# 10" Atlas rebuild



## iron man (Mar 1, 2014)

*10&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; Atlas rebuild*

I Am finally in the home strech of finishing my Atlas lathe mods and rebuild. I modified the tailstock so I now have 3 1/2" of travel along with a DRO. I rescraped the ways to straighten them back to perfect after years abuse from previous owner. I was self taught on the scraping and was very happy with the results. I modified the carriage and planed the surface so it has more surface contact.

 I then set in and made stronger adjustable gibs using brass and steel the tolerance on the bed is now very tight but glides up and down the bed. I have all new Acme screws on the tailstock, carriage and lead screw. I also have a direct read dial a brass compound nut that is twice as long as stock I plan on some other mods later. I have remade some gears as they wear out or go bad and I have a 2 1/2 horse DC variable speed motor thanks for looking.. Ray




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 The carriage and tailstock leadscrews are now supported with ball bearings that doubles as a thrust surface. I repainted it hammertone gray.

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 I repainted the badges and made a box to house the variable control.

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 Here is the DC motor lot of power there.

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 I repainted the legs as well I have a few more ideas to improve this lathe I do it just for fun and because I can. All mods are reversable and I have a drawer full of good Atlas parts I keep all the parts for the next guy but I am not done with it yet.. Ray

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 Here is the carriage getting resurfaced along with a brass plate added for more surface contact.

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Here are the new gibs they stregthen the carriage and the brass slides down the castiron real nice.

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Here is the new chrome barrel I made for the tailstock it is about 1 3/8 longer.

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 And here is the finished tailstock with the DRO and extended barrel there is also a holder for the drill chuck tang inside the bore so the chuck will not spin. at the handle end of things there is now a dial and everything is supported on ball bearings now. The lock down has a spring in it as well to help disconnect with less turns. Well thats all for now. Ray


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## iron man (Mar 2, 2014)

I made another small modification I bent up a new chip pan out of pre-painted aluminum I made it wider to catch the chips off the back I then put a skirt in back made out of white roofing material to deflect the chips and put them in the pan it should work good.. Ray


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## schor (Mar 2, 2014)

Awesome work on that atlas. Makes me want to refurb mine, but I'm usually too busy using it to tear it apart.


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## stevecmo (Mar 2, 2014)

Ray,

Wow, that looks great!  You've really put a lot of hard work into that thing.  I'm guessing it runs sweet.

2 1/2 HP motor??!!!  Yikes!  That thing is a hot rod!!

Thanks for sharing.

Steve


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## iron man (Mar 2, 2014)

stevecmo said:


> Ray,
> 
> Wow, that looks great! You've really put a lot of hard work into that thing. I'm guessing it runs sweet.
> 
> ...



 It is an Atlas on steroids!!


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## littlejack (Mar 2, 2014)

Very nice work Ray. 
  What chuck does the lathe have? 
  My QC54 has the original chuck. I am not vey impressed with it. I think I would like a chuck with 3 tightening positions. I guess I got used to 
  that when I had the Grizzly 10x22. It just feels better to me to tighten the stock in the jaws, then give it a little tweak in the other two. 
  Any thoughts?
  Jack


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## iron man (Mar 2, 2014)

The best single thing you could do on an Atlas lathe is replace the chuck I got this one from a tool salesman that stopped at our shop twice a year I dont know the brand but 15 or 20 yrs ago it was about $125 that is what I paid for the lathe as well. I had to grind the jaws to true it up to my lathe just to make it perfect but that was only about 20 minutes worth of work. I think I may buy a four jawed chuck from Grizzly but Shars has some reasonable chucks I have used and they worked real well.  here is a decent one..Ray

http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-3-Jaw-Plain-Back-Scroll-Chuck/G9831


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## littlejack (Mar 2, 2014)

Thanks Ray. Looks like a new chuck is in my future.
  Regards
  Jack


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## jster1963 (Mar 4, 2014)

AWESOME restoration! I love it.  I hope it runs as well as it looks......


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## iron man (Mar 5, 2014)

All is well it is amazing what just a little time and a few mods will do thanks for the reply. Ray


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## drs23 (Mar 5, 2014)

Cudos for the fantastic job! How on earth did you repaint the badges to make them come out looking OEM, or better even.

Very impressive.


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## iron man (Mar 5, 2014)

My sister is an artist I was going to send them to her for her to do them for me. After she told me she could have done that when she was 10 I thought I should give it a go so she would not make me look as bad as I felt. So I got a bottle of testors Red & Black enamal and a pin point brush at hobby lobby and with a jewels glass I set into doing it. I figured if I screwed it up she could fix it but it worked out ok. Ray


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## gdu (Mar 9, 2014)

Lathe looks great. It's probably better now than when it was new.

How is the DC motor working out for you?

MK


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## iron man (Mar 10, 2014)

The motor is great plenty of power It was found in a dumpster brand new UPS had dropped it bending the shaft. I cut it off where it was bent machined it to a point and with a heat sink I welded on a new stub shaft and then machined it to size.

There are a lot of these tread mill motors out there that have a high HP rating but are a very small motor they do not seem to have the torque of a larger diameter motor like this one I wish I had a couple more of this or similar brand motors. thanks Ray


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## schor (Mar 10, 2014)

Ray, what are you using for a motor controller on that dc motor?


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## iron man (Mar 10, 2014)

The motor was a commercial treadmill motor about 5 or 6 inches in dia. the control board came from a similar treadmill a friend of mine use to repair them and had an extra one laying around. I had to do some creative things though to get it to work off a rotary pot I had to use two control boards to get it to work one sends the PWM signal the other one is the motor controller that does all the work it works fine a little too complicated though.  I may change it out for a single PWM board as soon as I can find one that will handle the amp load. Having said that the amp load is not anywhere near what it says on the motor..Ray


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## iron man (Mar 22, 2014)

UPDATE:: the paint has dried for almost a month now and I had a project ot turn so after the tailstock mods and the bed re-scrape and othe modifications to the carriage I was anxious to try it out. I recalabrated the tails stock adjusted all the gibs and started in working on my next project.

To my surprise the lathe performed better than anticipated no-chatter and before no matter how you adjusted the gibs when you took a cut one direction if you did not pull the tool back and reverse the feed it would cock the carriage just enough it would cut some more off... Not anymore! it is just like running a new brand new lathe I wish now I would not have waited this long to do the work and the modifications. I would put this machine up to any lathe of equal size, the carriage glides up and down the full length of the bed with no loose or tight spots I can recommend all the mods with no reservations.. Ray


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## iron man (Mar 22, 2014)

The tang holder I machined into the new tailstock ram works great as well this will stop the chuck from spinning and ruining my nice tappered bore.


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## iron man (Mar 24, 2014)

Another big help was to get a bigger dial with 200 space dial so I get a direct read if I need 5 thousands off I dont have to turn the dial 2.5 thousands. Having to cut everything in half is time consuming and confusing at times. I also have ball bearings in this unit that gives a nice thrust surface as well. Ray


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## caveBob (Mar 25, 2014)

Wow, what a beautiful job you've done on your lathe iron man! Very nice work, bet it's a hoot to use now. Your last pic of the large dial setup... don't suppose you have any pics of the locking mechanism/nut on the end and the bearings you mentioned. Did you make the extension tube and dial or what did the dial come off of something bigger?


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## iron man (Mar 25, 2014)

caveBob said:


> Wow, what a beautiful job you've done on your lathe iron man! Very nice work, bet it's a hoot to use now. Your last pic of the large dial setup... don't suppose you have any pics of the locking mechanism/nut on the end and the bearings you mentioned. Did you make the extension tube and dial or what did the dial come off of something bigger?



 Thanks Bob I dont have pictures of the part I machined but i can explain how I did it. I machined the cylinder to accept two bearings that press in and each end the press up against a shoulder. At the end where the dial is it is counter bored a bit for a needle type thrust beaaring I had laying around just so the dial would spin free. I had made a new lead screw so I made it longer and I machined it so when you tighten up the nut that holds the handle on it pre-loads the bearings but does not affect the dial.. The stock one uses the dial as a thrust surface, (very dumb) under the pressure of a cut you cannot spin the dial I avoided that.

 The dial I make my own now but before I did that I called this guy up and got him to sell me a 200 space dial only. You could use any 200 space dial that you could retro-fit.

http://tallgrasstools.com/AtlasDials.html

It is alot more accurate and easy to read I dont have to stand there and divide what the dial is saying in half anymore less mistakes and that is what I am use to running anyway. Thanks for the comments. Ray


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## stevecmo (Mar 25, 2014)

I'm curious about the dial also - whether you made it or purchased it.  That's a mod that I HAVE to do on my Logan but don't really have the means to make a dial.  I need to purchase a rotary table and dividing head for my mill, so I keep postponing the dial conversion.  I've looked places hoping to find larger dials as replacement parts but so far haven't turned up a good source.

Nice job on the lathe too!  :thumbsup:

Steve


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## iron man (Mar 25, 2014)

stevecmo said:


> I'm curious about the dial also - whether you made it or purchased it.  That's a mod that I HAVE to do on my Logan but don't really have the means to make a dial.  I need to purchase a rotary table and dividing head for my mill, so I keep postponing the dial conversion.  I've looked places hoping to find larger dials as replacement parts but so far haven't turned up a good source.
> 
> Nice job on the lathe too!  :thumbsup:
> 
> Steve



 Give the guy at tallgrass a call he will make a dial for any lathe I would suggest you just buy the dial and make the rest of the parts.


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## Gadget (Mar 25, 2014)

Wow, that's very impressive. I should do something with mine but am afraid I would only make it worse.


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## schor (Mar 25, 2014)

iron man said:


> Give the guy at tallgrass a call he will make a dial for any lathe I would suggest you just buy the dial and make the rest of the parts.



Thanks for the tallgrass link.

Any chance you can take your cross slide mod apart and take a picture of the parts?


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## iron man (Mar 25, 2014)

I think that would be possible give me a couple days things have been a little wild lately. There really is not much to it, I will look there might be some photos of it apart I have somewhere. Ray


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## stevecmo (Mar 25, 2014)

iron man said:


> Give the guy at tallgrass a call he will make a dial for any lathe I would suggest you just buy the dial and make the rest of the parts.




Yes, I'm familiar with Tallgrass and have dealt with Jan in the past.  I just can't justify $150 for a dial.  Maybe I'm cheap.......but I prefer thrifty or frugal better.  )

So did you buy the dial from Jan?


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## iron man (Mar 25, 2014)

stevecmo said:


> Yes, I'm familiar with Tallgrass and have dealt with Jan in the past.  I just can't justify $150 for a dial.  Maybe I'm cheap.......but I prefer thrifty or frugal better.  )
> 
> So did you buy the dial from Jan?



 I am not sure who I talked to he agreed to sell me just the dial for $40 which is not to bad considering all the work that goes into one. I made some aluminum shims for the jaws of my chuck and machined the rest of the dial the way I wanted it.  I also doubled the legth of the cross slide nut this really helps with back lash and probably helps with reducing chatter.

 On the other hand I am cheap as well I like making the dials on my lathe, an easy way to index off of your lathe is start tearing apart old machines until you find a gear that has 200 teeth,, machine it so you can secure it to the back of your spindle. Now make a spring loaded pludger that fits in the teeth every space score your line on your dial. I purchased a 1/16th stamps from grizzly for little of nothing and they work good finish up with those...Ray


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## caveBob (Mar 25, 2014)

iron man said:


> Thanks Bob I dont have pictures of the part I machined but i can explain how I did it. I machined the cylinder to accept two bearings that press in and each end the press up against a shoulder. At the end where the dial is it is counter bored a bit for a needle type thrust beaaring I had laying around just so the dial would spin free. I had made a new lead screw so I made it longer and I machined it so when you tighten up the nut that holds the handle on it pre-loads the bearings but does not affect the dial.. The stock one uses the dial as a thrust surface, (very dumb) under the pressure of a cut you cannot spin the dial I avoided that.
> 
> The dial I make my own now but before I did that I called this guy up and got him to sell me a 200 space dial only. You could use any 200 space dial that you could retro-fit.
> 
> ...



I'm kind of in the middle of doing something very similar. Used a 5" long chrome moly tube that I JB-Welded onto the nut. Turned down a couple steps on the dial mount end on the inside to house an acetal bearing for radial load, and like you, have needle bearings for axial load. Just need to make a fitting on the end for the outer needle bearings, then a hub for the dial/reader line.

Just got off of ebay looking for a larger dial and stumbled across a bridgeport dial:




Milling Machine Part- Dial w/200 Graduation Table/Cross - $36 shipping included
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milling-Machine-Part-Dial-w-200-Graduation-Table-Cross-/171021870749

200 divisions, but from the specs on that page... ~3.25 diameter. Ought to be here within a week... and should be just a tad easier to read...


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## Mondo (Mar 25, 2014)

caveBob said:


> ....<snip>...Just got off of ebay looking for a larger dial and stumbled across a bridgeport dial:
> 
> View attachment 73059
> 
> ...




Are you intending on using that on yer Atlas cross-slide?  Hrmmmmm.....   200 divs.... but the screw is 10 tpi....it will still be a full turn to make 10 thou advance. So each full division will equal 1/2 a thou advance.  Interesting.


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## iron man (Mar 26, 2014)

caveBob said:


> I'm kind of in the middle of doing something very similar. Used a 5" long chrome moly tube that I JB-Welded onto the nut. Turned down a couple steps on the dial mount end on the inside to house an acetal bearing for radial load, and like you, have needle bearings for axial load. Just need to make a fitting on the end for the outer needle bearings, then a hub for the dial/reader line.
> 
> Just got off of ebay looking for a larger dial and stumbled across a bridgeport dial:
> 
> ...



On mine the ball bearings are handling the thrust the needle bearing was an after thought for the dial to spin against. The bridgeport dial should be easy to read but if once you get it you do not like the size all is not lost I have seen many setups made with a bridgeport dial. Most machine it so it fasten's on the back of the spindle and then use a pointer to identify each line then they scribe each graduation on a smaller dial.. Ray


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## tertiaryjim (Mar 26, 2014)

I did much the same on my china lathe.
Turned a acme 10 pitch shaft and nut and a new large OD dial.
Milled the graduations and stamped the numbers on the dial.
Had to make a riser for the reference line.
The compound won't swing over it but I can adjust backlash to 0.004 or less and the cross slide travels 1/2 thou. when I dial in one thou.
The large divisions are nice for bad eyes.


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## iron man (Mar 26, 2014)

I got mine from Tallgrass tools I would not trade it for anything a must have mod for me. Ray


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## iron man (Apr 9, 2014)

*Re: 10&amp;quot; Atlas rebuild*





I just finished a QCTH for my Atlas Lathe the brass ram pulls the tool holder in towards the main body it is a design i come up with and it seems to work well. The compound and slide are kind of weak on an Atlas 10" so I plan on making a different compound and slide to cure this the lathe is much better than stock now. Ray

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 I did not have the funds to buy a good new one so I made this one I am impressed how well it works.

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 And I just made some tool holders as well but man cutting dovetails on a small mill is really hard on that poor machine but it does a good job. Ray


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