Although it isn't uncommon to see people refer to their machine as a "Craftsman 101", that's quite general. If you add the word "Lathe", you reduce the number of possibilities down to about 100.
The 101.07301 is from most accounts a pretty good lathe. One could make the argument that it's the 2nd best 6" ever built. It's only drawback might be the bronze spindle bearings. But on the plus side, if you have to replace them they are considerably cheaper than the Timken bearings used in the 618.
Putting the motor between the lathe and the countershaft just about doubles the length of the spindle belt, which is undesirable from a vibration standpoint. The only two photos ever supplied by Sears of this model with the "A" revision countershaft bracket show the motor hard mounted to the left and slightly to the rear of the headstock. If you look in Downloads under Atlas/Craftsman, you will find the Craftsman manual for it in the Lathe Manuals folder. Note that the drawing to the side of the spindle speed chart is actually from the 10" and 12" manuals.
None of the Atlas built 6" parts lists that I ever saw show any motor mounting bracket. They all show the motor hard-mounted to the bench such that the belt tensioner mechanism tightens both belts. With the "A" revision bracket, it might have to be mounted to the left in order to achieve this. That could have been the reason for the :B: rev.
Robert D.
