Just got my first ever metal lathe

rabler said:
While you're in there you might check the bearings to see if they spin smoothly, and use a little low pressure compressed air to blow out the dust.
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The bearings do spin smoothly and quietly but I am going to repack them with grease
 
The original line cord was probably2-wire but I would use a 3-wire cord today with white as the neutral, green as the ground. The original line cord had the white terminated at the switch and the black at the motor wire, If you use a double-pole switch, I would tie black and white from the line cord and black and white to the motor all to the double-pole switch. If your line plug or outlet happens to be a 2-wire and/ or the outlet isn't wired right, it will still work.
 
wa5cab said:
The original line cord was probably2-wire but I would use a 3-wire cord today with white as the neutral, green as the ground. The original line cord had the white terminated at the switch and the black at the motor wire, If you use a double-pole switch, I would tie black and white from the line cord and black and white to the motor all to the double-pole switch. If your line plug or outlet happens to be a 2-wire and/ or the outlet isn't wired right, it will still work.
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The cord that it came with when I got it was a three-pronged cord, I'm not 100% sure if this is correct wiring wise I'm sure if anyone knows they could tell me
 

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Note that there are no known cases of dates on the 6" bearings. Also, even today one still comes across old houses with 2-wire outlets. And 3-wire plugs with the ground pin chopped off.
 
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Nubble said:
Okay so I've got a question here I'm almost done just cleaning it up and giving it regular maintenance, how in the hell am I supposed to get this key back in? This is on the main gear on the spindle closest to the Chuck
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what key? Pic?
 
Nubble said:
The bearings do spin smoothly and quietly but I am going to repack them with grease
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make sure you use grease, many use oil. And these are not like car bearings, some require a little grease, not a tight packing.
 
The original design of the Atlas lathes is mid to late 30's.
however, the 618 remained in production until 1974.
 
It'd be nice if I could find a wiring diagram specifically for this motor so I can identify what colors or what, but I suppose I'm going to have to poke through it with a multimeter even though I really don't know what I'm looking for...
 
On a motor that old, all the cloth insulation would have likely turned the same color so as to not make a difference. At least, every old motor I have worked on was that way. The best way is still to use a multimeter to double check the circuits. Once you learn it, you will be able to do it every time. Eventually, if you like it enough you will find yourself with a megohmmeter checking the insulation of each winding.
 
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