My “new” Atlas Craftsman 12 inc

@Defender92,

Just how old did you think that it was?? Prior to 1957, all of the Atlas badged machines were painted dark machinery gray. But the Craftsman machines came in a variety of colors but AFAIK none were gray.

To add to my previous, we still need to know the bed LOA (choices are 36, 42, 48 or 54" which correspond to 12X18, 12X24, 12X30 and 12X36). Sometime around 1946 or 1947, the 36" and 48" beds were discontinued. Babbit spindle bearings were also discontinued circa 1945. And, the QCGB that your machine is equipped with came out circa 1951. So on your particular machine, it was bought later and the machine was converted. The 101.27430 and 101.27440 are both essentially 101.07403's with the QCGB installed at the factory. They did not originally come with any loose or extra gears.

Also, Bill Hudson, we don't seem to have your machine in the Database.
 
I did my best to measure the whole bed but it was hard with the cross slide. I got 42.5 inches.

So does that mean I have 24 inches between centers? sorry I’m new at this but learning quick! Also do I need to post anywhere for the database or did you get the info here?

So in order to get actual dates I need to take the spindle out? I’m tempted to do it but everything on my headstock seems to be in perfect order.
 
Hello Defender92 and welcome to this awesome place! I too felt compelled to crack open the headstock to check out the bearing dates on my lathe, but resisted because it just runs so well. To help suggest an answer to your question about a faceplate, I recently got one from Metal Lathe Accessories and have got to say it’s pretty nice. It will need to be machined for use, but it will make a fun project and a stout faceplate. Just my 2 cents. Keep having fun with the lathe and be safe on your shifts!
Here’s the link:
 
Orangetruckman said:
Hello Defender92 and welcome to this awesome place! I too felt compelled to crack open the headstock to check out the bearing dates on my lathe, but resisted because it just runs so well. To help suggest an answer to your question about a faceplate, I recently got one from Metal Lathe Accessories and have got to say it’s pretty nice. It will need to be machined for use, but it will make a fun project and a stout faceplate. Just my 2 cents. Keep having fun with the lathe and be safe on your shifts!
Here’s the link:
Click to expand...

I really like the idea of have a faceplate with t-slots… but I don’t think I’m ready to finish a casting like that!
 
Another welcome. I too have a Craftsman 12" but mine is older, 1936. I added the later roller bearing headstock, like yours, and the Quick Change Gearbox, and power crossfeed.
I have done lots of metric threading, but little SAE spec, which is real easy to do compared to metric. But metric is not hard either, just a little different. Lots of youtube videos on how to.
I have been fooling around with mine for a few years now and I am still quite happy with it. It does nearly everything I need it to do, just not as fast as some of the larger machines.
Mr.Pete (Tubalcain), This old Tony, Blondihacks all have good videos aimed at the less than professional operators. Joe Pie will show you how the big boys do it, as well as others.

Again welcome to the club and you will find very little if any Craftsman hate.
 
@Defender92,

OK. Your machine is a 12x24. I've no real idea as to how close to 36", 42", 48" and 54" the beds ran. To get an accurate measurement, you would just about have to strip off the headstock, carriage and tailstock. There is, however, no real reason for that figure to be super accurate. The guy running the bed grinder was probably just told to grind enough off for it to look OK and not bother to actually measure it.

FWIW, the Timken bearings only lagged behind the babbit ones by about a year or so. Atlas does not appear to have ever made a Timken bearing 9" but the earliest catalogs on the 10" mention them. The 10" officially came out in 1935 or late 1934. The first Sears Power Tools catalog to list the complete metal working thread cutting 12" was 1936. Given the time required produce a catalog, that means that means that the first few 12" to be available for photographs were probably built in late 1934 for the 1935 catalog but you couldn't buy the complete 101.07380 until 1936. The 101.07400 with Timken bearings first appeared a year later in the 1937 catalog.

This is as good a place as any to mention that Atlas and Sears had different ideas about serial numbers. The first Atlas 10" was serial number 1 and the last was somewhere above 92407 (except for the first few (about 5000) QC models). Sears, however, started the serial number over at 1 for every new model number.
 
Welcome, looks like most of your questions have been answered.

As far as a faceplate and other tooling, 1-1/2" - 8 was a very common spindle thread for 9 and 10" lathes and is also found on the 12" Craftsman. You can easily find chucks and faceplates for this thread, and do not need to limit yourself to Atlas / Craftsman branded ones.


As far as PM, well that is a site oriented towards professionals and they don't much care for hobbyists or machinery popular with hobbyists. Atlas was a relatively inexpensive brand marketed towards hobbyists and light commercial applications like an auto repair shop, not heavy manufacturing so PM placed it on their list of banned hobby machines. Atlas is in good company, there are many other brands banned from discussion there.

There is good info at PM just don't ask questions. This site came into existence because of the hostile attitude towards hobbyists at some other machining sites.
 
1-1/2"-8 spindle nose threads are also found on the 12" (39xx models) Atlas and the 12" Clausing lathes (100 and 4800 models).
 
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