# My Craftsman 12" X 36" Barn Find



## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Jan 19, 2016)

Fairly new to this site but wanted to share my restoration with all.  Found this gem on eBay in September of 2015, and we've been slowly but surely bringing her back to life!  This lathe was purchased new in 1974 (per info from this site, Thanks!), then sold in an estate auction in 1984.  At that time, it was purchased by a gentleman who needed a lathe badly, but really wanted a South Bend.  He had bid on each, but only won the Atlas.  Before he even got the Atlas lathe unloaded, the original buyer of the South Bend defaulted and the auction house called him to see if he was still interested.   He was, and this Atlas was pushed in the corner and NEVER used.  About 5 years ago he ran out of room and decided to move the Atlas to an outside carport!  This, most certainly, did the most damage.  As crazy as this sounds, what wasn't rusted was in "like new" condition.  I got it home the middle of September and began the daunting task of rebuilding/reconditioning it.  Having never tackled a project like this, I was somewhat hesitant, but with the help of my son and one of my employees, we started stripping and bagging everything.  Evaporust, Airplane Paint Remover and sand blasting were the norm for the next two months.  I have a friend who has a powder coating business and he volunteered to powder coat everything.  The pictures here are a kind of before and after.  The quick change gear box case is still at the powder coaters, but I couldn't wait any longer to post the pictures!  I'll have the parts back and installed sometime this week, and hopefully be making chips next week!!  Enjoy!













Lathe When Purchased 1



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Lathe When Purchased 3



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## brasssmanget (Jan 19, 2016)

Looks great! Nice job restoring it.


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## roadie33 (Jan 19, 2016)

Awesome find.
I wish mine looked that good.


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## chips&more (Jan 19, 2016)

VERY NICE, thanks for sharing...Dave.


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## Bob Korves (Jan 19, 2016)

Beautiful!


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## Ulma Doctor (Jan 19, 2016)

very nice work!


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## wawoodman (Jan 19, 2016)

Nice job!


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## FOMOGO (Jan 19, 2016)

Looks great. Another Atlas up and running. Mike


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## dlane (Jan 19, 2016)

Looks real good, 
One question,  did you pre cook the cast iron parts before powder coating to get the imbedded oil out?


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## brino (Jan 19, 2016)

Beautiful restore!



Snell Metalfab - Joe said:


> with the help of my son and one of my employees





Snell Metalfab - Joe said:


> I have a friend who has a powder coating business and he volunteered to powder coat everything.



Sometimes it takes some help to get things moving quicker.
Those are great friends to have!

-brino


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## Bamban (Jan 19, 2016)

Nicely done. I wish I were patient to restore my lathes, I just did the minimal work to get them running.


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Jan 19, 2016)

Dlane, kinda funny, I cleaned them with 2+2 and Castrol Super Clean, then stripped any remaining paint.  The parts looked great to me, in raw steel, and I'm sure that in 5 hours I can have them back.  Wayne (my powder coating buddy) takes them and says "Can't have them back for a few days, I've learned the hard way, these need to cook for a while".  He baked them twice at 400 degrees for 2 hours each time.  Thankfully his shop is detached from his house because the remaining oil smoked out like a chimney!!  I'm sure some Atlas purists may disagree, but I felt that powder coating was the best way for me to go.  It may be a "tick" lighter in color, but it's really close.
Thanks for all the kind words, I was really torn because I really NEED a lathe, but it was basically unusable the way it was.  We applied the old "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right" theory and you see the results!  This same guy I bought this from had a #1 Dake Arbor Press that was rusted beyond belief and we also brought that back to life.  I'll sneak a picture of that on here soon!


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## middle.road (Jan 19, 2016)

Super Clean and there was still oil and grease left? Wow, I would have bet the wrong way on that.
I'll take the powder coat, and the purists can come to like it. That is not a bad way to go at all.
And 60 years or more from now someone else might have it and be amazed at the paint job.
That is a *fantastic *restoration, wish I had the patience (and time) to do it up that way.
(and a buddy with powder coating abilities.... )


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## Mondo (Jan 19, 2016)

Nice looking result!
After all the de-rusting, are the ways flat on top and parallel to the underside?  

If not already done set the bed upside down on a surface plate and check for complete contact end-to-end and front-to-back, then mic the thickness at close intervals on the outside front and back to see if the thickness is constant from end to end.  Check the width from outside front to outside back as well.  Any deviations in these measurements will cause the carriage to slip too easily in some areas then bind somewhere else.

Spiral_Chips


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## David VanNorman (Jan 19, 2016)

Great job . Looks good.


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## Ulma Doctor (Jan 19, 2016)

Snell Metalfab - Joe said:


> I'm sure some Atlas purists may disagree, but I felt that powder coating was the best way for me to go.  It may be a "tick" lighter in color, but it's really close.



The purists should be envious..., your lathe has a better coating.


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## 38Bill (Jan 20, 2016)

Very nice! Wish mine was the underdrive model like yours. Makes for a really nice package.


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Jan 21, 2016)

Welllll...... major league setback....   Anyone know where I can get an Atlas/Craftsman 10-1586?   I was pushing the pin back in and it broke.  Not a fan of cast welding, so I'd like to get another one.   Clausing will sell me one for $354, but that is out of the question.  HELP!!












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__ Snell Metalfab - Joe
__ Jan 21, 2016





Reminds me of the Crown Royal commercial with the broken bottle on the sidewalk....   "Ever seen a grown man cry"


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## pineyfolks (Jan 21, 2016)

That piece looks thick enough to be brazed back together easily. Even if you have to take it to a welding shop you'll be money ahead. Hopefully you'll find a replacement but if not it should be an easy repair. Beautiful lathe by the way.


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## JimDawson (Jan 21, 2016)

That just sucks .  I think that would be a good candidate for nickel-bronze brazing.  Maybe bolt it together first?


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Jan 21, 2016)

Year, Jim, we're bolting it together for now.  I'm probably gonna braze it with silicon bronze, it doesn't appear to be a highly stressed part.


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## VSAncona (Jan 21, 2016)

That gives me a sick feeling in my stomach just looking at that photo. I feel your pain.


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## brino (Jan 21, 2016)

I too have learned the hard way how brittle cast iron can be. 
Mine was a cast iron table saw abour bracket, I broke it pressing out a bad bearing.
I felt terrible. I want to fix tools not destroy them!

It changed the way I think about pressing in or out bearings, etc.

-brino


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Jan 22, 2016)

The finished product!!  Taking it to my shop at home and level it up and start making chips.













IMG_1396



__ Snell Metalfab - Joe
__ Jan 22, 2016





  Got the new barrel switch installed and the tach/tach mount.  Not sure, may polish the switch/tach mount or powder coat it black.  I'm kinda "grayed" out!!


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## dlane (Jan 24, 2016)

Can't get your img links to work


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 10, 2016)

Well, sorry it's been so long updating.   Had a semi-bad eBay experience.  The tach was DOA and I fought it tooth and nail trying to get it to work.  I was refunded and bought another $10 tach but it took another month to get it in!!  This one works fine.  Here's some pics of the finished product.  We restored the lathe at my store but have it set up and running in my home shop.  Enjoy!













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 Here's a pic of how I mounted the pickup.













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  I put two white paint marker dots on each side of the magnet so I could tell if it moves...... it doesn't!













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  This final pic is of my reverse lockout.  With the screw on chuck, I was afraid using the barrel switch that, in case of a serious situation that I needed to shut the lathe off in a hurry, I might go too far and actually reverse the lathe, which would spit the chuck off in no time flat!!  (Been there, done that!!)













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__ Snell Metalfab - Joe
__ Feb 10, 2016





 I'd enjoy/entertain any constructive criticism!! Thanks all!


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## roadie33 (Feb 11, 2016)

Joe,
It says I don't have permission to view image in this album when I click on the links.
Am I doing something wrong?


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## dlane (Feb 11, 2016)

Error trying to view links


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 11, 2016)

I'm not sure, I'll have to check tomorrow.  I saw this comment earlier but it works for me.  I'll see what I can find out.


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## Mondo (Feb 11, 2016)

Seems I must have offended someone here, I no longer have permission to view images in this thread.


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## Mondo (Feb 11, 2016)

Snell Metalfab - Joe said:


> Welllll...... major league setback....   Anyone know where I can get an Atlas/Craftsman 10-1586?   I was pushing the pin back in and it broke.  Not a fan of cast welding, so I'd like to get another one.   Clausing will sell me one for $354, but that is out of the question.  HELP!!



For the price Clausing wants for that part you could purchase an entire QCGB on E*Bay to get that lever then strip it and sell the rest of the parts to get your money back.   But as has been said: That casting can be brazed or electrically welded with nickel rod.  A good TIG welder should be able to make it look like a new part!

Spiral_Chips


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## roadie33 (Feb 11, 2016)

I'd definitely get it Brazed or TIG Welded before I'd pay that much.
I'd try calling Clausing and tell them you'd pay $54 for it.


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## great white (Feb 11, 2016)

Snell Metalfab - Joe said:


> Well, sorry it's been so long updating.   Had a semi-bad eBay experience.  The tach was DOA and I fought it tooth and nail trying to get it to work.  I was refunded and bought another $10 tach but it took another month to get it in!!  This one works fine.  Here's some pics of the finished product.  We restored the lathe at my store but have it set up and running in my home shop.  Enjoy!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Pics don't work for me either. 

On another note: I had one of those $10 digital tachs that didn't work. It would power up and just display "0".

I flipped it over and discovered that the OpAmp had been either knocked off the board or was never there. one came out of the junk drawer and few secs later I had a working tach....


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## wa5cab (Feb 11, 2016)

Joe, sorry to temporarily hi-jack your thread...

To those four of you who have reported not being able to see Joe's embedded photos - On the main navigation bar near top of screen, immediately to the right of the FORUMS tab, do you see a PHOTOS tab?  If so, what happens when you click it?  You should see the albums screen showing either gray squares with three small circles in a row, or the first photo in each album.


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 11, 2016)

No problem at all Robert, I appreciate any and all help regarding the photo issue!!  Thanks!!


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## roadie33 (Feb 11, 2016)

Robert,
It opens the photo library with 32 pages of photo's.
I don't want to have to look thru 32 pages to find them.
Any way to just put them in the thread?


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## Wierd Harold (Feb 11, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> Joe, sorry to temporarily hi-jack your thread...
> 
> To those four of you who have reported not being able to see Joe's embedded photos - On the main navigation bar near top of screen, immediately to the right of the FORUMS tab, do you see a PHOTOS tab?  If so, what happens when you click it?  You should see the albums screen showing either gray squares with three small circles in a row, or the first photo in each album.



I also get the no permissions error.
I can see albums with no trouble and the pictures in them.
Doesn't seem to be a way to search for a particular album.

Wierd Harold


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## mws (Feb 11, 2016)

Well, I dont have permission to see the pics either and my search of the photo files (by creation date or creator name) turned up nothing.


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## wa5cab (Feb 11, 2016)

Joe,

The Photo viewing problem is that your album is set to PRIVATE.  Specifically, the View By or Who Can View or whatever it's called is set to Owner.  Go to your Album and see whether or not you can figure out how to change the setting.  But I tried with my only album and couldn't figure out how to change anything in mine except the album title.  So probably you are going to have to send a PM to one of the Admins, Nels is his User ID, and ask him to change the Who Can View from Owner to either Member or Everyone or whatever the appropriate description is.

If I could have figured out how to do my own, I would have logged in as you and fixed it just now.  But I couldn't so I didn't.


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 11, 2016)

I tried to change it to no avail.   I'm sure it's something I've done, hell at 55 I've just managed to figure out how to tie my shoes....  I sent a message to Nels asking for help.  I'm sure he can or at least point me in the right direction.


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## wa5cab (Feb 11, 2016)

roadie33 said:


> Robert,
> It opens the photo library with 32 pages of photo's.
> I don't want to have to look thru 32 pages to find them.
> Any way to just put them in the thread?


Mike,

It wouldn't help to look through 32 pages anyway.  Until the Who Can View is fixed, you can't view the album, either.  It should be an easy fix only taking a few minutes.  And for Joe to go back and upload everything would take him probably several hours.  Which I don't suggest he does unless it turns out that the settings cannot be edited by anyone.


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## wa5cab (Feb 11, 2016)

Joe,

OK.


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## roadie33 (Feb 11, 2016)

Thanks Robert.


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## Wierd Harold (Feb 11, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> Joe,
> 
> The Photo viewing problem is that your album is set to PRIVATE.  Specifically, the View By or Who Can View or whatever it's called is set to Owner.  Go to your Album and see whether or not you can figure out how to change the setting.  But I tried with my only album and couldn't figure out how to change anything in mine except the album title.  So probably you are going to have to send a PM to one of the Admins, Nels is his User ID, and ask him to change the Who Can View from Owner to either Member or Everyone or whatever the appropriate description is.
> 
> If I could have figured out how to do my own, I would have logged in as you and fixed it just now.  But I couldn't so I didn't.


If you select "Your Albums" on the left side it will show you all of your albums. Select the small white square in the upper left of the album and a drop down menu will appear. Select "Other Actions" and a sub menu will show with one of the choices being "Moderation Actions/Change Privacy of Albums" . Select that and a popup will appear with the choices to change all or just one album to what you wish>
Hope that works for you.
Wierd Harold


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 11, 2016)

Did as you said and it now shows "public"   Hope this helps the others and thanks for your help!!


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## roadie33 (Feb 11, 2016)

I can see the pictures now.
Awesome looking lathe Joe.
Now I know where to mount my Tach pickup sensor. Just need to find a magnet small enough to fit behind that gear on the spindle. Mine didn't have the 3mm magnet with it and the ones I have are 12mm. To big to fit there. Also good place for the Tach. I was just kind of hesitant drilling into the cover.


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## wa5cab (Feb 12, 2016)

Harold,

Thanks!  I knew it was there somewhere because I know I found it a couple of years ago.  And I should have known it would be a check box because that's the way that you do similar actions with posts and downloads.  Grrr!


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 12, 2016)

roadie33 said:


> I can see the pictures now.
> Awesome looking lathe Joe.
> Now I know where to mount my Tach pickup sensor. Just need to find a magnet small enough to fit behind that gear on the spindle. Mine didn't have the 3mm magnet with it and the ones I have are 12mm. To big to fit there. Also good place for the Tach. I was just kind of hesitant drilling into the cover.


I didn't want to drill the cover either, but the previous owner had the barrel switch mounted there so I just used the existing holes.  Actually, he (she?) didn't do a good job of drilling the holes (they don't line up, they are over 1/4" out of horizontal!!) but this whole deal covers that all up so I killed two birds with one stone!


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## Mondo (Feb 12, 2016)

I can see the pics now.  Very nice!  The reverse lockout is a great idea!
Don't reach out for anything on the shelf or wall behind the lathe while it is running!!  Even the slightest contact of your clothing with anything turning could become a medical disaster in a micro-second.  That is why I have nothing on the wall behind my lathe.  No temptations.

Spiral_Chips


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Feb 12, 2016)

The pictures are a little deceiving, there is actually  a 3' path/hallway behind the lathe, but currently there is some mobile carts in the path.  They have since been moved, but you are exactly right.


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## TLW (Feb 14, 2016)

I'd really like to see your project but the photos only show error???


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## wa5cab (Feb 14, 2016)

TLW,

If photos are embedded using the UPLOAD A FILE button, which is the quick and dirty way to do it, the files are stored in a different location than in PHOTOS.  There are apparently no participation restrictions, which is good for new members.  But if you later need to use the same photo in another thread, you have to upload it again.  Plus you can't search for photos stored that way.  The thread originator uploaded all of his photos first to an Album in PHOTOS and inserted a link in the thread.  This potentially saves space and gets around the other two limitations but members have to either have 30 posts and be added to the ACTIVE MEMBER group, or be a member of the SUPPORT group (meaning that they made a donation within the past six months)..

Anyway, if the error message says something about your not having access, that's why you can't see them now.  You can, of course, make a small donation which should cause them to appear.


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## The Liberal Arts Garage (Feb 23, 2016)

Just a thought- After the super clean and a dish washing rinse (real hot water
rinse and dry, paint to taste before the inner oil surfaces again. Use real oil
paint and brushes..........BLJHB.


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## TLW (Feb 25, 2016)

Have you made any chips with the lathe yet? Ultimately I'd like to do the same type of restoration to my 3996 but I have to get the "bugs" out of it first. Mine looked better then yours when I purchased it but there were several hidden issues. Nothing that can't be fixed of course but it takes time to round up all the parts.
   I'm not familiar with the tach. I understand its application on a variable speed lathe but how is it used on a fixed speed? Are you using it just as a quick reference or have you changed the pulley/belt drive to something else?
   Very nice looking job!


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## westsailpat (Feb 25, 2016)

Nice job on the resto Joe , bummer about the lever . If I were going to fix it I would make a spacer and then pin the holes so every thing lines up and braze away , good luck .


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## Rick Leslie (Feb 25, 2016)

Great job bringing the old iron back to life. This was actually my first lathe, minus the QC box. Fought with the gear set for years until my SB came along. I still use the Atlas though. 

Give this place a try for the bracket. http://www.mymachineshop.net/


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## Snell Metalfab - Joe (Apr 9, 2016)

Spent four months on the restoration and I can't believe how much I missed using it!!   I don't use it EVERY day, but it gets used 3-4 times a week.  We're a "racing family" and the ability to make bushings, etc. is truly priceless.  My youngest son is now into quarter-midgets and it has several radius rods that need to be tapped and the bodies knurled, this lathe is ideal for that!


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## Mattm23 (Apr 11, 2016)

It's nice to see one of those machines properly restored. Thanks


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## Billh50 (Apr 11, 2016)

Great job on the restoration !


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