Making Lemonade...

[louosten]

When someone hands you a lemon...

I've been making some slow progress on restoring my 10F Atlas Lathe; when I got it all of the hand wheels were either broken, bent, or replaced with non-standard parts. The machine had been used in a commercial environment...it was relegated to making parts for a newspaper print machine, eventually being replaced with an Atlas 12" lathe.

The broken Zamak parts needed to be replaced (or repaired?) and there were no guidelines on how to do this as far as I could determine. The simple solution was to get a replacement part from Clausing or Ebay at a princely sum, and discard the remnant as unusable.

Here was an example of my problem, a broken balance wheel for the cross-slide:



A previous operator (old machinist) had attempted to repair it with a cold weld material, probably similar to JB Weld or Plastic Steel. These products are really not suitable for the dynamic loads associated with the cranking motion on a hand wheel, and are not intended for tension or torsion loads. They are good filler materials and have other specific applications that work well, however.

There was nothing to lose in trying to repair it, so this is what I did. I drilled and tapped the remnant balance wheel, and Loctited in a threaded bolt:



While the Loctite was setting up, I cut off a piece of 1/2" round steel stock and commenced to grinding it to shape (lathe not working yet); then I drilled and tapped the end to fit the bolt threads:



Then I cut off the bolt to suit, and Loctited the finger lever in place:



After it set up, I rounded up the JB Weld and used it to fill in the gaps, and provide a stop on either side of the lever to hold it in place; after cleaning & degreasing, the whole shootin' match received several coats of clear lacquer...




I reinstalled the finished work of art on the cross-slide to test its effectiveness...it works!



Only time will tell as to whether this type of repair is suitable; but it appears to retain enough of a robust feel that I think it will work out as a definite alternative.

One of the problems I think everyone using these lathes with Zamak parts has experienced, it the tendency of the metal to fail under specific loads. My gut feel is that you can prevent breakage (or extend the life) of these parts by frequently cleaning your machine and not subjecting the part to undue strain from swarf.

Good Luck with your machine!

 

[Round in circles]

That arm of the cross slide and the one of the compound do seem to get their fair share of belts and breaks .
In one unit I was in in the armed forces our gun fitter broke the arm of the cross slide by having the tail stock too free and moving it too fast to the chuck whilst the arm was across its path ..Snap !
As he was a decent lad , rather than put him on report etc and see him fined a week or more of his wages I gave him three hours to come up with an effective repair or solution.
He turned a new one out of brass in about 2 hours , using a high tensile steel 4 BA threaded length to fix the " handle" in place and then soldering solid it with silver solder and cleaning it up . He turned the handle part as a double ended ball type dumbell, the part either side of the boss was a single piece turning slightly counter bored to take the larger ball end of the handle.

 

[louosten]

David;

Thanks for the response.

I've been meaning to ask you about your Sphere Lathe. Were the countershaft bearings held in place with slotted screws, or were they hex bolts? I know some of the Atlas machines were going overseas in the early 1940's to be rebadged as Sphere or Acorn. If you look at these machines, the countershafts all have hex bolt mountings, which is what my 10F came with... just wondering if any other stateside machines had these bolts, or were they aftermarket/owner supplied?
Lou O.

 

[Round in circles]

Can you stick a picture up please ?
LOU do you mean the two turned steel carriers that hold the shafts scintered bronze bearings ( mine have a tiny oil pot on each one . If so yes mine are held in the yokes with four hexagonal 5/16 BSF bolts which are located in cut out milled in the steel body , these cut out's have a slight counter bored hole to positively locate the securing bolts .

Here is a shot of my lathe


Where/how did you locate the idea/ information of my Sphere lathe coming from the USA ? Most of the parts I have cleaned up so far have made in England stamped in them it save for the gear wheels and the thread counter , The English Electric motor is 1/3 hp , made in England as well .
The serial number stamped into the front RH end face of the front way has not been recognized by W5cab .

 

[wa5cab]

I haven't seen any evidence showing that any completely assembled Atlas lathes shipped to England early in WW-II were re-badged. There are two TV-36's in the UK on this list with serial numbers so close to the 024444 listed on the British Purchasing Commission invoice shown on Lathes UK that they must have been on the same ship. Neither owner said anything about them not having an Atlas badge or nameplate. There has been some speculation that Sphere and/or Acorn bought the major castings from Atlas and did the finish machining plus made the parts not made from castings and then assembled the lathes under license from Atlas. And of course would have used BSF or BW or BA fasteners.

All of the Atlas catalog photographs from the 1930's and 1940's show square heads on the four screws supporting the countershaft bearings, not hex head. And Atlas continued to use square head bolts in some locations all the way up to 1981.

 

[louosten]

David;

That's a nice setup you have there...you can machine projects, and wash clothes at the same time! I had heard that most home machinists were multi-talented, but now you have proved it.

This bolt question is not a big deal, I was just trying to ascertain if any other Atlas lathes had the mounting bolts. In my mind, I 'imagined' that some of the earlier machines headed overseas may have been spec'd out with certain items, and somehow these nuances found their way to some of the stateside machines. I'll post a pic of my hangar with the bolts as soon as I can get to the shop, thanks.
Lou O.

 

[louosten]

David;
Here is a pic of the countershaft bearings & support as I received it (some clean-up evident):



The bolt head is the same size as the tailstock locking nut, and others on the 10F lathe. Curiously, the bolts are not all identical; two (on the same side) have longer threads than the others (belt tension adjustment?). Additionally, the nuts have an obvious shoulder in contact with the hangar assembly:




As Robert D. said, they are probably a modification by the P. O. ; when I was cleaning this contraption up, there was evidence of a previous 'train wreck'...don't know if this had anything to do with said changes.

Lou O.

 

[Round in circles]

You have posh domed and champhered bolt and nuts , mine look like they were quickly turned off a hexagonal bar and not fully finished .

Perhaps having the shanked bolts instead of the screws on the same side , .( If they are indeed in the correct place ) is to stop you over tensioning the belt by screwing them in too far.
OR
The longer screws can give a lot more adjustment on the drive belting , where as it is not needed on the bolt side of the bearing

 

[atlas ten]

Has anyone ever tryed to braze zamak? I recently got my oxy/acetylene bottles exchange and looking to try some brazing or cutting. I have a purox torch with regulators that i bought for $10 at a pawn shop. My bottles purchase came with victor cutting setup. I don't have any experience using any of it yet.

Jack

 

[yendor]

Zamak will just melt on you.