# I Think It Is An Atlas Headstock Help Me I.d.



## endmill (May 17, 2016)

Picked this up years ago just trying to I.D.  i would say it is a 10" swing. Atlas??


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## Steve Shannon (May 18, 2016)

Looks like Atlas to me. See the indexing pin and holes in the bull gear in your first picture?


 Steve Shannon


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## wa5cab (May 18, 2016)

It is probably off of a Babbit bearing 10D or 10E.  Please post a front view photo.  And confirm that the vertical distance between the notched front or rear surface of the casting that sits on the bed to the center line of the spindle is about 5-1/8".


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## endmill (May 23, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> It is probably off of a Babbit bearing 10D or 10E.  Please post a front view photo.  And confirm that the vertical distance between the notched front or rear surface of the casting that sits on the bed to the center line of the spindle is about 5-1/8".


Yes it is babbit. How do we tell if it is a 10D or !0E Thanks Dave wa5eab is what you needed?


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## wa5cab (May 23, 2016)

No, think of it as sitting on the bed.  What we need to confirm 10" is the height (vertical distance) between the top of the ways and the spindle C/L or axis.  

On the 10D versus 10E question, assuming it is all original, it is not from a 10E, because the 10E is a stripped-down 10D.  It has no back gears and no threading gears.  To tell whether or not is is from a 10D, we need a front view photograph.


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## endmill (May 23, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> No, think of it as sitting on the bed.  What we need to confirm 10" is the height (vertical distance) between the top of the ways and the spindle C/L or axis.
> 
> On the 10D versus 10E question, assuming it is all original, it is not from a 10E, because the 10E is a stripped-down 10D.  It has no back gears and no threading gears.  To tell whether or not is is from a 10D, we need a front view photograph.





I would say it is a 10D!


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## wa5cab (May 24, 2016)

OK.  It's a 10".  Now how about a front view photo???


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## endmill (May 24, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> OK.  It's a 10".  Now how about a front view photo???



wa5eab you lost me what else are we looking for? Doesn't it show it is a 10"  with the 5 +" measurement? Thanks Dave


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## wa5cab (May 24, 2016)

Atlas used several different headstock castings between 1935 and 1939.  With only a left end view to go by, my best guess at present is that it came off of a 1936 10nn (where "nn" is the bed length).  It does not match the November 1937 10" photo shown in Catalog No. 28, which I am pretty sure is a 10D because the next page shows the stripped down 10E.


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## endmill (May 25, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> Atlas used several different headstock castings between 1935 and 1939.  With only a left end view to go by, my best guess at present is that it came off of a 1936 10nn (where "nn" is the bed length).  It does not match the November 1937 10" photo shown in Catalog No. 28, which I am pretty sure is a 10D because the next page shows the stripped down 10E.




One more time   Here is a casting number also. Thanks Dave


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## wa5cab (May 26, 2016)

OK.  The "front" of the headstock is the side that would normally face the operator when he was running the lathe.  That's the only side usually visible in catalog photos.  The first photo above is of the right end.

However, If the final character to the right of the "2" is a "B", then the headstock could be off of either a 10D babbit or a 10F babbit model.  But unfortunately, none of the parts lists that I've managed to turn up so far except for the 10E show a part number for the bare headstock casting.  And it shows 10D-2 (no suffix letter).

EDIT:  "10D-2" was erroneously typed as "20D-2".


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## endmill (May 27, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> OK.  The "front" of the headstock is the side that would normally face the operator when he was running the lathe.  That's the only side usually visible in catalog photos.  The first photo above is of the right end.
> 
> However, If the final character to the right of the "2" is a "B", then the headstock could be off of either a 10D babbit or a 10F babbit model.  But unfortunately, none of the parts lists that I've managed to turn up so far except for the 10E show a part number for the bare headstock casting.  And it shows 10D-2 (no suffix letter).
> 
> EDIT:  "10D-2" was erroneously typed as "20D-2".





One more picture


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## wa5cab (May 28, 2016)

Thanks.  

After realizing that the photographs of the headstocks of the 10F Timken models in the Atlas catalogs don't match the drawings of the headstocks in the 10F parts manuals back to 10L-1A in 1946 (earliest I've found so far), my current conclusion is that your babbit headstock could be off of either a 10D or a 10F.  10D being shown on your casting means that the part was first used on the 10D series lathes.  The part number shown on the earlier parts lists for the babbit bearing headstock without spindle, etc., is 10D-2BA.  But this includes the two babbit bearing caps and four bolts.  See my further post on the subject tomorrow.


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## wa5cab (May 30, 2016)

I finally got straight with something in the Atlas 10" parts manuals that has been bothering me for a year or two.  The drawings of the headstocks in the various 10" parts manuals do not match the photographs on the front of any of the available manuals. But that's a story for another time.  

Your headstock is off of one of the relatively rare babbit bearing 10F's.  The lathe was built sometime between mid 1942 and mid 1946.  Those are the rough dates for the change to the headstock casting to change from oval to rectangular ON-OFF switch mounting plates and the cessation of production of babbit bearing headstocks.  The fact that its part number is 10D -2B merely means that 10D-2 came out while the 10D lathe was in production, not that it was ever used on a 10D.  There are a few parts still in use on my 3996 (built in 1980) that begin with 9-.


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## endmill (May 30, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> I finally got straight with something in the Atlas 10" parts manuals that has been bothering me for a year or two.  The drawings of the headstocks in the various 10" parts manuals do not match the photographs on the front of any of the available manuals. But that's a story for another time.
> 
> Your headstock is off of one of the relatively rare babbit bearing 10F's.  The lathe was built sometime between mid 1942 and mid 1946.  Those are the rough dates for the change to the headstock casting to change from oval to rectangular ON-OFF switch mounting plates and the cessation of production of babbit bearing headstocks.  The fact that its part number is 10D -2B merely means that 10D-2 came out while the 10D lathe was in production, not that it was ever used on a 10D.  There are a few parts still in use on my 3996 (built in 1980) that begin with 9-.




Thanks wa5eab you the man, thanks for all the hard work mystery solved !!!


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## wa5cab (May 31, 2016)

You're welcome.  And back the earliest production date on your loose headstock up to early 1942.  I just came across an earlier 10F parts list dated March 1942.  The side-view drawing of the lathe shows the rectangular ON/OFF switch plate.


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## endmill (Jun 2, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> You're welcome.  And back the earliest production date on your loose headstock up to early 1942.  I just came across an earlier 10F parts list dated March 1942.  The side-view drawing of the lathe shows the rectangular ON/OFF switch plate.




It's amazing how many different changes where made through the years.  not quite as bad as the Chevy 55-57


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## wa5cab (Jun 3, 2016)

Yeah, the GM body design department must have been something else during those years, and I would say for about three more.

Changes in the Atlas lathes were pretty frequent during the first ten years.  Other than production of certain versions ceasing, and the QCGB, I don't think that anything else changed between 1942 and 1957.


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