Hi
Thanks for running this group, I joined because I just acquired an old Atlas 618 lathe and want to get it in running condition.
My experience with lathes consists of shorting a few standoffs on a lathe (in the 1970’s)
I posted all pictures and the paper work I got at my web location Snyders.site where I post some stuff I work on.
It includes the Atlas Canadian Price list as of December 1, 1943 which states:
"These prices include exchange on American money at the current rate, duty, sales tax and war tax. All prices conform to the 1942 U. S. Emergency Price Control Act and are F.O.B. factory, Kalamazoo 130, Michigan. U. S. A.")
I hope someone might find that stuff interesting and make it worth having scanned it, I always do.
Anyway, I was told the history on this lathe was owned by the father in law, in Canada, of the guy I got it from and had been brought to California many years back and had basically been sitting in a heated workshop/garage. He had a Myford lathe he was using, and that story seems to be supported by the 1940's notes on the paperwork that match many of the parts I have now.
At some point I was told the 1/3 hp motor was replaced by a ½ hp.
And as it is now the drive is a bit messed up.
The idler pulley shaft is camed way up to the limit of the adjustment screws that are on the machine and the belt to the lathe hits the caming shaft and has worn groves in it. That can’t be right.
So I looked for pictures and there are a considerable number of variations.
But on mine there as an attempt to put rubber vibration damper mounting on the motor and idler post. I have not seen any others with this.
In the process of putting in the new motor is seems the belts may be too long and the motor shaft is too high and back too far to get the motor belt to tighten at the same time the lathe belt tightens. (Sorry if I don’t have the lingo down yet)
The current belts (and what looks like the ones that came with the machine and were installed before are round leather belts with a staple)
I got one bent adjustment screw out as it looks like the square head broke clean off and I was able to grab the end of the screw and twist it out with out damage to the casting.
The other looks like I will need to cut off the bent end and then unscrew from the square end.
So far so good
To get things going I ordered some new 3L link belt from McMaster Carr along with a piece of 3L urethane belt that I may be able to bond in the machine. (I did that with a round urethane belt before)
It seems that with the ½ hp motor and the mounting that the shaft has moved too high and to too far to the back and may need to go down and to the front.
When the belts are “tight” I would like to know about what angle the motor shaft should be at relative to the idler pulley shaft to get proper tightness.
I have seen the hole locations but with out the proper motor and it’s shaft height the location angle is unknown to me.
Is there any value in the rubber mounts? to reducing vibration?
Or would it be more likely that a solid mounting with the right size link belt or urethane belt be about the best one can or should expect?
If that is the case I could go down with the motor and a bit forward and with proper belts it might work. (and it would look more like the few pictures I have seen of that part of the lathe.
Is the ½ really too big for this lathe? I was planning to not over do the tightness of the belts to allow slipping as a backup. I don’t think I have anything I need to do that would demand full power at this point. I don't what to chip a gear, but I don’t want to speed too much time with this motor if it’s not right. But on the other hand I would get a VFD after a while if everything else works, and possibly that could have a torque limit in the future. ( but I have only worked with very complex VFD’s for much bigger 3 ph motors, so I don’t know what might work for this motor yet.)
In general I would like to get this lathe going in a basic form and get some education for my money, a few knobs/feet/shaft couplings for my electronic stuff, then re-evaluate things and possibly restoring this lathe a bit more or switching to something a bit bigger/more precise.
Thanks for any help/thoughts in advance
John in California
Thanks for running this group, I joined because I just acquired an old Atlas 618 lathe and want to get it in running condition.
My experience with lathes consists of shorting a few standoffs on a lathe (in the 1970’s)
I posted all pictures and the paper work I got at my web location Snyders.site where I post some stuff I work on.
It includes the Atlas Canadian Price list as of December 1, 1943 which states:
"These prices include exchange on American money at the current rate, duty, sales tax and war tax. All prices conform to the 1942 U. S. Emergency Price Control Act and are F.O.B. factory, Kalamazoo 130, Michigan. U. S. A.")
I hope someone might find that stuff interesting and make it worth having scanned it, I always do.
Anyway, I was told the history on this lathe was owned by the father in law, in Canada, of the guy I got it from and had been brought to California many years back and had basically been sitting in a heated workshop/garage. He had a Myford lathe he was using, and that story seems to be supported by the 1940's notes on the paperwork that match many of the parts I have now.
At some point I was told the 1/3 hp motor was replaced by a ½ hp.
And as it is now the drive is a bit messed up.
The idler pulley shaft is camed way up to the limit of the adjustment screws that are on the machine and the belt to the lathe hits the caming shaft and has worn groves in it. That can’t be right.
So I looked for pictures and there are a considerable number of variations.
But on mine there as an attempt to put rubber vibration damper mounting on the motor and idler post. I have not seen any others with this.
In the process of putting in the new motor is seems the belts may be too long and the motor shaft is too high and back too far to get the motor belt to tighten at the same time the lathe belt tightens. (Sorry if I don’t have the lingo down yet)
The current belts (and what looks like the ones that came with the machine and were installed before are round leather belts with a staple)
I got one bent adjustment screw out as it looks like the square head broke clean off and I was able to grab the end of the screw and twist it out with out damage to the casting.
The other looks like I will need to cut off the bent end and then unscrew from the square end.
So far so good
To get things going I ordered some new 3L link belt from McMaster Carr along with a piece of 3L urethane belt that I may be able to bond in the machine. (I did that with a round urethane belt before)
It seems that with the ½ hp motor and the mounting that the shaft has moved too high and to too far to the back and may need to go down and to the front.
When the belts are “tight” I would like to know about what angle the motor shaft should be at relative to the idler pulley shaft to get proper tightness.
I have seen the hole locations but with out the proper motor and it’s shaft height the location angle is unknown to me.
Is there any value in the rubber mounts? to reducing vibration?
Or would it be more likely that a solid mounting with the right size link belt or urethane belt be about the best one can or should expect?
If that is the case I could go down with the motor and a bit forward and with proper belts it might work. (and it would look more like the few pictures I have seen of that part of the lathe.
Is the ½ really too big for this lathe? I was planning to not over do the tightness of the belts to allow slipping as a backup. I don’t think I have anything I need to do that would demand full power at this point. I don't what to chip a gear, but I don’t want to speed too much time with this motor if it’s not right. But on the other hand I would get a VFD after a while if everything else works, and possibly that could have a torque limit in the future. ( but I have only worked with very complex VFD’s for much bigger 3 ph motors, so I don’t know what might work for this motor yet.)
In general I would like to get this lathe going in a basic form and get some education for my money, a few knobs/feet/shaft couplings for my electronic stuff, then re-evaluate things and possibly restoring this lathe a bit more or switching to something a bit bigger/more precise.
Thanks for any help/thoughts in advance
John in California
