@Newbomb Turk i didn’t want to pollute up the other post but I thought I would show you this lathe I have. Here’s a few pictures from my cluttered house garage
Craftsman lathe
- Thread starter pittsburghracer
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mopar head
Well-Known Member
They were made by Atlas...
Newbomb Turk
Well-Known Member
Damn John, that’s a nice lathe. What’s wrong with that 4 jaw? Most of them come apart and you can tune them up.
That little thing can do some work.
That little thing can do some work.
Brought over from the other post.
Some of the South Bend, Clausing, and other brands used a 2 1/4-8 spindle nose thread. These machines typically could take a 5C collet, while the 1 1/2-8 were relegated to a smaller MT2 collet.
If you want any help with that lathe or chuck, ping me. I've rebuilt several of the 6" and 12" lathes. Might have some usable parts or could answer questions. I have chambered and threaded rifle barrel blanks on the Craftsman 12x36 I had. They can be very effective, when you understand where their limitations are.
gzig5
Well-Known Member
JoinedMay 3, 2018Messages2,891Reaction score3,910LocationMequon, WIAtlas made the lathes for Craftsman and at the very end, I believe Clausing was involved. They are very capable machines and very easy to fix.
Some of the South Bend, Clausing, and other brands used a 2 1/4-8 spindle nose thread. These machines typically could take a 5C collet, while the 1 1/2-8 were relegated to a smaller MT2 collet.
A lot of chucks were flat backed with no mounting system and would bolt onto a plate designed for a specific spindle nose such as D1-3, 1 1/2-8 threaded, or L00 taper. They could make the complicated part (lathe chuck) in one SKU and adapt to many lathes with the cheap, changable backing plates. Smart design.
If you want any help with that lathe or chuck, ping me. I've rebuilt several of the 6" and 12" lathes. Might have some usable parts or could answer questions. I have chambered and threaded rifle barrel blanks on the Craftsman 12x36 I had. They can be very effective, when you understand where their limitations are.
The one hole is a little messed up, or it could be just me and never gave it a chance. I bought it for 400.00 years ago. A Millwright I worked with was a machinist at his last job and when I bought it he gave me some of his old machinist books and a couple on lathes.
That’s a nice lathe.
This is mine which was my dad’s that he bought new from sears. I believe yours has a bigger swing and is a bit older which might be a better built lathe. I just replaced the original sears motor cause I couldn’t get motor bearings (no longer made), date of manufacture 1957, and the lathe was bought in the mid-late 70’s. In doing so, when I was aligning everything up I noticed the upper rear Jack shaft housing that has the rear transmission pullies on it is not parallel to the spindle causing it to slowly eat motor drive belts.
(winter work fixing that). Mine the chucks/facing plate screws onto the spindle and is repeatable off and on. Note that my 4 jaw chuck is aftermarket made by rusk tool co and the jaws are reversible as I have one reversed in the picture that gives it more chucking options. I believe yours does as well, but you probably already know that. Still its a sweet little lathe. I also have a Logan 10” swing war finish lathe.
This is mine which was my dad’s that he bought new from sears. I believe yours has a bigger swing and is a bit older which might be a better built lathe. I just replaced the original sears motor cause I couldn’t get motor bearings (no longer made), date of manufacture 1957, and the lathe was bought in the mid-late 70’s. In doing so, when I was aligning everything up I noticed the upper rear Jack shaft housing that has the rear transmission pullies on it is not parallel to the spindle causing it to slowly eat motor drive belts.
(winter work fixing that). Mine the chucks/facing plate screws onto the spindle and is repeatable off and on. Note that my 4 jaw chuck is aftermarket made by rusk tool co and the jaws are reversible as I have one reversed in the picture that gives it more chucking options. I believe yours does as well, but you probably already know that. Still its a sweet little lathe. I also have a Logan 10” swing war finish lathe.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
I picked my first lathe up a couple years ago. It's one of the older Craftsman 12x36 models. The photo below is from when I finished dissembling and cleaning it up really well after I bought it. I've since picked up an overseas 6" 3-jaw chuck and it works great for everything I've needed it for. I think it was around $60 on ebay, plus the $60 for the Shars back plate.
Btw- Clausing still makes and sells a lot of the replacement parts for these Atlas/Craftsman lathes. I've had to replace the half nut and a few other items. Overall, it's served me well for being around 60 year old.
Btw- Clausing still makes and sells a lot of the replacement parts for these Atlas/Craftsman lathes. I've had to replace the half nut and a few other items. Overall, it's served me well for being around 60 year old.
gzig5
Well-Known Member
John,
I made some space in my inbox.
That is probably an early 12 x 24 lathe. Looks like it has babbit bearing, while later ones used Timken tapered roller bearings on the spindle. Nothing wrong with babbit as long as you keep the rpms in the appropriate range. You have to change the gears on the quadrant on the end in order to cut different threads or change feed rate. Did you get the change gears with it? I used to have some documentation on those and will see what I can dig up. The manuals are all out there either free or relatively cheap. I can't see what the issue is with your four-jaw. Can you be a little more specific? The chuck should bolt to the back plate with four bolts. Normally the backplate is turned so the chuck register diameter on the back is just under a slip fit. Falls on but no wiggle room, about 0.001" under, and it isn't as crucial on a four-jaw as it is on a three jaw. Back plate should be threaded for the four bolts to clamp it on.
ch1II has the more desirable late model Craftsman, one of the last versions they came out with. Has 1/2" thick rectangle bed ways instead of 3/8" on the older ones. In a lathe, mass is everything. It also has a quick change gearbox to select different feed rates for the carriage.
There is a lot of interesting historical information on this website.
Craftsman, Dunlap, Companion, metalcraft lathes, AA Lathes
Wander through there for a while. I'm thinking yours is probably one of the ones on this page. Early Craftsman Metalcraft & Metalmaster 9" and 12" Lathes
There may be a tag on the machine with the catalog number, which can be useful if you need to order replacement parts.
gzig5
Well-Known Member
This Craftsman 12x 36 is the same one I had for quite a while. Made a lot of parts on it to rebuild other lathes, as well as itself. I ran out of space and had to sell four lathes, two milling machines and a small shaper. Now I have an Austrian EMCO Super 11, which is a pretty nice machine and I can still take it apart to get it into my basement. Couldn't find a real pic of my EMCO but it looks like this and I do have the milling attachement.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
You know a ton about these little machines! Do you know where one could find a tailstock leadscrew that's in good shape for one of these Craftsman 12" lathes. It's hard to tell from photos on ebay if the threads on a used piece are worth a crap.
How much use did you get out of your shaper and do you still have one? I could see one being pretty handy to have just for fabrication and tooling type work.
gzig5
Well-Known Member
Unless they are really worn to hell, the threads on the tailstock aren't too critical. If memory serves, the cross slide and tailstock lead screws on the Atlas/Craftsman machines were 1/2"-10 Acme LH thread. Verify that first. If it were me and I didn't trust the used parts off ebay, I would buy a section of rolled thread Acme rod from McMaster car and cut the threads off the old part. Leave at least an inch to turn the threads off of to make a tenon. Cut the Acme to length, drill, then bore or ream so the hole is about .0005" smaller than the tenon. Heat the Acme on the end so it slides over the tenon and shrinks to hold. It can then be cross pinned. There are other methods to get there too. I did exectly what I described to make a new leadscrew from a 24" machine work on my 36" bed. Mine was worn up front by the chuck like they all eventually do and I spliced on a section of 3/4" stock to make it function, with the loss of threading cabability out on the last foot of the bed, which was a good compromise for me.
I'd be surprised if someone isn't recreating a lot of these parts. As was mentioned, Clausing still carrys a lot of the old parts. I would recommend calling. I think this is the correct website Lathe - Clausing Industrial
There are several Home workshop type forums with a wealth of knowledge. My favorite is https://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/ forum.
I used the one in our millwright shop for a lot of home projects. Lol
This post really didn’t belong in the racing section but I figured it would get some good action here. Sorry Mods
gzig5
Well-Known Member
There are certain things that a shaper can do better than more modern stuff, especially when you don't have more modern stuff. I had use of one from a friend in the past. Great for al sorts of slotting and cutting dovetails. Tooling is stupid cheap, just HSS lathe bits shaped as needed. I was rebuilding a small Rhodes shaper that was born in 1903. Just about had it done but my circumstances changed and it had to go down the road. I have made some room in the basement and hope to find a small Atlas or something similar but right now, anything that is complete and running is more than my budget can handle.
EdsWelding
Well-Known Member
I believe Atlas was in Kalamazoo Mich. I am restoring an Atlas belt/disc sander from the 50's, all cast iron and in great shape. I took the tag off that was rivited on before I sandblasted & powdercoated everything green hammertone. Atlas Press was on the tag.
Newbomb Turk
Well-Known Member
Do you think you could get tooling for a shaper that would remove the teeth off a Chrysler transmission gear and slider??
I know @weedburner said he is machining the teeth off his gears in a lathe and then he presses on a Liberty ring and sends it.
I just want to slick shift them so I need to remove every other tooth and I thought if I had a tool bit tough enough a shaper would be a good tool for the job.
I’m know at 60 years old I’m not fond of hand grinding those thing any more.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
Thanks! That's a really good idea. I thought about making one, but I have no way to cut the necessary keyway that it needs. Pinning the threaded portion on is a great alternative and makes a ton of sense.
My friend owned a speed shop and sponsored a lot of us guys. Big Ford guy with several beautiful cars besides his race car. In the 70’s and 80’s I remember him removing every other tooth on his top loaders. Lol
I'm pretty certain you could use an appropriate carbided lathe bit chucked up in the shaper to do that.
Newbomb Turk
Well-Known Member
My concern is that gear is hard and I’m not too sure carbide would be happy machining that hard stuff and not chip the tool.
gzig5
Well-Known Member
There are carbides that can survive the impact but shapers typically use HSS/Cobalt bits because carbide is brittle. Grinding is probably the best way for hardened teeth like that. Maybe solid carbide endmill in the Bridgeport?? That fancy tooling isn’t cheap though, and you need a big rigid machine.
Newbomb Turk
Well-Known Member
Yup. I grind them by hand. I’m getting too old for stuff like that.
My hands are still sore and I haven’t touched the grinder in 4 days.
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