New to me: Craftsman 101.27440 lathe.

Hello again Rob,

I guess what I don't understand is, why on my Lathe did they put a round Scroll in. The reason I ask is that my Lathe has all the components for the cross slide feed. But when I got it to my shop and started taking it apart to clean it up and paint it. I noticed that the miter gear for the cross slide that should have a internal KEY inside was missing (the internal key not the miter gear it's self). So I ended up finding one (keyed miter gear) on eBay to replace the old one.

It wasn't until I started to put the carriage assembly back together that I found the issue with the Plunger and Scroll. Unless for some reason Atlas or maybe Craftsman decided not to make the 24770 lathe with the cross feed. But left the pull knob and subassemblies for the cross feed intact. I don't know it doesn't make any sense to me why they would leave out the Scroll with the flat and the miter gear without the key inside? Unless it was for some type of safety thing?

Another thing I think is kind of weird. All the Scrolls on eBay are the round type?

What do you think?
 
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First I know that not all the lathes had this interlock, I know that my Craftsman has it and I know that some of the 10" Atlas ones do not. As with any interlock it is a safety thing but not sure if it is needed. I don't see myself engaging the cross slide feed at the same time as the carriage feed but without it it can be done.

Now as to why I am just guessing but I can see someone replacing a broken one with one purchased off EBay or some other place rather than getting one from Clausing. I know when I have contacted Clausing they want my lathe model #. When I purchased the one that I milled the flat in I did not realize about the interlock until I was attempting to install the scroll. As I recall I see more on EBay without the flat spot than with it.

As I mentioned you could just remove the plunger and use the scroll until you either obtained another one or got around to milling the flat on this one or not at all.
 
Well, what I ended up doing is. And I kind of regret this, but I ended up cutting the very end off the Plunger. The reason I did that over removing the whole thing. Is that I would of had to remove the cross feed knob which is held in place with a small pin. And I didn't have a drive pin small enough to get that little pin out.

But like I said I kinda regret it, because now the Plunger does not push up against the Scroll. Because of this the Scroll does not move the half nuts away from the Leadscrew enough. And I have to use a rubber band to keep the lever up so that the half nuts don't interfere with the Leadscrew.

I gotta go back and look at everything again, because I think it just might be the spring that holds the Plunger. When I tried to remove the Plunger the first time I took off the spring to see if I could get the Plunger out. But of course the Plunger is to long to remove without removing the cross feed knob. So it could be just the spring for the Plunger that is giving me the problem. I already tried to adjust the little spring with the ball that is used for adjusting the half nut lever. But that didn't do any good.

Also, when I bought the Lathe. The guy who sold it to me also sold me a old Atlas horizontal milling machine. Both machines came with a bunch of tooling. Which is nice because you never have enough tooling. LoL And before I bought the mill and lathe, I bought a Grizzly G0704 and it also came with a bunch of tooling and a very nice vise. But what I am looking for now is a small vise for the Atlas horizontal mill. So if you know of anyone who might have a small machine vise they want to sell. Please let me know.

If you don't mind me asking, what Lathe do you have? I assume that it is a Craftsman, but what model is it?

Anyway, thank you Rob for all your help. It is truly appreciated.
 
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My 101.27440 has the power cross feed and it works. No clue what the scroll piece on mine looks like.
 
Hello Larry,

Thank you for your reply to this post. I don't know of any other people who have the 27440 Craftsman Lathe then you and me right now. At least no one has commented on having one other than you so far on this post.

I would like to ask you a few questions about your 24770 Craftsman Lathe, if that is okay with you. If you have read any of this post then you know what I have been going through. I bought the Craftsman 24770 Lathe and a Atlas horizontal mill from a guy on Craigslist. I really didn't know much about the Lathe when I bought it. Other than what the guy who sold it to me had to say. Which was that the lathe and mill was owned by a old gunsmith guy. So I thought that they would probably be in good condition, or in somewhat good condition.

But when I got them back to my shop it was a whole nother story. I have already rebuilt the Atlas horizontal milling machine and it runs great. But the Lathe, was covered in old grease and saw dust and at the time I couldn't tell how bad it was. Since then I have taken everything apart and clean and painted the Lathe. Now I am putting it back together and finding problems here and there with it. Not show stoppers, but things that need attention before I can start cutting parts.

As I mentioned above, the miter gear for the cross feed was missing the internal key. And the Scroll didn't have the flat area for the Plunger to drop into. Which leads me to believe that my 24770 Lathe was not intended to have a working power cross feed? I have already bought a keyed miter gear and fixed the Scroll/ Plunger issue. So I now have power cross feed.

But one thing I am not sure about is the bed ways. When I first got the Lathe I didn't notice the wear on the bed ways. Until I started putting the carriage assembly back on the bed ways. I'm not sure if I should stone the bed ways or just leave them alone.

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
 
I also have a 24770 as well as a Atlas Mill and Atlas Shaper. And yes it should have power cross feed.
 

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Orangecrush - I have not taken my lathe apart, so I am afraid I am not much help. I have also not put it to use due to other projects.

I see Rob has one and has posted the parts list and manual.
 
Hi Orangecrush: most Atlas/Craftsman lathes this old will have some wear in the bedways. Usually it doesn't cause a big problem. You might have difficulty turning longish shafts to a precise diameter without some taper showing up. But even a really worn lathe can still make good parts if you are aware of the wear and compensate for it.
Mark S.
 
Thank you everyone for getting back to me,

First off, Rob thank you for the PDF file. I think I might have the same version that I downloaded here a couple days ago. But what I would really like to see is some pictures of your Atlas horizontal mill and the Atlas Shaper!!! I just got done rebuilding my Atlas horizontal mill and would like to compare the one you have to mine.

And as far as the cross feed and my concern about it. It seems to work fine when I turn the Leadscrew by hand. I am now in the process of putting the rest of the gears on the Lathe. Next will be the pulley assembly on the back. And about the wear on the bed ways, I guess I'm not really concerned about it right now. I'll have to see how the Lathe cuts before I do anything to repair it. Like I said in my post above, I took a stone to the bed ways to knock off any sharp edges.

Also, Rob I know you have a 27440 Craftsman Lathe. But if anyone else has one (including you Rob) please post some pictures. I would love to see what you have done to your Lathe!!!

I'll take some pictures tonight, so you guys can see my progress.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate your help!!!
 
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