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First Lathe
- Thread starter Andy2112
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2015
- Messages
- 11,274
Price sounds good. That's an early 10" but the manuals shown are for the later 12" bench and cabinet versions
The early 12" has an unmistakable tall compound and no double swirl ridges on the headstock
Plenty of info available online and also here in Downloads (must be a paid member for that)
It's a change gear machine, check they have the gears for it
Should make a great first lathe
-M
The early 12" has an unmistakable tall compound and no double swirl ridges on the headstock
Plenty of info available online and also here in Downloads (must be a paid member for that)
It's a change gear machine, check they have the gears for it
Should make a great first lathe
-M
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,643
When I got my lathe I took off the motor and its brackets, the tailstock and the carriage. The seller helped me load it into my pickup. He lifted the tailstock end and I lifted the headstock end. I was by myself when I got home. I had a cart about the height of the bed on my pickup. Slid the headstock end on to the cart. The bench was a little higher than the cart. Put the tailstock end on the bench and lifted the headstock onto the bench. These lathes are not that heavy.
You also don't need a massive bench for these lathes. The MOLO (grey book in the picture) has plans for a stand for the lathe. There are also lots of threads on here about how to make a stand for the lathe. Old style wood desks and steel desks make great stands for these lathes. You can find them often for free on Craigslist. Here are some examples.
You also don't need a massive bench for these lathes. The MOLO (grey book in the picture) has plans for a stand for the lathe. There are also lots of threads on here about how to make a stand for the lathe. Old style wood desks and steel desks make great stands for these lathes. You can find them often for free on Craigslist. Here are some examples.
Paoli Executive 5 drawer Desk - furniture - by owner - sale
Mahogany Executive desk. See pictures. Used, but in good condition. 6’ wide by 3’ deep. Stands 30” tall. Solid wood, heavy, quality desk. Originally sold for several thousand dollars. Minor cosmetic...
columbus.craigslist.org
FREE used office retail furniture home office desk - garage & moving...
First come first serve. All FREE, bring your truck or van. Open by appointment only office furniture near me home office furniture office furniture - ikea modern office furniture commercial office...
columbus.craigslist.org
Steelcase desk - furniture - by owner - sale
Heavy steelcase desk. I have used as a workbench in garage, very heavy duty, with steel drawers
columbus.craigslist.org
Desk - furniture - by owner - sale
Free desk. Must be picked up Thursday evening. Some scratches and wear.
columbus.craigslist.org
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2022
- Messages
- 34
After some YouTube videos it looks easy to remove the tailstock. The saddle looks a little more involved but doable with simple hand tools. It should be manageable with those parts removed as well as the motor
Take a ruler and put it in the approximate center of the spindle and see what radius it will swing. A 10" lathe has a 5" radius and a 12" lathe will swing 6" over the bed [not the compound.]
Second, move the carriage to a place near the headstock where you'd probably be turning most of your work. Lightly snug the carriage lock enough that you can feel the drag, but not enough to keep the carriage from moving. Then start moving the carriage toward the tailstock. At the point that the carriage binds gives the limit of the area of most wear. Ideally it would slide all the way to the tailstock without binding, but that's unlikely with an Atlas lathe because of its flat ways and lack of bed hardening, unlike their Clausing siblings. On the other hand, if it doesn't bind all the way to the tailstock, the lathe didn't get used very hard. Turn the crossfeed clockwise a little and make sure the cross feed is advancing. Set the indicator on the dial to 0, then turn the crossfeed counterclockwise till you feel resistance or the crossfeed starts to move. That's the amount of backlash in your cross feed. Pretty good is anything under .020" in my opinion. My lathe has one full revolution of the dial of backlash and it hasn't limited me. The amount of backlash however is another indication of how much wear there is and how well the lathe has been cared for in its previous lives.
Any lathe is better than no lathe but I wouldn't overpay for an Atlas. The price is determined by how many lathes sell in your area. Some parts of the country are machine tool deserts and the prices are high. Others are where industry used to be and machines are comparatively plentiful, with lower prices. The absence of a quick change gear box significantly detracts from the price. If a full set of change gears are not with that lathe, to me it's not worth much although you could see what a set of change gears is selling for on ebay and deduct that from the usual price of an Atlas lathe to arrive at a fair price. Maybe deduct a little more than the cost of the change gears because you're going to have the hassle of making sure they fit your machine and doing some research to see how many gears were available in a set. Here's a link to one set of change gears which may fit that machine: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353886374044?hash=item526545889c:g:q1YAAOSw1IFh-Tku and that contains 10 gears. Here's one with 11 gears: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234600682716?hash=item369f4a54dc:g:UHsAAOSwuM5itetp Here's one with 15 gears: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165507148616?hash=item2688feab48:g:s4UAAOSw9tBik7gR
Good luck. I mildly overpaid for my first lathe, a 10" Clausing with a worn bell mouthed 3 jaw chuck and no other tooling. It was an education. I slowly over many years gathered most of the necessary tooling for it and upgraded in the economic downturn of 2008 when a lot of companies went bust.
Second, move the carriage to a place near the headstock where you'd probably be turning most of your work. Lightly snug the carriage lock enough that you can feel the drag, but not enough to keep the carriage from moving. Then start moving the carriage toward the tailstock. At the point that the carriage binds gives the limit of the area of most wear. Ideally it would slide all the way to the tailstock without binding, but that's unlikely with an Atlas lathe because of its flat ways and lack of bed hardening, unlike their Clausing siblings. On the other hand, if it doesn't bind all the way to the tailstock, the lathe didn't get used very hard. Turn the crossfeed clockwise a little and make sure the cross feed is advancing. Set the indicator on the dial to 0, then turn the crossfeed counterclockwise till you feel resistance or the crossfeed starts to move. That's the amount of backlash in your cross feed. Pretty good is anything under .020" in my opinion. My lathe has one full revolution of the dial of backlash and it hasn't limited me. The amount of backlash however is another indication of how much wear there is and how well the lathe has been cared for in its previous lives.
Any lathe is better than no lathe but I wouldn't overpay for an Atlas. The price is determined by how many lathes sell in your area. Some parts of the country are machine tool deserts and the prices are high. Others are where industry used to be and machines are comparatively plentiful, with lower prices. The absence of a quick change gear box significantly detracts from the price. If a full set of change gears are not with that lathe, to me it's not worth much although you could see what a set of change gears is selling for on ebay and deduct that from the usual price of an Atlas lathe to arrive at a fair price. Maybe deduct a little more than the cost of the change gears because you're going to have the hassle of making sure they fit your machine and doing some research to see how many gears were available in a set. Here's a link to one set of change gears which may fit that machine: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353886374044?hash=item526545889c:g:q1YAAOSw1IFh-Tku and that contains 10 gears. Here's one with 11 gears: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234600682716?hash=item369f4a54dc:g:UHsAAOSwuM5itetp Here's one with 15 gears: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165507148616?hash=item2688feab48:g:s4UAAOSw9tBik7gR
Good luck. I mildly overpaid for my first lathe, a 10" Clausing with a worn bell mouthed 3 jaw chuck and no other tooling. It was an education. I slowly over many years gathered most of the necessary tooling for it and upgraded in the economic downturn of 2008 when a lot of companies went bust.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2014
- Messages
- 2,127
Your engine lift is more than capable of lifting this lathe. You might remove the tailstock just to prevent it from getting in the way or shifting. No need to take the saddle off. just move it to the tail end of the lathe to help balance the load. Be careful not to damage the feed screw or other shafts when lifting. Should be an easy rigging and easy move.
I would not remove the saddle. Be careful of the lead screw support if you do. They will break just looking at it. An Atlas is a good starter lathe especially at that price. Make sure the change gears are with it. The identification plate is on the tail stock end of the bed. In my area that lathe would be a thousand. Only draw back is it doesn’t have a quick change gear box for threading.
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2017
- Messages
- 1,234
That’s a screaming deal.