# Craftsman 101.21400 change gears



## sgriggs (Sep 25, 2013)

I was given craftsman 101 (awesome gift) but it has had some parts robbed from it that I will have to replace.  I intend to restore it and use it at home.  I have a question about the change gears.  It came with some mounted to the lathe but no extras.  If I were to make a set myself, should I use steel or aluminum?  Are the gear specs listed anywhere?  The person that gave me the lathe has a set that I can copy if the info isn't available.

Scott


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## CluelessNewB (Sep 25, 2013)

You can find a copy of the owners manual online using the list below.  If you look a the parts diagram it shows a stack of gears, the number of teeth is listed for each one.  I'm sure someone more knowledgeable about these Craftsman / Atlas lathes will be able to give you more advice.

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/1924.pdf


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## fgduncan (Sep 29, 2013)

sgriggs said:


> I was given craftsman 101 (awesome gift) but it has had some parts robbed from it that I will have to replace.  I intend to restore it and use it at home.  I have a question about the change gears.  It came with some mounted to the lathe but no extras.  If I were to make a set myself, should I use steel or aluminum?  Are the gear specs listed anywhere?  The person that gave me the lathe has a set that I can copy if the info isn't available.
> 
> Scott



I have a 10X42 Atlas with change gears. The gears really aren't under that much stress, so if you need to make them, aluminum will do just fine.  The originals were made out of pot metal which is not nearly as strong as aluminum. But before i spent the time and effort on making them, I'd check out eBay for a while.  My experience is that buying is very much better than making unless you want a project or the item is unavailable, or you don't have the money. You can spend an awful lot of time making something that you could buy for pocket change.

Frank Duncan


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## sgriggs (Sep 30, 2013)

fgduncan said:


> I have a 10X42 Atlas with change gears. The gears really aren't under that much stress, so if you need to make them, aluminum will do just fine.  The originals were made out of pot metal which is not nearly as strong as aluminum. But before i spent the time and effort on making them, I'd check out eBay for a while.  My experience is that buying is very much better than making unless you want a project or the item is unavailable, or you don't have the money. You can spend an awful lot of time making something that you could buy for pocket change.
> 
> Frank Duncan



Thank you for the info Frank.


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## wa5cab (Oct 7, 2013)

The Craftsman 101.21400 is the same as the Atlas 618.  You will find two manuals and parts lists plus the headstock disassembly/assembly instructions in the Downloads section of this (H-M) site.  They are currently on page 3 in the Atlas... folder, near the top of the page.  As soon as the Downloads software writer gets around to adding a way to properly sort the files, I will be adding some more manuals, including the Sears 101.21400 one.

The gears on Atlas machines are made of an alloy called Zamak, not pot metal.  It has excellent wear properties (unlike most pot metals), but is, like cast iron, somewhat brittle.  So try not to drop the gears from a fair height onto steel or concrete.

Although you are better off buying than making the gears, if you ever did try to make them you should use commercially available steel alloy or cast iron, not aluminum.  Aluminum is probably strong enough but will wear out quickly.  

Robert D.


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## iron man (Oct 7, 2013)

I bought a change gear one time from browning to replace an atlas gear I purchased a steel one when you go to that particular gear select it is very quiet compared to the stock gears.


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## fgduncan (Oct 8, 2013)

wa5cab said:


> The Craftsman 101.21400 is the same as the Atlas 618.  You will find two manuals and parts lists plus the headstock disassembly/assembly instructions in the Downloads section of this (H-M) site.  They are currently on page 3 in the Atlas... folder, near the top of the page.  As soon as the Downloads software writer gets around to adding a way to properly sort the files, I will be adding some more manuals, including the Sears 101.21400 one.
> 
> The gears on Atlas machines are made of an alloy called Zamak, not pot metal.  It has excellent wear properties (unlike most pot metals), but is, like cast iron, somewhat brittle.  So try not to drop the gears from a fair height onto steel or concrete.
> 
> ...




I think that we are in agreement on about everything.  Zamak is a high end pot metal, but there are a whole series of them and I have no idea which one Atlas might have used. I had no idea that they were brittle, but then I have never dropped one either. I have never been desperate enough to even think about cutting a gear-particularly ones as common as these. The aluminum I was thinking of was 6061T6 which I have used on many projects, admittedly none with wear problems. If you think aluminum is too soft, brass might make another attractive alternative.

Frank


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## kd8wdave (Oct 20, 2013)

sgriggs said:


> I was given craftsman 101 (awesome gift) but it has had some parts robbed from it that I will have to replace.  I intend to restore it and use it at home.  I have a question about the change gears.  It came with some mounted to the lathe but no extras.  If I were to make a set myself, should I use steel or aluminum?  Are the gear specs listed anywhere?  The person that gave me the lathe has a set that I can copy if the info isn't available.
> 
> Scott



I read Ivan Laws book and a couple of other articles on making gears.  Mine are 24P and I have successfully made 20,21,22 and 70 tooth gears so far. Also made a new spindle gear and these are currently mounted on my little lathe and do work just fine. Aluminum will work fine on this lathe. Mine is a 1/2 by 20 tpi spindle and I DO-NOT do heavy work on it, because I don't want to break it. I'm still learning to do things. I made an arbor and just took existing gears, and made a HSS bit grounded to fit the space between gears for a single cutter. Slow yes, but cheap and I'm not in business, so don't care about the time required. The lathe is a 'hobby' and I'm using it to support my radio(antenna projects) hobby. Use Aluminum, its easier to start with, and you can graduate to harder material later.


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## sgriggs (Nov 6, 2013)

I ordered a 24 DP 14.5 PA #3 cutter for $32 online brand new from Travers.  I can cut 7 of the needed change gears with it.  At $20 a gear on ebay that saves me $100.

Scott


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## frank r (Nov 6, 2013)

fgduncan said:


> You can spend an awful lot of time making something that you could buy for pocket change.



Depends on your definition of pocket change. IIRC, change gears often go for $100 - $200 a set on ebay.


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## iron man (Nov 6, 2013)

I just made some for my 10" Atlas the Zamak over time like all similar (pot metal) begins to react with the metals that make it up and that is why they start to degrade and get brittle. My latest one was made of brass and is very quiet the steel gears are fine over about 2" but under that they get a bit loud of course the 10" gears are wider to which adds too the noise.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/18817-Gear-update


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