Change gears a PITA on 6" Craftsman lathe

[chippermat]

I have a 64 tooth gear with a 20 tooth gear attached to it, but no single 64t gear that I can put ibehind a 32 tooth gear. So how could I ever get a .0039 feed like it shows in the chart?

The gears come apart. Switch the 20 with a 32.

 

[BlacksmithED]

The gears come apart. Switch the 20 with a 32.

Hot Diggidy! I had no idea that the gears came apart. Seems like any gear I try needs some filing in the key slot to get them on. But, I now have the gears set up for a .0039" feed.

 

[BlacksmithED]

Thanks everyone for your help. I was missing that one piece of information. Maybe I'll keep this lathe after all.

 

[chippermat]

Nice, good job

 

[RJSakowski]

I just spent 2 hours again trying to figure out the gear setup to put the lathe (101.07301) back the way it was after cutting some 20 tpi screws as an experiment. I have had the lathe for over 20 years, and always wanted to see how to cut threads. I never want to go through that again. Either I'm missing a gear or spacer or something, but the configuration doesn't jive with either the chart on the lathe, or the chart and description I have in the Thread Cutting booklet.

I'm thinking that when I need to cut threads on something again, I may not attempt it again because it's so difficult to figure it out.
Is there another lathe, not too big, that allows you to change gears without actually pulling them out and changing them. I've seen pictures of lathes with levers to select different gears. Is there a lathe like that that's not super expensive or large? I'm open to buying one.

I hated changing gears too. Unfortunately, it's a way of life with a small lathe. My answer was to add an electronic lead screw. Changing from feed to threading, different threading pitches and feed rates, left pr right hanbd threads. All at the push of a button. No gears. There are several good threads on this forum regarding electronic lead screw mods.

 

[BlacksmithED]

I hated changing gears too. Unfortunately, it's a way of life with a small lathe. My answer was to add an electronic lead screw. Changing from feed to threading, different threading pitches and feed rates, left pr right hanbd threads. All at the push of a button. No gears. There are several good threads on this forum regarding electronic lead screw mods.

Thanks. Good idea. I'll look into it.

 

[markba633csi]

The thing is, as much of a pain the gears are to mess with, you can cut a huge number of thread pitches (including metric) on an Atlas.
So, wear those dirty fingers with pride
-M

 

[T. J.]

When I had my Atlas lathe, I found the Craftsman Manual of Lathe Operations very valuable in this respect. It had a chart that was more legible than the one inside the gear cover and several extra diagrams. I don’t know if that’s the “threading manual” you were referring to, but if not, you might want to look for one. They’re typically about $20 on eBay.

 

[BGHansen]

Manually changing feed/threading gears in a pain. Hence, the invention of the quick change gear box. If you want to upgrade, here's a decent looking Logan not too far from you. I hit Facebook MarketPlace and saw at least 6 ads for 6" Atlas/Craftsman lathes.

Bruce



$1400, Logan 821 with a QCGB in Brockway, MI. Looks like it might have a taper attachment also.

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[BGHansen]

Oops, looks like you have to logged into Facebook to see the listing. Here's one of the photos.

Bruce