# New To Me Atlas MFC Project



## rodm717 (Apr 21, 2018)

So i took a bit of a gamble on this machine uninspected from auction. It partly paid off. When I picked it up, I located the overram, reverse tumbler, and a multitude of gears. No covers or gear box for longitudal feed. The gears also may contain parts from a lathe. Ill post more pics. I tried to locate other parts, but the people on site were a little sketchy about me even looking in another direction from my lots. I can understand though, as my other mill was picked clean of it accessories as I couldn't pick it up for several days.
Other than ebay, where is source of parts? I also have a Rawyler  F2. Interesting to compare.


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## rodm717 (Apr 21, 2018)

I also scored a minty craftsman power hacksaw with original stand.


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## JPMacG (Apr 21, 2018)

Clausing still carries some new parts for the MFC, but they are costly.  There is a guy who sells some shop-made parts:  www.mymachineshop.net   His are also costly.

Congratulations on the purchase.  It looks like everything is there, minus the gear box and the overarm support.  You don't really need the auto-feed, but you probably will want the overarm.


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## JPMacG (Apr 21, 2018)

On second look, it appears the back gear is missing.  That is another thing that you really need to have.


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## rodm717 (Apr 21, 2018)

I have the overram, 1" horizontal arbor, as well as a box full of parts, including reverse tumbler. Ill post pics later so someone may help to distinguish what is for the mill and what is not. Still gathering info on this, so any help is appreciated.


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## JPMacG (Apr 21, 2018)

There is a user's manual with parts drawings in the downloads section.  I'm not sure if you can access it yet - I think there is a minimum post count required.  Maybe one of the moderators can help.


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## rodm717 (Apr 21, 2018)

I got the manual from Vintage Machinery. Although it is a bit faded and hard to discern some of the diagrams.


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## rodm717 (Apr 21, 2018)

Here is the parts pile that I found in close proximity to mill. I'm partly thinking all those change gears may be to a Atlas 6".
Haven't began to cross reference yet.
I have benchtop vertical mill, a Delta 11" toolroom lathe and the Rawyler. If I can get info I should be able to reproduce most of what I would need gear train wise. Covers , I'll buy. I forgot to mention that i only paid about $300 after auction fees.
Honestly, If i use a vfd and get the back gear together this is enough for most needs. Eventually finding parts to do a full restoration would be icing on the cake. Also have a small gearhead motor that could easily be installed if i really wanted table feed. But, those of us with this vintage machine addiction know, i'll looking for / making the parts and not satisfied until its in original configuratiuon. Lol.


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## rodm717 (Apr 21, 2018)

I'll be posting plenty more pics of this and the Craftsman bandsaw, er hacksaw if you want to get technical.


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## Atlas2start (Apr 22, 2018)

I just finished rebuilding an Atlas MFA horizontal mill.  All the pieces in your last 4 pictures, with the exception of the 5 big gears, go to your mill.  I am not sure about those 5 gears.  There is a lot of crossover from the Lathes to the mills.  I can vouch that the dust covers are the same.  There is an exceptional video series on youtube by Ghostses that takes you through the teardown, and the the rebuild.  I could not have done mine without his videos.  Of course, mine was a pile of parts when I purchased it.  And you are missing a bunch of parts, based on the pics you have posted so far.  Good luck, I had fun doing mine!


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## rodm717 (Apr 23, 2018)

Thanks for the reference to Gostses. I had watched part of the tear down video before going to pick up the mill. Yes, all parts for back gear are here.
I agree with your accessment of the gears. The larger gears definitely have a different design.
At this point I'm not sure if I will do a full restoration. The drive train for table feed is not going to effect my running the machine and most likely cost the beeter part of $1K to do right.  I do like certain aspects with the Atlas, the Rawyler doesn't have. The Atlas has more of a traditional knee, larger work envelope, more cost effective tooling options. Making a vertical head to attach seems very straight forward
  I have to say, I'm liking the Atlas.


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## wa5cab (Apr 23, 2018)

Rod,

You do have access to Downloads.  There is a scanned copy of MMB5 in Downloads that has had a lot of cleaning up and a few error corrections made to it.  And that is more legible than the original on Vintage Machinery.  Click Downloads on the top tool bar.  Click where is says Click Here 1st, and then where it says Click Here 2nd,  Then click on Atlas/..., and A/C Mill Manuals.  The right pane will then contain only manuals pertinent to the Atlas mill.  MMB5 is the final Atlas or Clausing revision of the manual, and contains the parts lists for the M1 through MHC model mills.

A little explanation of the Atlas part numbering system - the first one or usually two characters followed by a hyphen indicate what machine the part was first used on.  all of the change gears begin with M6, so are the same as on the Atlas 6" lathe.  The tumbler gears and most of the rest of the table drive gears begin with MF, so were first used on the mill.  Following the hyphen is one, two or three digits.  This is the arbitrary sequence number and in cases where a part is used for a similar function in for example lathes and mills, like the spindle, this number will be the same.  For example, all spindles are -31.  If the sequence number is followed by a letter (A, B, C, etc.), that was a revision of some sort, except for the letter "T" which means Timken.  Sometimes a revision will be backwards compatible, but most often not.

In any case, download MMB5 Rev 8 and you should be able to ID most of your loose parts.  If any are left over, look at the lathe or shaper manuals.  Shaper parts mostly begin with S7.  There are a few that were used on the mills.  Parts originally used on the lathes will begin with M6 for the Atlas 6". 9 or 10 for the 9" and 10" lathes, L plus a digit for the Craftsman 6", 9" or 12" lathes where the parts were not the same as on the Atlas 6", 9" or 10" lathes.  For the 10" only, if there is a suffix letter between A and F, that refers to the Model 10A through 10F 10".  No one still alive knows why they used M6 instead of just 6 for the Atlas 6" lathes.  But in this case, M doesn't mean Mill.


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## rodm717 (Apr 23, 2018)

wa5cab said:


> Rod,
> 
> You do have access to Downloads.  There is a scanned copy of MMB5 in Downloads that has had a lot of cleaning up and a few error corrections made to it.  And that is more legible than the original on Vintage Machinery.  Click Downloads on the top tool bar.  Click where is says Click Here 1st, and then where it says Click Here 2nd,  Then click on Atlas/..., and A/C Mill Manuals.  The right pane will then contain only manuals pertinent to the Atlas mill.  MMB5 is the final Atlas or Clausing revision of the manual, and contains the parts lists for the M1 through MHC model mills.
> 
> ...


Awesome info! Thanks very much. Definitely much clearer.  Again, the feed for table is nice, but doesn't hinder use of the machine.
So, correction on title, I have a MFB - Serial# C07081. Not sure what that means yet. Also notice, it appears a cover-up of some sort.
I'm looking at having to dismantle the entire mill. Aside from sitting for a time, my best guess is at least 10yrs., the cross-feed, and longitudinal assemblies are extremely loose. My main disappointment is the spindle threads. After removing the jacobs chuck, i found there is some amount of thread damage. Not enough to inhibit functionality, but not so good either. I'm guessing someone operated it without a thread protector. Was a thread protector standard, did they make one?? Also at this point, if i'm not going to try and reconstruct the feed, I'm thinking selling the reverse tumbler and link assembly wouldn't hurt and could help pay for a motor or back cover. I haven't seen any M1-28 back covers yet.
I've also identified that the countershaft bracket M1-20A is missing cover mounting lugs and cross member is cracked. I may have to take a shot at fabricating something new. Looking at the items i bought at this auction, it was apparent some of the stuff was no longer appreciated and tossed around a bit.
Any idea where i can get M1-26 , rubber spacers for the overarm clamp mechanism.


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## wa5cab (Apr 24, 2018)

Rod,

Yes, the thread protector came with the drawbar and MT2 by 1/2" milling cutter holder.  Part of which was originally a 618 accessory.  mymachineshop.net sells a new repro that is decent.  And at a for new USA made parts today reasonable price.

I would hang onto the tumbler.  The table drive is quite useful and you may one day come across and decide to buy some of the missing parts.

On the M1-26, try Clausing.  If they no longer have them, they will probably email you a TIF or PDF of the original drawing.  If you do get it, send me a copy and I'll clean it up and put it into Downloads.  You can probably buy whatever the correct size is of rubber rod from places like McMaster.

I don't know what the deal is with a "C" in front of the serial number, unless possibly the machine was refurbished by Atlas at some point.  According to MMB5, the first serial number for the C models (could have been M1C or MHC, but probably MFC as they are the most common) was 008124, not particularly close to yours.


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## rodm717 (Apr 25, 2018)

wa5cab said:


> Rod,
> 
> Yes, the thread protector came with the drawbar and MT2 by 1/2" milling cutter holder.  Part of which was originally a 618 accessory.  mymachineshop.net sells a new repro that is decent.  And at a for new USA made parts today reasonable price.
> 
> ...


I'm also noting the cast hinge for the head cover. I've seen bolt on hinges and first thought it was a repair when comparing to mine, but have found many machines that have this feature since. When did they go from this cast hinge to the bolt on?


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## rodm717 (Apr 26, 2018)

The first step is some clean up and replacing countershaft. It appears someone had removed it previously without loosening set screw on sheave/pulley. 5/8" stainless is going to make a great shaft replacement. Dry fitting the raw stock, the counter shaft bushings will need to be replaced. Luckily, the spindle and bearings still exhibit no end play. I fully expect to have to replace the lead screw nuts and have 932 bronze on hand to machine, along with a 1/2"-10 acme tap.
I'm unsure if i want to fabricate a new counter shaft bracket. If you can see, the mounting ears for cover have been broken off and the cross support is cracked.


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## wa5cab (Apr 27, 2018)

It appears that the belt cover and attachment means were different between the MF, MFA and MFB (and for that matter, M1 through M1B and MH through MHB).  But the only parts lists that we have on the M* and M*A are lists and a section view drawing, plus not until the B model did the belt covers or guards come as standard.  Before that, they were an extra cost option, so not shown in either MMB-5 or the earlier MP-2 and MP-2A.  The M*B and M*C used the same covers.


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## ThunderDog (Apr 27, 2018)

Best of luck with the Atlas.  It was a fun little machine.

I would like to make a very STRONG suggestion.  Do NOT be tempted to use link belts.  They stretch and do all kinds of nasty things to your attempts at making nice cuts.  I'm at work right now and can't find the post, but one of my threads shows the result of burning up the oilite bushings.  It all stemmed from the belts slipping, therefore tightening more, slipping a little bit more, no problem just a little bit more tightening(WRONG!!), and then wondering why the bearing housing on the jackshaft were so hot.  Dummy me, it was due to those link belts.  Never again will I use those things.

FYI, I have a few videos on my rebuild.


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## Yorkus (Jun 25, 2018)

rodm717 said:


> The first step is some clean up and replacing countershaft. It appears someone had removed it previously without loosening set screw on sheave/pulley. 5/8" stainless is going to make a great shaft replacement. Dry fitting the raw stock, the counter shaft bushings will need to be replaced. Luckily, the spindle and bearings still exhibit no end play. I fully expect to have to replace the lead screw nuts and have 932 bronze on hand to machine, along with a 1/2"-10 acme tap.
> I'm unsure if i want to fabricate a new counter shaft bracket. If you can see, the mounting ears for cover have been broken off and the cross support is cracked.



I have 2 of these mills. One is a MFC that I have gone through from a cosmetic point of view and plan on replacing all the worn bushings soon and both lead screw Nuts need replacing also, If you can make new ones let me know if you would consider making a couple of each to sell. I know at least one of them is still available from Clausing because it is the same as those found on the 12" Lathe.
The second machine is a MFA and in currently completely torn down and just started painting. It is in need of a few parts which I will have to make since I have not found them on the main way to get parts ... ebay. I am not a real fan of ebay but must admit it has saved me more than once on Atlas/Craftsman Lathe parts. I have been able to get factory drawings from Clausing for the Spindle pulley and that is the most challenging part that I will have to make. I have already made 3 Arbors that have turned out quite good.

Anyway, not trying to hijack your message string. Mainly just wanted to tell you that the Counter shaft mounting ears are only needed if you have the safety covers. I understand that they were options that did not come with the mills. Have a great time with the restore they are fun little mills.

York


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## rodm717 (Jul 22, 2018)

Trying to figure out how a post violated something here. "Message awaiting moderator approval"???


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## markba633csi (Jul 22, 2018)

Not a fan of link belts here either- fine for a temporary fix but I prefer a standard v-belt (Carlisle by Timken!)
m


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## wa5cab (Jul 22, 2018)

rodm,

For the past two or three years, we have had what appears to be a random bug.  Suddenly and without warning, someone's post would turn up in the Moderation Que.  I don't recall ever seeing the same name twice.  And all that it took to fix was for one of the Moderator's to approve the blocked post.  It even happened once to a moderator.  Of course, all that he had to do was to approve his own post.  Anyway, it shouldn't ever happen to you again.  If it does, let me know.  But I don'r really expect to ever hear from you, at least on this subject.


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## rodm717 (Jul 23, 2018)

Thanks. I ask because some forums do have some oddball rules and regs.  
 On a other topic; I am going to try running a 1/4" strap  across the countershaft cross support to stabilize the crack as a temporary fix. So many projects and too little time. I need to get the mill functional sooner rather than later.


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## wa5cab (Jul 24, 2018)

OK.  We have the standard rules against discussing sex, religion and politics, and against advertising your company unless you buy a commercial membership.  The rules are all spelled out at the top of the list of Fora.  Everyone was supposed to have read them before or during joining.  But some do and some don't.

If you can make the strap stiff enough, it should work.  If possible, I would suggest making the splint in two pieces, one on each side of the broken area if at all possible, like a sandwich.


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