I had been meaning to upgrade the setup for my Atlas 6" lathe for a while... When the COVID-19 bucks hit the bank account I thought now was as good a time as any so I picked up a few things to get the lathe set up the way I wanted...
So I picked up a rolling tool storage cabinet from the local HF & had a sheetmetal shop make up a 46"X18" chip pan to cover the entire wood top of the storage cabinet. Some shopping on ebay netted a Starrett 98 8" machinist level, some new half nuts, Steel QCTP with several extra holders (still have to mill the T-nut for the compound to install), and a complete headstock assembly for the Mk.2 !!
While I was at it I had noticed a few things I wasn't happy with, like the space just below the headstock where it collects a rat's nest of chips, so I made a small shield from an old license plate to cover that area to prevent chip build up & the possibility of the chips being fed into the gear train during operation. All it took was the old license plate & some tin snips to trim it to shape. the metal is thin enough to bend by hand or with some help from the bench vise. The rest of the old plate was use to make a chip shield for the motor so it wouldn't pick up any chips thru the vent holes. Here's a pic of the shield for the chip collection point under the headstock...
Now the Atlas is for the most part leveled (still need to turn a test bar) in it's new home on the tool cabinet with a bit of storage for the accessories & spare parts. Not sure about the casters on the cabinet so I may make some leveling feet for it to make it more solid/stable. The MDF wood bench the lathe was previously mounted to was starting to show signs of being exposed to the oil used to lube the lathe. The new setup keeps the oil in the metal chip pan for easy clean up & metal cabinet doesn't mind oil so if any oil wicks down the mounting bolts it won't be a big deal.
So I picked up a rolling tool storage cabinet from the local HF & had a sheetmetal shop make up a 46"X18" chip pan to cover the entire wood top of the storage cabinet. Some shopping on ebay netted a Starrett 98 8" machinist level, some new half nuts, Steel QCTP with several extra holders (still have to mill the T-nut for the compound to install), and a complete headstock assembly for the Mk.2 !!
While I was at it I had noticed a few things I wasn't happy with, like the space just below the headstock where it collects a rat's nest of chips, so I made a small shield from an old license plate to cover that area to prevent chip build up & the possibility of the chips being fed into the gear train during operation. All it took was the old license plate & some tin snips to trim it to shape. the metal is thin enough to bend by hand or with some help from the bench vise. The rest of the old plate was use to make a chip shield for the motor so it wouldn't pick up any chips thru the vent holes. Here's a pic of the shield for the chip collection point under the headstock...
Now the Atlas is for the most part leveled (still need to turn a test bar) in it's new home on the tool cabinet with a bit of storage for the accessories & spare parts. Not sure about the casters on the cabinet so I may make some leveling feet for it to make it more solid/stable. The MDF wood bench the lathe was previously mounted to was starting to show signs of being exposed to the oil used to lube the lathe. The new setup keeps the oil in the metal chip pan for easy clean up & metal cabinet doesn't mind oil so if any oil wicks down the mounting bolts it won't be a big deal.
