New to me Craftsman Commercial 12x36

[roadie33]

I bought a Craftsman Commercial 12 x 36 and am interested in learning more on how to use it.
I previously used a Dunlap 109.0703 and have made some pulleys for use in my wood shop machines.

Overall the Craftsman is in pretty good shape, just filthy.
In the process of taking the lathe apart and cleaning everything I found the only problem is one of the small 20T gears in the QCGB has a sheared key. After looking for a replacement gear I found that Sears Direct still has them but the cost is pretty high. I may just try to broach a key-way in the gear and add a key in the shaft key-way for the left hand lever. If that doesn't work I guess I'll have to part with some more Green and order it.
Here are some pics before I started cleaning.

 

[wa5cab]

Roadie,

That's a Craftsman 101.28990. If you didn't get it with the lathe, you will find the parts manual for it in Downloads.

You might try Clausing for the gear. In many cases, they are cheaper than Sears. Sears used different model numbers for the Atlas built machines that they sold. But used the Atlas part numbers instead of assigning their own. AFAIK, all of the parts that they have came from Atlas.

Robert D.

 

[roadie33]

Thanks Robert,

I'll try broaching a key-way in that little gear first. No loss if it doesn't work.
Then I'll see if Clausing has one. Hopefully it is cheaper than Sears.

 

[wa5cab]

Right. Nothing to lose. You can probably also get a gear from Boston or one of their suppliers. But you'll still have to do something about the key.

Robert D.

 

[Rick Leslie]

Congrats on the new (to you) lathe. Those are good lathes for the money. You'll have fun learning on it. My 'learning lathe' was a 12" Craftsman as well. Bought in 1984 for way too much money, I still have it and use it regularly.

This guy seems to have a good supply of new and used Craftsman parts.
http://www.mymachineshop.net/

 

[roadie33]

Thanks Rick,
I checked out that site and that gear is about the only thing he didn't have listed for the 101. But he does have some other goodies I wouldn't mind getting.

I had a Dunlap 109 and learned on it how to do the basics.
This Craftsman is about 10 times bigger and has a lot more levers and knobs to get familiar with.
I chucked up a piece of 2" aluminum, faced and made a couple of passes with the auto feed to clean it up and it was so much easier than the old 109. Chucked up a couple of shafts out of an old printer and parted the ends off, which was a lot easier on the 101. I will use them to make a Spindle Square so I can use the milling attachment I got with the lathe.
After that the next project is a Taper Attachment. I just need to find some plans for one to get a better idea on the measurements for everything.

 

[Mondo]

Broaching a key slot in a gear, on the lathe.
I rigged up a lever-operated slotting cutter using a spare tool rest and a boring bar and some pieces of steel from the scrap bin.

Let the pictures tell the story:

 

[roadie33]

That looks like a good way to do it also.
I just use my Dumont broach set and 15 ton press to do the job.
It can cut keyways 1/8" - 3/8" in less than a minute.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

Thanks Robert,

I'll try broaching a key-way in that little gear first. No loss if it doesn't work.
Then I'll see if Clausing has one. Hopefully it is cheaper than Sears.

lf they have it, it should be cheaper.
Sears wanted 25.00 each for tires, clausing had them for about $6.00 each.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

That looks like a good way to do it also.
I just use my Dumont broach set and 15 ton press to do the job.
It can cut keyways 1/8" - 3/8" in less than a minute.

l'd like to have a broach set, but l don't think l'd use it too much, I would have to get it for a cheap price.
l only did a pulley one time, and did it on my lathe. Used a file of all things as my cutter.