- Joined
- May 3, 2020
- Messages
- 99
Uh oh... A new machine followed me home. A couple months ago I got my first lathe, a Mk 2 Atlas 6 inch. While it has been fun to tinker with, and a good little machine, I've been finding my eyes wandering in search of something larger. Being located in Utah, the market is pretty dry. What does come up isn't great, I would really rather not pay $1,600 for a dirty South Bend 9" with little tooling.
But then a stroke of luck occurred Thursday, someone listed a Craigslist ad for a tool sale, which mentioned a lathe. I emailed the seller and asked for details on the lathe, received pictures, and deduced it to be a 10" Atlas with a 54" bed. But there was one problem, it was in Montana, about 6 hours, or 450 miles away. Briefly considering my options, I braved telling my significant other that I wanted the machine, and took my mandatory beating. I called the seller and arranged to pick up on Saturday, and got in touch with a good friend who's willing to drive to the middle of nowhere with me at the drop of a hat.
We're both total night owls, so we left home at midnight on Friday, arriving in Helena, Montana at about 6:30 AM. We met the seller and picked up the machine, despite his skepticism about whether or not it would fit in my chosen vehicle: a 2000 Saturn LS2 sedan. We cruised back home and here we are now. Here are pics of the haul and photographic evidence that you can in fact fit an Atlas QC54 in a medium sized sedan if the rear seats fold down.
It came with the taper attachment, steady and follow rests, 3 and 4 jaws plus drive plate and dogs, a handwheel for collets, the milling attachment, the motor + mount and countershaft, plus myriad other goodies like cutters, inside and outside micrometers, Morse taper adapters, etc. Total cost for the trip including the machine and all its goodies, gas and food, was about $530.
The machine is dirty but seems to have been well kept, the spindle spins freely and all the gears look immaculate, it mostly looks like accumulation of grime, dirt, and light rust from years of sitting in storage. I'm planning to strip it down and at minimum clean everything, potentially repaint it too depending on what mood strikes me, I'm very excited to have a lathe with all the bells and whistles I've been wanting, I think it will keep me happy for a long time.
But then a stroke of luck occurred Thursday, someone listed a Craigslist ad for a tool sale, which mentioned a lathe. I emailed the seller and asked for details on the lathe, received pictures, and deduced it to be a 10" Atlas with a 54" bed. But there was one problem, it was in Montana, about 6 hours, or 450 miles away. Briefly considering my options, I braved telling my significant other that I wanted the machine, and took my mandatory beating. I called the seller and arranged to pick up on Saturday, and got in touch with a good friend who's willing to drive to the middle of nowhere with me at the drop of a hat.
We're both total night owls, so we left home at midnight on Friday, arriving in Helena, Montana at about 6:30 AM. We met the seller and picked up the machine, despite his skepticism about whether or not it would fit in my chosen vehicle: a 2000 Saturn LS2 sedan. We cruised back home and here we are now. Here are pics of the haul and photographic evidence that you can in fact fit an Atlas QC54 in a medium sized sedan if the rear seats fold down.
It came with the taper attachment, steady and follow rests, 3 and 4 jaws plus drive plate and dogs, a handwheel for collets, the milling attachment, the motor + mount and countershaft, plus myriad other goodies like cutters, inside and outside micrometers, Morse taper adapters, etc. Total cost for the trip including the machine and all its goodies, gas and food, was about $530.
The machine is dirty but seems to have been well kept, the spindle spins freely and all the gears look immaculate, it mostly looks like accumulation of grime, dirt, and light rust from years of sitting in storage. I'm planning to strip it down and at minimum clean everything, potentially repaint it too depending on what mood strikes me, I'm very excited to have a lathe with all the bells and whistles I've been wanting, I think it will keep me happy for a long time.
