# Need some advice on estimating worth of 6" Craftsman 101 lathe



## mjonkman (Feb 23, 2014)

I have an Craftsman 101 lathe that I've owed for about 3 years now. I bought a South Bend heavy 10 about 8 months after getting the Craftsman lathe and buying all the accessories I could find,  and well I can only keep one in the  garage and thus last summer the Craftsman 101 got relegated to a storage unit. I know what I paid for it as well as what I paid for all the accessories I bought for it and I guess I have a gut feeling that knowledge is going to cloud my judgement of what it really is worth. There aren't too many lathes that come up for sale in my area and the few that have come up on Craigslist over the past couple of years have been pretty bare bones. Unfortunately I don't have pictures to share as its in the back of the storage unit at this moment. If one wants to see a glimpse of it, on my blog http://bitsbytesandsawdust.blogspot.com scroll down a bit and you can see it in the background of some of the early rebuild pictures of the South Bend Heavy 10.

The lathe is an earlier 101, with the bushings rather then the Timken bearings. It has all the change gears (to my knowledge) as well as collars and bushings that are required. The previous owner replaced the lead screw as well as the half nuts (I have the original leads crew and half nuts and they are included - see list of spare parts at the end of this list). There *is* some wear on the bed closer to the headstock, not excessive but you can definitely feel a difference if you tighten up the gib at the back of the carriage and move it from headstock to tailstock. The bull gear on the headstock, has minor damage at the indexing holes as if someone at one time started the lathe with the index pin not fully disengaged, it didn't rip the holes out but there is a light groove at the very top of the holes. It has the standard lantern style tool post.  The following accessories are with the lathe (note tool holders are mostly brand names, but can't give an exact name as they are in storage with the lathe)

Accessories:

1) 2 Dead centers (I believe I have both headstock and tailstock centers, but without digging out the lathe I might be wrong there - might actually be 3, 2 x tailstock one by headstock)
2) Live center - an import that came with the machine, works fine, no issues
3) Jacob's chuck with #1 morse adapter for tailstock.
4) Craftsman 3 Jaw chuck - the one where you stick a wrench in and spin the outside of the chuck to tighten - this is a piece of junk, but its there, has both sets of jaws
5) Craftsman 4 Jaw chuck (4 inch) - in good condition with all the chuck jaws
6) A new import 3 Jaw chuck  (4 inch) with both sets of jaws. I purchased this and a cast iron backplate and machined the plate to fit the lathe and chuck.
7) Drawbar for headstock to use collets and/or end mill holders.
8) Atlas Milling attachment - dark blue paint, does not match the gray paint of the lathe
9) Steady Rest
10) Follower Rest (brand new in box, never used by the looks of it)
11) Left, right and center tool holders for lantern tool post.
12) Cut off tool holders (multiple - straight and right angle for sure, might be a left hand angled one as well, not sure if all fit lantern post) various makes
13) At least one knurling tool, I never used it not the lathe, but its been around the block a few times - one of the press into shaft to knurl type that puts a lot of pressure on the headstock.
14) Face plate that came with the lathe as well as the lathe dog
16) I have a couple of end mill holders that I bought at Grizzly that I believe will fit the headstock, but I've never used them but bought them for this lathe.

It has the countershaft unit, I know that at least one of the bushings on that unit will need to be replaced. when I pull it out of storage I will probably replace those pronto with new ones that I'd make.

Spare Parts:

1) Spare headstock with back gear, spindle with almost complete assembly of gears and pulleys on it (spindle gears and pulleys, but *not* the gear train on the end of the spindle. I bought it on eBay as the bull gear lock pin was sheared off the unit I had and the set screws to hold the main pulley where not correct (can't remember exactly the issue, but I cannibalized this headstock for the two or three small parts I needed,putting the best bull gear on the lathe and the worst on this old headstock.
2) Spare lead screw - previous owner had replaced and saved the old one, its wrapped in foam, I've never opened it to see how bad it is, but it goes with the lathe
3) Spare set of half nuts, same as #2, they are sitting loose in a box in the drawer
4) The lead screw bearing/ support for tailstock end of lathe also sitting loos in a box in the drawer
5) Carriage saddle. It has the cross feed screw (different thread then the one on the lathe) and I believe (but would have to check) gib for the back of the carriage, and possibly an extra cross slide gib but not the actual cross slide if I remember correctly. I believe it had the half nut leaver and may actually have the half nuts, but I *think* the handle to advance the carriage missing but the gear and mechanism it goes on is there. I bought this one on eBay because one of the parts of the cross feed screw was missing on the lathe - a collar and maybe a washer. So I cannibalized this for those small parts - though it probably was as cheap to just order the parts from Sears (hind sight 20-20)

Its one a decent wooden bench, though the drawers that the previous owner built aren't on any kind of drawer slides or guides and can be a pain to align when closing. He had an old 1/4 hp motor (possibly an old dryer motor, lots of open holes in the housing) attached to a heavy metal plate attached to the back of the bench with a hinge or two so the motor was acting as its own tensioner, probably contributing to the wear on the countershaft bearings.  All of this would go with it if sold locally, but if sold and needed to be shipped somewhere the bench for sure would not be worth the cost of shipping and the motor is better then nothing but not sure if its worth the cost of shipping.

I used the lathe frequently when rebuilding the South bend to turn some missing pieces like left hand threaded screws, touching up burrs on the idler gears, and a few dozen other small household projects that needed a part made. It worked well and was precise and a lot less finicky then the heavy 10 (my garage floor seems to heave in winter forcing readjustments on the heavy 10 for alignment). If I could afford to keep it I would. But unless my garage suddenly doubles in size overnight I just can't store it there and my wife is anxious to recover the investment - I sort of said I'd sell it when I bought the South Bend and hoping she'd forget - she is a typical wife, never forgets these minor discrepancies in statements made in the heat of  a moment vs actions 

Without me saying what I paid or have invested in this lathe, in all honesty what would you say its worth? I'm in central Virginia. I know I can probably split it up and sell off the accessories separate, but it makes such a nice package

Sincerely
Mark R. Jonkman


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## cjtoombs (Feb 24, 2014)

When I am looking for values on something like that, I go to Ebay and search for the item, then on the left side check the "Sold Listings" checkbox, that will give you what items have actualy sold for.  You can sort by price and get a good idea on items that are sold for "Best Offer".  The actual price paid isn't listed, but it is in order when you sort by price.  I havn't looked at 6" Atlas/Craftsman lathes, but I have checked on 10 and 12" ones, and they tend to run in the $400-600 range and they are usualy stripped down.  If you get right down to it, from a strickly financial standpoint, you are probably better off selling all the accesories seperately, but that's a pain if you're not in the Ebay selling business.  Good luck.


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## wa5cab (Feb 25, 2014)

Mark,

One other thing when (if) you get around to trying to sell it.  Give the actual model number.  After reading your entire post, I concluded you probably have a 101.07301 but just saying "Craftsman 101 lathe" isn't very informative.  Not counting bed length variations, Atlas built and Sears sold around three dozen machines over the years that match that description.  

And I concur that you are probably better off selling the lathe and those small items that originally came with it as one lot and piecing out all of the the accessories.

Robert D.


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