Atlas Clausing Model 3950, The Little One.

T Bredehoft

T Bredehoft

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A new to me lathe, it has no Zip codes on it, so it must have been built before 1963. I has no wear on the ways, I had to remove what may have been cosmoline from the lead screw and the gears.

Anyway, I was really dissatisfied with the solidity of the lantern tool post.

I put a dead center in the headstock taper, measured the distance from the center to the top of the compound. Wonder of wonders, it is pretty darn close to .750. I rememberd some carbide tool holders I'd squirreled away and put one on the top. It looked good, how to hold it down. Well I still had the lantern, wondered if I could use it. I built a stack (two 3/8 bits) opposite the lantern and put another through it, clamped it down. The whole thing is rock solid. Not only that, but I've got threading inserts for this holder.

Has this been done before?

Tool post clamp.jpg

The aluminum shim under the tool is to make up of a 1/16 I milled off of it years ago.

I have other 3/4 tool holders for both right and left and positive and negative inserts, too.
 
I don't know why the Clausing address doesn't show a ZIP code (maybe they made a bazillion of them in the late 60's and haven't yet used them up) but the Atlas 3950 (6" MK2) was made from mid 1972 to mid 1977. If you remove the Change Gear Cover and look at the left end of the headstock casting to the left of the belt tension pulley, you should see the casting number (383-017) and to the right of that a date in MDYY format. The machine was made after that date and before 1978.

No, I never heard of anyone doing that with the toolpost. But if it works, it works.
 
Good to know about the date, Thanks. It's 11-9-76, so it probably was made in 1977 plus or minus.

Yes, the tool holder seems to work OK. I haven't put it to any heavy duty work yet, but that's coming.
 
OK. In early January, I posted a survey on the MK2. Title or Subject was :

Question for Atlas/Craftsman 6" MK2 Lathes (REV 1)

Date was 10 January 2015. If you don't mind, please look for it and answer the questions therein. We had very few responses from 3950 owners (two I think).
 
looks fine to me, although I'd caution about taking too heavy of a cut or an interrupted cut, as that's a lot of leverage hanging out on that corner of the compound.
 
Good point, Matt, I'll make sure the clamp is farther back, too. Just in case.

Tom
 
T Bredehoft said:
A new to me lathe, it has no Zip codes on it, so it must have been built before 1963. I has no wear on the ways, I had to remove what may have been cosmoline from the lead screw and the gears.

Anyway, I was really dissatisfied with the solidity of the lantern tool post.

I put a dead center in the headstock taper, measured the distance from the center to the top of the compound. Wonder of wonders, it is pretty darn close to .750. I rememberd some carbide tool holders I'd squirreled away and put one on the top. It looked good, how to hold it down. Well I still had the lantern, wondered if I could use it. I built a stack (two 3/8 bits) opposite the lantern and put another through it, clamped it down. The whole thing is rock solid. Not only that, but I've got threading inserts for this holder.

Has this been done before?

View attachment 96136

The aluminum shim under the tool is to make up of a 1/16 I milled off of it years ago.

I have other 3/4 tool holders for both right and left and positive and negative inserts, too.
Click to expand...
How large of a diameter piece can this machine accept?
 
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