Learn how to use the lathe! Try your local vocational school to see if they have any adult education cl***es. Acquire the original (if available) handbook for your lathe. I guess no tool is completely indespensible; but the lathe comes close! Jon
This guy has the most info on lathes i've ever seen. http://www.lathes.co.uk/index.html Realy helpfull to. This is mine, looked for it a long time, do a lot on it from belt pulley's,bearing adaptors,wheel spacers,cillinders, and normal bushings and stuff. Once you get used to it and have all the tooling $$$$$ the world is yours. Wander
C9, On the early Atlas lathes they used a pot metal casing for the traverse gear that goes from the saddle handcrank to the teeth under the bed rail. This piece acts like a fuse to protect the more expensive bed rails, etc. At the time it was a low dollar part and easily replaceable. They are not being reporduced now. On the Atlas Yahoo Groups page a guy has just put up plans for a replacement piece. How did I do it? I was turning a part for an indixing table I bought for cheap because it was broken (it had been dropped). The cut was not continious (rounding a bearing surface into a rectangular steel bolck) and I got impatient and tried to cut too deeply. Pure dumb on my part. Pictures here: http://www.glennsplace.com/atlas_lathe.htm
hf has a small tool post with interchangable tooling. you will need to go on their web site tofind it. this is not usually found in stores or mailed out flyers.Makes any lathe much more user friendly. The most important thing to do first is level your lathe bed. use a cheap bullseye level to start with only then should do you go to a more precise level like Starret. pm me if you have any ?
Um quick question- I was playing with my lathe tonight and noticed that it doesnt run at as high of a speed when in reverse- Is this normal? In forward i can wind it up to 2500 RPM but whileit is in reverse if I crank it all the way I would say it is about half speed. Is this normal?
Wow Wander a Triumph 2000 ! Pardon me while I turn green with envy Most excellent machine. Did all my test pieces as an apprentice on one just like, I still remember how easy it was to use and get perfect repeatable results, would loved to have had one rather than the cranky Cardiff ( Elliot's under licence ) Which has served me well, but has quirks. Here in UK a machine like that would be big bucks, but ah maybe one day.
I cant wait till I stumble across a good deal on a nice size lathe myself. Getting tired of smuggling in all my parts at work.
My first lath was one purchased from a gunsmith and was small but did one heck of a job with small parts.It was an old craftsman and no telling how many parts it had built before I got it.I graduated to a large 14 inch (big to me) and dont think I could do without it. Lawn mower wheel bushings to billet parts and its still spitting out parts. I don't use it a lot any more but when I do it's well worth the space it takes up and I could never do without one.
You will probably find that the lathe will work much better with the motor towards the wall. That way you can reach the handles. You would have figured that one out on your own though. Nice little lathe for a shop. Bolt the table down to the floor. Lathes are great for bushings, polishing shafts along with 10 million ather things that you would have done the hard way with out it. Be Careful!!!! A lathe in the hands of inexperience is a dangerous thing.
Go here: http://www.clausing-industrial.com/service-std.htm Lotsa parts, good outfit to deal with. See if they have a manual for your lathe. If your traverse gear isn't sintered metal (powdered metal pressed into shape under high temps) but rather a machined part and there's a gear tooth broken off there are ways to fix it. Are you sure the gear is broken? It looks rounded off in the pics. Does the lead screw turn ok? Fwiw, the "fuse" is at the right side of the lead screw. That end (plain) bearing is designed to break if you drive the carriage into the headstock or locked down tailstock. The "plain" bearing is simply a bore in the cast piece. You can make another one of these from an aluminum block, but you really have to watch it. I had one 12" Atlas lathe that I drove into the tailstock and it stripped one of the gears on the headstock. The previous owner had machined a new lead screw 'bearing' out of aluminum and it was too strong. The gears are - usually - the next thing to go if the lead screw end bearing doesnt break. Makes a helluva bang when they let go.
A little hard to see the lathe, it's sitting behind the black plastic tote boxes. Take note of the 6" channel base the lathe stand sits on. The extra weight helps, but the main thing was getting the lathe up a little higher. My 6'2" tall boss used to have the same lathe (Craftsman-Atlas 12") in his shop. He made an eggcrate wooden floorplace to give the cuttings someplace to go. The added height made him lean over the lathe to see what was going on and he'd end up with a stiff neck. Nice part about stand, you can store stuff within, rest your foot on it and best of all not have to crick your neck over to see what's going on.
The Jalopy Journal
