10" Atlas rebuild

[iron man]

10" 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

 

[iron man]

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

 

[schor]

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

 

[stevecmo]

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

 

[iron man]

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

It is an Atlas on steroids!!

 

[littlejack]

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

 

[iron man]

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

 

[littlejack]

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

 

[jster1963]

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

 

[iron man]

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