Atlas/craftsman Capacity?

Olddaddy

Olddaddy

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I am new to the forum and considering an Atlas/Craftsman as a hobby lathe and first time lathe. My primary need for a lathe is to make steel spacers. They are made from 2" OD DOM tube with a 1.25" ID. They are parted off at about .625" thick and a small radius is turned on one side of the ID. I will occasionally open up the ID to 1.375" on a few of them. My question is if the 101 Atlas/Craftsman lathe would be up to the task? I am sure bigger would be better, but space and budget favor something smaller and less costly. I don't want to buy below the machine's ability though. Any advice, and thanks for helping a newbie out!
 
The 6" might. The 6" steady rest has a capacity of 2-3/8" diameter. However, the short bed (a nominal 18" between centers, and less than that with a chuck mounted) won't leave much room to maneuver a boring bar, even if you pull the tailstock off. The 10" or any of the 12" would. They were made in lengths up to a nominal 36" between centers. The steady rests for 10" and 12" have a diameter capacity of 2-7/8". The reason that I mention the steady rest is that the spindle bore of even the 10" or 12" is only 3/4" diameter. Even if you buy an 8" chuck and can find one with a greater than 2" ID, that only buys you the work piece length for about three parts plus however much you can get away with sticking out of the chuck (probably 4 at a guess). With a steady rest always supporting the working end, you could start with an 18" long tube or a little longer, always have the parting off point close to the support, and move the steady rest toward the headstock every second or third radius and cut. And you should acquire a set of roller jaws for the steady rest.

One comment - do the ID radius before you part off. Otherwise you'll find out the hard way that holding parts with lengths significantly less than their diameter is tricky.

Otherwise, you need to look at a lathe with 2-3/8" spindle bore. Although you could conceivably find such a machine cheap and still in good enough condition to use without major repairs, tooling and accessories for it are typically going to be much more expensive and harder to find than those for the Atlas.

But in any case, whatever lathe you buy, be prepared to spend at least what you paid for the lathe on tooling and accessories unless you are very lucky and get everything you need as part of the purchase deal.. In this regard, price and availability of accessories is generally better for the Atlas than the same items made for the 4 or 5 other comparable US brands because many more of them were sold. All of the comments in paragraph one also apply to anything made by Clausing, Colchester, Logan, Rockwell, or South Bend that has less than a 2+" spindle bore.
 
Thanks so much for the reply, info and advice. I had no idea when I read your post that less than three hours later I would find an Atlas 3981, 12" X 36" lathe within a few miles of my house! I had called some friends and mentioned I was looking for a lathe and he said, " we have one we picked up, but are not going to keep". I was there in minutes, made the deal and will pick it up this weekend. It is not pretty, but appears to be intact and operational. The only thing that did not work that I could see was the cross feed mechanism, the handle turns, but it does not move. It has drawers full of cutting tools, holders, and stuff I do not know what to name. Three chucks, steady rest, two tailpieces and more stuff I don't know the name of.....timing is indeed everything! Better pics this weekend, and many thanks again for your help!image.jpgimage.jpg
 
That was a good find.It's going to take some work but that's one of the better versions of the 12".

On the cross feed not working, I can only think of four possible reasons.

1) Woodruff key for crank missing. On top of the cross slide behind the compound you should see two round head slotted screws. Remove the one farthest toward the rear and lift off the chip protector. Turn the crank and see whether or not the screw turns. If not, pull the nut on the front end of the feed screw and pull off the crank to check for the key.
2) Feed screw broken. Never heard of this happening and I think if it did happen, you could probably pull the crank and front part of the screw out of the bearing.
3) Cross feed nut threads stripped (I have never heard of this actually happening).
4) Cross feed nut missing. The round head screw nearest to the compound attaches this. Look under the cross slide for the nut. . The nut is brass and from the end looks like the back end of a round top wagon.

In DOWNLOADS in the Atlas Lathe Manuals folder, you should find the parts manual to download. It will be listed as ...3980-3991. You should probably look at the carriage and cross slide exploded view before doing any of the above.
 
Thanks again! The download folder indicates I need 30 posts to access the folder. I will look online till my post count increases.
 
You may not have access to he download folder yet - but I you ask one of the moderators can e-mail you a copy of the PFD file.
 
Sorry. That's twice yesterday that I forgot to check a member's stats before just saying go to DOWNLOADS. Access to DOWNLOADS requires either of two things - Active Member status (requires 30 valid posts) as indicated by a bar that shows up under your Avatar. Or Donor status (which requires a donation to the site). Unfortunately, neither of these happens automatically but the Owner is pretty good about checking status every day or two. If more than two or three days elapse and you still don't see the appropriate bar under your avatar and user ID. send a PM to Nels requesting it.

And as Rod wrote, if you'll send me a PM (AKA Conversation) which includes your email address and what you need, I'll send it to you direct.
 
Well, I am sorry to report the deal on the 12/36 did not go well. Upon closer examination a number of issues appeared that gave me pause. The seller was reasonable, but unwilling to negotiate on the price and in the end we agreed to no sale. My view was that I was buying a project that would end up costing more than a good condition working lather. So, I will continue looking and report back when something turns up I can buy and use without rebuilding. Thanks again, for all the help so far. Hope to have more to report shortly.
 
Unless you were going to get that for close to scrap, you probably did the right thing by walking away. That machine is definitely a project and while those newer 12" Atlas are good machines, parts aren't nearly as plentiful as for the older models so a project machine can get pricey in the end. What's your budget? There's a well tooled decent looking South Bend 9" on the Tampa CL for $900.
 
I saw the ad for the one in Tampa, but I think I am going to go back to my original plan for a smaller 6" Atlas. It fits the room I have, budget etc. I think it will do what I need to do and if not I can always buy bigger later. To start out and learn I think a 618 will do me fine.
 
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