Atlas/Craftsman Serial Numbers and Bearing Dates (if applicable) For Database Entries

Robert,
The other day I posted a picture of the data plate from my Atlas mill, SN 725, model MF. I have no idea when it was purchased new; I wish I did. I'll ask the person I got it from just in case he knows more , but he did tell me that he was not the original owner.
 
Steve,

We don't have many mills in the database. And although a few that were in the database when I took it over had dates (or at least a year), none of them are substantiated (they don't say where they got the date from). However, we do have a little information from which to guess a year. The first Atlas catalog to show the mill was No. 41 1941. The first to show the MFA was M43 1943. The first to show the MFB was No. 45 1945. And the first to show the MFC was M48 1948. There were AFAIK no catalogs printed in 1944, 1946 or 1947 (except for L47 Lathes). So there is a fair chance of an error here but until better data surfaces I am dating the first of each of the four models as 01 January of the year they first appeared in a catalog and the last of the previous model as 31 December of the previous year. In addition, Atlas Mill Bulletin MMB-5 gives the serial number ranges of the MF, MFA and MFB. From these two criteria we can roughly date the MF, MFA and MFB if we assume a constant production rate. From all of this, we can guess that your mill was made near the end of 1941.
 
westsailpat said:
My bad Rodney , yes 612 not 618 . Is this the one ? http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas/page4.html
Click to expand...
Hi Westsailpat,
IMG_20160224_080316.jpg
This is my lathe with the tooling that came with it. The one you linked to is a 12 inch swing, mine is the little guy, 6 inch swing. It appears to have been built/sold in 1936.
It also came with the atlas table/bench but the bench is for a larger model so the lathe only takes up about 2/3 of the bench

Rodney
 
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I have a 9x36 Atlas. Serial # is 2693. Nothing on dates.

It had been sitting for quite a few years in a friend's barn. They had been given it by a neighbor. everything moves as appropriate. A couple of the hand wheel knobs have broken off, and the gear teeth of the carriage hand wheel have stripped off.
 
You're lucky (except that the parts are not cheap) in that the parts are mostly still available, mainly because the ones that you mention were carried over to the later machines. The cast gear case, however, is not plentiful as it was only used up through the 10D and 101.07402. Gear case for the later models has a different part number.

Is there a nameplate anywhere? It would probably be on the back of the bed behind where the tailstock usually sits. What is the length of the front way? Are there three V-belts running between the spindle and the shaft assembly above it? Or only one.
 
Hi Robert.
No name plate that I can see, and no apparent holes where one was attached.

Only one belt on the headstock, though it has the pulleys for 3 to set up the compound drive.

Inside of the back way has "954" cast into it.

Feet are the "splayed" type. Change gear cover is formed sheet metal.

I will post a link to some pictures as soon as I have enough posts on here. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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