Atlas 10" lathe for sale, need some advice

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Jeff L.
H-M Lifetime Diamond Member
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Oct 17, 2018
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This lathe is for sale:
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/tls/d/lathe-10-inch-atlas/6725068527.html

Model is a TH42. I looked this up and it appears to be really old. My concern is wear and parts availability. Anything I should ask/look out for?

I'm looking for a small lathe for home use. I don't have room for anything bigger. I will also be mounting this to some sort of rolling tool chest or table with wheels so it's mobile. So it needs to be able to be mounted safely.

Thanks!
 
The first thing to determine is what do you want to do with a lathe. Answering that question will help you look for a lathe that will meet your needs. For example the lathe in the ad does not have a qcgb. If you are going to be cutting lots of different threads with every project then changing the gears for each thread is going to get old fast.

The lathe has definitely been used. I would ask about prior owners and how it has been used in the past. How long has the seller owned it? Who did they buy it from? What did he or she use the lathe for? It is missing parts. No handle on the cross slide and the locking handle on the tail stock is missing. Other parts could be missing as well. Look very carefully at all of the gears for broken teeth, cracks, slop and anything else that just doesn't quite look or feel right. You can generally find parts for these old lathes but they will be expensive in the long run. And tooling up the lathe will cost you more than the lathe. I would not buy it unless the seller includes everything that he has for his asking price of $600.

It is all most impossible for us newbies to assess the condition of a well used lathe. Do you know anybody who has experience that could go with you to look at it? Being in the LA area maybe there is an experienced forum member who would be willing to look at it with you for the price of a lunch or dinner. It would be money well spent.

How often will you need to move the lathe? I have seen some clever ideas on the web to be able to move lighter machinery. You will need some way to securely keep it from moving when in use.

When I was looking for my lathe I looked for estate sales where the family was selling off Grandpa's stuff that he had in the garage and only used as a hobby. It took me over a year of looking before I found what I was looking for. Don't be in a rush.
 
The first thing to determine is what do you want to do with a lathe. Answering that question will help you look for a lathe that will meet your needs. For example the lathe in the ad does not have a qcgb. If you are going to be cutting lots of different threads with every project then changing the gears for each thread is going to get old fast.
The lathe has definitely been used. I would ask about prior owners and how it has been used in the past. How long has the seller owned it? Who did they buy it from? What did he or she use the lathe for? It is missing parts. No handle on the cross slide and the locking handle on the tail stock is missing. Other parts could be missing as well. Look very carefully at all of the gears for broken teeth, cracks, slop and anything else that just doesn't quite look or feel right. You can generally find parts for these old lathes but they will be expensive in the long run. And tooling up the lathe will cost you more than the lathe. I would not buy it unless the seller includes everything that he has for his asking price of $600.
It is all most impossible for us newbies to assess the condition of a well used lathe. Do you know anybody who has experience that could go with you to look at it? Being in the LA area maybe there is an experienced forum member who would be willing to look at it with you for the price of a lunch or dinner. It would be money well spent.

How often will you need to move the lathe? I have seen some clever ideas on the web to be able to move lighter machinery. You will need some way to securely keep it from moving when in use.

When I was looking for my lathe I looked for estate sales where the family was selling off Grandpa's stuff that he had in the garage and only used as a hobby. It took me over a year of looking before I found what I was looking for. Don't be in a rush.


I'm teaching Engineering at a high school and want a small lathe I can use at home to create projects for the students. I have bigger ones at work, but I can't take them home. I figure smaller projects are cheaper and safer anyway. I want something I can use over summer and after work. It has to be small enough to safely mount on a rolling tool chest so I can move it occasionally. 9x20 is about as big as I'd want to go. This one might be too large, but it turned up in a search and I thought I'd ask about it to learn about the brand. I'm learning alot from asking questions and reading posts on this site.

A QCGB would be nice, but is not a requirement at this time. Thanks for pointing that out, though.

I don't have any buddies who are lathe experts, unfortunately. Where would I find a forum member who lived near the lathe? Which forum would I post a request on?

I've been looking for only a few weeks. Seems like everyone is asking for way too much. Some seller wants $1400 for a Jet that's in good shape and comes with tooling, but I can get a brand new one for just a little more. I want to know what a fair price is for a lathe, so if some one is overpriced I can offer them less, confident that I'm offering them a fair price.
 
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As far as age goes, the serial number is the best guide there. The Atlas 10F (of which the TH42 is one) was made from late 1938 through mid 1957. So depending upon your definition, it may or may not qualify to be called "old". However, how or for what it was used during most of its life is more important for almost any piece of equipment than is the manufacture date.

If you put it or any other machine on a roll-around cabinet or stand and try to operate it sitting on the wheels, even a brand new machine will not perform well. The minimum requirement would be retractable castors and adjustable feet so that when you roll it from its storage location to its operating location, it will be straight and level. Although it will work best if solidly anchored than if not, it will work better if you mark the operating location and always return to the same spot before retracting the wheels. And it will also be safer to operate.
 
I'm in contact with the seller and got some info: He bought it from a "dead guy's nephew". I think the guy was a mechanic who used it at home. The seller has 2 of these; one is a Craftsman the other is an Atlas. He restored the Craftsman (looks awesome, he texted me pictures!) and is converting it to CNC but doesn't want to do it with the Atlas. The seller used the lathe to make reamers of some sort. He turned mostly brass, graphite and stainless.
Serial number is 022526. Is there a data base of serial numbers on this site?
The newest this machine would be is 61 years old. Unless it was used occasionally for home hobby use, it seems to me it would be pretty beat up. However, the seller seems to know what he's doing, so maybe he took care of it.
He does have most of the tooling, but I'm still concerned about finding replacement parts and tooling if I need it.
I was told that Atlas is a brand of lathe I'd want to consider, but it seems they might be too old for what I'm capable of dealing with.
 
Have you tried using "search tempest"? https://www.searchtempest.com/ It will search all of craigslist within whatever distance you are willing to travel. Use "lathe" as your keyword and search "all sale/wanted".

For example I live 50 miles east of Fresno in the foothills not far from Kings Canyon National park. I put in 400 miles for my search distance This basically covered everything from the Mexican border to north of the Bay Area. I sent out a lot of emails. The lathes that were in good shape and at a fair price all sold within days of being posted. You will quickly get an idea about pricing. And you will see listings that hang around forever. I ultimately found my craftsman 12x36 lathe only a couple of miles from my house. It was more than I wanted to spend, $1200, but it came with every attachment that craftsman offered except for a taper attachment and lots of misc tooling, 3 & 4 jaw chucks of various sizes, etc. I think that I have a lifetime supply of tool steel. I knew it was a fair price after talking to the seller and I got there as quick as I could with cash in hand. There were several other buyers in route that the seller called while I was listening to tell them the lathe had been sold.

So be patient and be prepared to act quickly when you find what you are looking for.
 
Have you tried using "search tempest"? https://www.searchtempest.com/ It will search all of craigslist within whatever distance you are willing to travel. Use "lathe" as your keyword and search "all sale/wanted".

For example I live 50 miles east of Fresno in the foothills not far from Kings Canyon National park. I put in 400 miles for my search distance This basically covered everything from the Mexican border to north of the Bay Area. I sent out a lot of emails. The lathes that were in good shape and at a fair price all sold within days of being posted. You will quickly get an idea about pricing. And you will see listings that hang around forever. I ultimately found my craftsman 12x36 lathe only a couple of miles from my house. It was more than I wanted to spend, $1200, but it came with every attachment that craftsman offered except for a taper attachment and lots of misc tooling, 3 & 4 jaw chucks of various sizes, etc. I think that I have a lifetime supply of tool steel. I knew it was a fair price after talking to the seller and I got there as quick as I could with cash in hand. There were several other buyers in route that the seller called while I was listening to tell them the lathe had been sold.

So be patient and be prepared to act quickly when you find what you are looking for.

Searchtempest is awesome! I've been using it. Problem is everything is just a bit too far away. I live in LA, nothing is ever really close, given traffic. It's hard to just pop over and give the machine a look. I like to post here and use the collective wisdom to get a better idea of what I'm looking at.

At this point I'm trying to get a feel for prices and what a fair price is for a given machine. That way, I can jump on it. People here seem to be overpricing, but I could be wrong. I need more knowledge. I'm in no hurry, so I'll just have fun looking and learning.

The listings that hang around too long are usually people who don't want to sell. I'm hoping that I'll learn enough here to convince them they are asking too much and then I can get the machine for less and use the savings to get tools and accessories.
 
Yes, we have a database in the Atlas/Craftsman/AA section of Downloads that lists 400+ Atlas or Craftsman lathes (from 1932 through early 1981, Atlas [now called Clausing] built all of the better lathes that Sears sold) plus mills, shapers and a few drill presses and band saws. But access to Downloads requires being a donor (any level from $10 per year up) because the necessary storage space is not free. However, S/N 022526 would have been made around January of 1941. Unfortunately, after buying Clausing and later renaming the company to Clausing, Atlas moved several times and all of their production history records were either lost or destroyed. So to approximately date one of them, we have to get by with the few that have had the bearing dates reported. At least, that gives the earliest date one could have been made.

In evaluating the wear (this applies to any machine, not just Atlas), there are two places to check, bed wear and lead screw wear. Many other places will also wear, but if these two are little worn or badly worn, so will be all of the other places. The two are bed wear and lead screw wear.

To measure bed wear, you will need a 0-1" and a 1-2" micrometer. First inspect the under surface of the front way near the right end of the bed for evidence of varnish buildup. Significant varnish buildup will be about the color of dark caramel. If present, first remove with a scrub pad and acetone (wear surgical gloves while doing this). Then measure the thickness of the front of the front way within a few inches of the right end of the bed. This should have originally been 0.375" +/- about 0.0005".Repeat the measurement at several points along the bed up to near the front of the chuck. The limit is probably about 0.010". Repeat with the rear of the front way, and the front and rear of the rear way. Then measure the width of the front and rear ways near the tailstock end of the bed and at several points between there and up near the chuck..

In Downloads in the Lathe Maintenance & Repair folder is a screed on the effect of tailstock height error on part diameter versus the nominal part diameter. The figures given are directly applicable to bed wear figures. Note that the effect of 0.010" vertical error on diameter error is negligible for diameters over about 1/2". Unfortunately, the effect of wear on the rear of the rear way is an error of double the wear.

To evaluate leadscrew wear, you need a dial indicator set up to measure movement of the carriage toward and away from the headstock. Move the tailstock and the carriage to near the right end of the bed and engage the half nuts (AKA split nuts). rock the carriage traverse handwheel back and fourth and note the difference between the two indicator readings. Disengage the half nuts and crack the carriage toward the headstock until the cutter is about an inch from being hit by the chuck jaws. Engage the half nuts, set up the indicator, and again note the difference in indicator readings as you rock the carriage back and forth. The difference between the two differences is the lead screw wear.

I'll add to this tomorrow.
 
Quick comment - the best two Atlas lathes made are the 12x36 Atlas 3996 and Craftsman 101.28990 made between late 1967 and March of 1981. Followed by the 12x24 Atlas 3995 and Craftsman 101.28980 made only up until about 1972. They are also the most expensive. In 1981, the 3996 cost almost $2000 with no accessories. They aren't much cheaper today. However, they don't lend themselves to rolling around. There were bench models of each, both with and without the QCGB, that would be better for that. And note that I wouldn't personally own or recommend any lathe that rolled around. But I also realize that for some people, it's that way or nothing.
 
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