Atlas 3982 Restoration Is It Worth It?

[SloppyJoe]

New member here.
First time, short time.

I've inherited an Atlas 3982 that seems in pretty good shape except for very mild surface rust here and there that can be removed easily with steel wool.
It comes with several attachments.
Is it worth restoring?

I'd love to learn how to use it. It seems like a lot of fun.

Thanks in advance.

 

[great white]

I'd put it together and use it. Other than being partially disassembled, it doesn't look like it would take much to put it back in fighting trim.

That's a great little unit as a first lathe and will take quite a while for you to "outgrow" it.

If you do decide part it out, just that milling attachment alone tends to ask 400-600 on ebay, the QCGB is even more...

 

[Martin W]

IMHO I would put it to use . Looks like a really nice lathe as is. From the pictures a little cleaning and oiling and you have an excellent machine to learn on.
Cheers
Martin

 

[francist]

Milling attachment, what looks like maybe a taper attachment in the back of the pan, and hardly a scratch on it -- what's not to like?

 

[Richard King 2]

That is a beautiful machine. You may check around and learn how to run it. I have a good friend who is a retired professor at MIT and he taught machine tool engineering. I can email him and see if he can help you find a tutor. Email me and I'll forward it to him. Put your info and attach those pictures and I'll write him. Richard@handscraping.com Rich

 

[Jake M]

Atlas 3982 Restoration Is It Worth It?​

No. You should carry it out by the road and sell it for cheap.

If you don't want my advice though, and you're gonna keep it anyway..... It's well equipped, appears to have been well cared for. I'd clean it up, and if you don't already know the answer, find out why it's apart, give it what it needs, if anything, and take up any and all local offers for assistance in getting started. It's a great "beginner lathe", but at the same time, it's also the kind of lathe that a lot of beginners end up moving up to, and a lot of "not beginners" have settled on as being quite suitable as a perminant fixture for home shop use. If you do want a lathe, I'd call that one a keeper. I sure wouldn't be restoring it though. Just looking at your pictures, I'd venture to guess that a few repairs (or maybe just re assembly?) and a little cleanup should have you a nearly new looking machine.

 

[benmychree]

Restore ????????? it appears as new. What is to restore? As above noted, find out why the apron is off the carriage, something broken? Hopefully easy to fix.

 

[Richard King 2]

The machine looks pristine so I suspect your relative who left it to you was replacing the 1/2 nut or was doing some sort of maintenance on it. Can you ask someone or is there any cartons near the machine with new parts in them? Take some close ups of the saddle, that's the part sitting in front of the long bed front, maybe we wanted to take the saddle off to check the lube system. I would be positive about it. It has a quick change, taper attachment and milling attachment. I bet the drawers are full of round chucks, collets and all sorts of tools. Open the drawers and take photo's for us to see. Or as I said I have a friend in Boston who could tell you the value or what's wrong with it. Check with your relatives if your Dad or uncle...who gave you the machine had friends he shared his hobby with. Be a detective and find out it's history.

 

[FOMOGO]

Looks like it was just unpacked from the factory. Have bigger/better, but it was my first, and doubt I will ever get rid of it. Mike

 

[MikeInOr]

From your pictures your Atlas lathe looks to be in excellent original condition. Doing any kind of "Restoration" on it would most likely decrease its value. If there are maintenance items that need taking care of I would strongly encourage you to do so but I would not substantially alter it from its current condition if it were mine.

I had a 12" Atlas lathe without the quick change gearbox. It cost me less to switch to a 13" South Bend lathe with a quick change gearbox than it would have cost me to add a quick change gearbox to my 12" Atlas. IMHO Atlas lathes are kind of entry level lathes but one with a quick change gearbox makes it infinitely more useful than a lathe without a quick change gear box.

That would be a great lathe for learning how to use a lathe!