Andrew,
Good job, although blue doesn't leap instantly to mind as a favorite machine tool color. Call me old-school, but come to think of it I've seen several rebuilds lately which were painted blue. My first lathe (a loaner) was an old 618, and here's one (not the same one) I restored a few years ago. It now belongs to a happy new owner somewhere. When used within their capacity these are good little machines and when folks ask me what I recommend I suggest they have a look around for one of these before (or while) diving into the import market.
[attachimg=1]


----------



## lazyLathe (Apr 5, 2011)

Thanks for all the comments guys!!

Blue was not my first choice...
I wanted to go with machine grey but the paint store had to special order it and it would take a while to come in.
It was a choice between the gloss blue or fire engine red!
Chose the blue because it was more subtle!

Hopefully i will get it up and running this year sometime...
Too many projects on the "To Do" list!

Great job on your resto GWRdriver!!!

Andrew


----------



## GWRdriver (Apr 5, 2011)

*Re: The rebirth of the Atlas 618!*



			
				lazylathe link=topic=1450.msg9122#msg9122 date=1302052840 said:
			
		

> Great job on your resto GWRdriver!!!


Thanks Andrew. It was kind of fun, bringing all that back to bright and clean. I shoulda' hung on to it, but I got made an offer I couldn't refuse.


----------

