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

What else people usually report, which is sometimes useful to someone, is price paid and besides the lathe itself, what else came with it of any significance (in other words, it isn't necessary to list in any detail things like end mills and drill bits or common lathe turning tools. But if a lot of new ones came with it, that's worth something so making it a better deal.
 
OK, here goes! My lathe came with a 6" three-jaw chuck, a lightly rusted 8" four-jaw chuck, an Atlas cross-slide milling attachment (fairly rusted and sans jaw blocks, mounting bolts and dovetail pegs), a beat-up live center and tailstock jacob's chuck, the original lantern toolpost, one LH tool holder, a box with probably two dozen ground but largely unused HSS tools (probably pre-made sets sold by Sears), and a very nice, very heavily built welded steel table that was obviously custom made for the lathe. I think the table weighs nearly what the lathe does! Plus, the previous owner had installed a brand-new 1/3 HP reversing motor with all new wiring and switches, done by an actual electrician so it's not the dangerous nightmare you often find on old power tools. All together, I paid $1000.
 
Thanks. I'll add that to the record. I guess that it's about time I did another update to the machine databases on Yahoo and here in Downloads.
 
Apologies, I have one correction to my above list of equipment. The motor is a 1/2 HP, not a 1/3 HP.
 
I have an old 10-D that I have rebuilt the only number I can find is on the right end of the bed. DT 8549 S There are three other letters at an angle above this but not clearly readable. The bed is 54" long. I have a change gear set that runs from 96 tooth to 20 tooth. It looked pretty sad when I bought it for $300. It works ok but the operator needs help.

Dennis B.
 
Hurley,

OK, thanks. I'll make the correction.

Dennis,

Your serial number is 8549. The presence of the 96T change gear confirms that it is earlier than the 10F (which had 64T as its largest gear) and also that it is not a 10A, B, C, or E (which has no lead screw or change gears (although for some strange reason it shipped with the half nuts installed). From what few examples that that we have, the "D" prefix means that is is a 10D.. The "T" probably means that it has Timken tapered roller bearings for the spindle instead of the more common babbit bearings. But please confirm that. The "S" suffix no one has come up with a theory on and most likely all of the people who knew what it meant are long since deceased. All that we know is that it first appeared between S/N 002107 and 002347. And that it was also stamped on Craftsman 12" machine beds from the same period.In any case, your model number is probably 1054T.
 
Hurley,

Thanks for the quick reply. I can confirm the 10D as all of the castings have 10D + a part #. Also noted the Timken bearings when I had it torn down to restore. It has been modified by addition of a Craftsman 1/2 hp motor with a forward/reverse switch. I have been a member for some time but have not posted before. when I figure out how to attach photos I will send a before and after photos.

Dennis B. WB7ALP
 
OK. For the record, the presence of parts with part numbers beginning with 10D is a necessary but not sufficient requirement for a machine to be a 10D. My 12" Atlas 3996 still has a few 10D parts on it. The presence of a 5/8" diameter lead screw, the absence of power cross feed, the presence of two studs to lock the compound swivel, a one-piece carriage and a Serial Number below 3970 all together with the 10D parts would be sufficient. There were a few 10F parts that were backwards compatible and if any of those parts had to be replaced on any 10" after the change, that's what the factory would have shipped. So if you found a 10F part on it, that would just mean that someone had to replace it.

EDIT: Actually, your machine serial number is already well above 3970 so it will have come with the later part number cross slide and compound swivel (which have just 10- numbers). That change predated the 10D.
 
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wa5cab said:
I hadn't previously noticed it probably because looking back I see that almost all age related questions the past year have been for 12". In the combined machine database (408 entries to date) there are only 74 10" entries, a third of which show no serial numbers. And there is a large jump or blank range in the 10" serial numbers. They meander up to a little over 8000 and then skip to over 17000. Plus we only have three supposed bearing dates, one of which does not track with the other two. Meaning that it is about 13000 smaller than one with almost the same date.

Anyway, anyone with a 10" who doesn't remember for sure entering your machine into the old Yahoo database or giving it to me recently, please send me the model number (which includes bed length), serial number (including any prefix or suffix letters), type (10F, 10D, etc.), and if it has Timken bearings, the bearing dates if you know them. If no bearing dates, then anything that would give the original purchase date (no guesses, please).

Thanks, Robert D.
Click to expand...
I can find no model # on the lathe but the serial # is D5626S. It has a 5/8 lead screw, babbit brgs., vertical motor mount and a 54" bed.
Lake
 
Thanks. It is a 10D, model number 1054, and Serial Number 005626. We've seen enough examples to confirm that the D stamped before the serial number does mean 10D. And as I've written before, no one seems to know what the "S" suffix means. It also appeared for a while on the Craftsman 12" machines. It wasn't on the first few thousand machines and seems to have disappeared around 1945,

All of the 10D and earlier 10" originally had vertical countershaft assemblies. The horizontal countershaft came out with the first 10F, although the vertical was for a while still available as a special order option.
 
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