10" Atlas lathe 42" bed

By the looks of the spindle and bearings ,I would check out the play with a indicator before trying to replace them. From the pictures they look really good. It's not everyone that has the talent to pour and scrape New bearings. A common practice is to replace the head stock with one with Timken bearings. Overall there doesn't show much wear on the lathe. Good luck with your project and thanks for the pictures.
 
It looks as though the lathe is coming along nicely. Do you know how old it is?
 
Nogoingback said:
It looks as though the lathe is coming along nicely. Do you know how old it is?
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From what I gather from another forum; I think this may have been one of the first lathes Atlas Tool in Kalamazoo, MI. made, as it lacks the wipers for the ways on the saddle/apron. FWIU Atlas in Kalamazoo did not start producing this lathe until the late 1920's or early 30's of the 42" length. I am just getting my photo album together now with a couple videos of the top shaft in the headstock that gets the grease packed in that is bent on one end. The shaft had a catastrophic failure in its past. The woodruff key broke & worked its way out from the 5 step pulley digging a groove into the shaft in the meantime whist also digging into the threads on one end of the shaft the grease cups get screwed onto. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50621316@N05/albums/72157720182170330
 
In the pictures of the ways; they look rusty; but that came off with a scotchbrite pad with a couple quick hits of Deep Creep penetrating spray.
 
MNSTEEL said:
From what I gather from another forum; I think this may have been one of the first lathes Atlas Tool in Kalamazoo, MI. made, as it lacks the wipers for the ways on the saddle/apron. FWIU Atlas in Kalamazoo did not start producing this lathe until the late 1920's or early 30's of the 42" length. I am just getting my photo album together now with a couple videos of the top shaft in the headstock that gets the grease packed in that is bent on one end. The shaft had a catastrophic failure in its past. The woodruff key broke & worked its way out from the 5 step pulley digging a groove into the shaft in the meantime whist also digging into the threads on one end of the shaft the grease cups get screwed onto. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50621316@N05/albums/72157720182170330
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That is going to look great once completed! Good progress...

Sharing one of your photos... Lathe has a lot of accessories. Nice!!

Atlas Lathe.jpg
 
MNSTEEL said:
From what I gather from another forum; I think this may have been one of the first lathes Atlas Tool in Kalamazoo, MI. made, as it lacks the wipers for the ways on the saddle/apron. FWIU Atlas in Kalamazoo did not start producing this lathe until the late 1920's or early 30's of the 42" length.
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It's great to see the old machines brought back to good working order: nice job.
Our resident Atlas expert is wa5cab and may be able to tell you more about your machine. If he doesn't pop to the surface
you could PM him.
 
I have also taken notice since I got this Atlas is Atlas made the Craftsman lathes for Sears. Large machinery companies are still selling their machines to "chain stores" and they get the store chain's "brand label". My mini mill I have in the basement is a Northern Tool "Klutch" brand, it's the same mill sold by Harbor Freight as their "Central Machinery" brand. The mill itself is a Sieg X2D. There is a magazine that did a story on the Sieg mill "The one mill with many brand names" I think (or something close to it anyway).
 
Nutfarmer said:
By the looks of the spindle and bearings ,I would check out the play with a indicator before trying to replace them. From the pictures they look really good. It's not everyone that has the talent to pour and scrape New bearings. A common practice is to replace the head stock with one with Timken bearings. Overall there doesn't show much wear on the lathe. Good luck with your project and thanks for the pictures.
Click to expand...
It has been abused and not taken good care of; in my teardown pictures; there are a few shots of one spot (several angles) where the saddle was brazed years ago........
 
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