Atlas 7B Disassembly and Teardown! Pic Heavy!

[Weldo]

Now the slide can be disassembled a bit further.

It's held in a vise.

Now don't do what I did! I tried to loosen the large Philips screw straight away. It was very tight, so I got the impact screwdriver. It was moving a bit with each hit but not freeing up. This signaled that something was wrong. Lo and behold, there's a set screw for this fastener!

With the set screw removed the bolt comes out much more easily!

I did chowder up the threads though...

I just happened to have some bolts that will work here. The new one is stainless and an allen head, but it'll work, just have to shorten it.

Now the parts are separate.

Lots of old varnish!

 

[frugalguido]

Put a small disc of brass or aluminum before reinserting the allen screw to protect the flat head screw .

 

[Weldo]

Reassembly of the tool head.

Begin with the flat head bolt. I used a new Allen head bolt in lieu of the old Philips one that I ruined.

As suggested by @frugalguido I used a small piece of aluminum to prevent thread damage from the set screw. This is a tiny piece of 1/8" TIG rod.

I had to play with the tightness of the flat head for a bit to get a good sliding action without being to loose or too tight. You also have to snug the set screw for every adjustment you make to the flat head, otherwise the tightness of the flat head bolt will be influenced by rotating the casting when you check its action.

Now to the base. The brass feed nut goes in easily when cleaned up.

And the mounting bolts must go on before the slide goes on. I threaded the rod in at this point, also.

Then the slide. The square head lock screw is installed as well.

Slide in the gib spacer. I also screwed in the gibs enough to capture the spacer but not enough to make the slide snug yet.

The handle parts come next, beginning with the small spacer and the plate.

The dial and nut have been cleaned and freed up. On my Atlas lathe there's a tiny spring and ball detent on the "slide-side" face to keep the dial from being sloppy. There is a hole in this dial but there's no spring or ball. I forgot to check the manual to see if it's spec'd but it can be added later.

Next is the key, handle, and retaining nut. You have to play with tightness here as well. If everything is just snugged up as usual the handle will be very hard to turn. You have to back the dial nut off very slightly from the chrome plate and use the nut on the end as a jam nut to keep everything moving freely. Also the bolts are added through the plate at this point.

Now the clapper. It can only go on one way because of the tapered pin.

This is yet another instance of playing with fastener torque. The clapper has to be able to move freely so you may have to back off the first nut a hair and use the second nut as a jam nut.

I had to file the ID of the clapper a little to get the tool post to slide in freely. I'm assuming the washer should be installed with the concavity up, and that there should be a rocker.

Starting the bolts is kind of tough. Maybe I should have installed the base on the machine and then reassembled the rest in place?

All back together! At this point I adjusted all the gibs.

 

[frugalguido]

After you run the Atlas for a while, you might want add some locks on the slide. A great addition IMHO.

 

[Weldo]

Disassembly of the vise.

The vise.

The two nuts are removed and the vise can be separated from the swivel base.

There's a heavy pin acting as a pivot.

The T nuts can slide around the groove in the base.

And exit through the square hole in the back side.

While on the back side, the key can be removed.

Now for the screw assembly. Remove the set screw on the end collar.

I had to hold the collar with pliers because of thread damage caused by the set screw. Then just crank the vise handle to run the collar off.

Behind the collar is another collar with a pin. The pin rides in a slot cut into the threaded rod.

Behind that is another spacer.

Now these screws hold the threaded rod support plate into the slide.

Crank the handle again to free the rod from the moveable jaw.

The rod comes out as a unit. Really the plate is unthreaded so you could remove the rod before the plate is unbolted. Either way works.

The plate simply slides off the rod. And the moveable jaw slides off.

Here's a look at the underside of the moveable jaw. It's got shims and the bolts were very tight so I did not disassemble these parts.

Lastly, the jaw pads are removed.

This is all the vise parts laid out.

 

[Weldo]

After you run the Atlas for a while, you might want add some locks on the slide. A great addition IMHO.

You mean like the one on the milling attachment?

 

[Weldo]

Reassembly of the Vise.

First I screwed on the face pads because it's easier before the jaws are together.

Then the moveable jaw slides on.

The threaded rod support plate captures the moveable jaw.

The rod goes in.

The rod is turned counter clockwise (it's a left hand thread) to thread it into the moveable jaw until it pokes out of the main body.

Now the first spacer...

Followed by the one with the pin. It lines up with the slot.

And the threaded collar. The tightness of the threaded collar has to be adjusted until the vise operates freely. If the collar is too tight the vise will be hard to crank. I ran it on finger tight until it touched the spacer behind it then backed it off very slightly. I applied the set screw and it seems good, it's easy to turn with very little slop.

I put another piece of aluminum in the set screw hole. This one was made from a 1/4" round bar sanded down to fit in the hole.

The key goes in the bottom of the base.

The T nuts are fed in through the square hole.

And the pivot pin is dropped in.

Now the vise can be added to the swivel base.

I found some 3/8" washers that had a nice compact OD. A normal 3/8" washer hung over the edge giving an untidy appearance.

The 4 washers for the base needed to be trimmed to avoid interference with the base casting. The ole Whitney No.38 bench shear makes a quick and clean cut.

Installed!

 

[Weldo]

IT'S DONE!!!!

With that, this machine is once again a fully functioning shaper! All that's left to do is a full lube job and bolt up a tool holder. I hope I can get another short video of the first chips.

I ended up ordering a new V-belt for the step pulleys. The true V-belt will be lower profile than the link belt and should not rub the motor at all. It'll still work with the link belt though.

I'd like to eventually remove and clean up the table. It's the last part that's untouched by me. But for now I wanna see it working! The table seems to move freely enough.

Also there are some minor cracks in the ratchet housing that are in the back of my mind. Someone makes a 3D printed ratchet housing on eBay made from a heavy duty plastic. It actually looks like a decent option. I considered trying to fab a ratchet housing like I did for the feed gear housing but the ratchet one is much more complex and might not be practical. Not impossible though.

I still have some accessories to clean up and possibly make parts for. I think they both are missing a part or two.

Man, it's been a long road, and I'd like to thank all the folks who followed the process and offered words of encouragement and advice. I'm grateful to be an accepted member of this wonderful community! Thanks for everything, guys!

 

[Lo-Fi]

Nooooo.... No more lovely pics of it in pieces

Seriously, though, thanks for the thorough thread. I've been living vicariously having no shaper of my own.

And congrats on a great rebuild!

 

[Weldo]

Haha, thanks! I hope this thread can help someone in the future. It was a labor of love!