great white
Well-Known Member
Tired of scabbing time on the machines at work, I have finally acquired a lathe for home use. Its an atlas 10f th42. Hard to tell at the moment, but I'm guessing its a 60's era machine.not exactly industrial quality, but far more capable than anything you can buy from overseas these days. Besides, I like old iron!
It's sitting in the bed of my truck right now as we are still moving in to our new house.
Its dirty and greasy, but underneath the mess it's rust free iron. The bed ways have no visible wear , except a few "dinks" right under the chuck. Nothing serious, just marks where someone has dropped something.
It all runs except the back gear selection, but I'm not so sure that is the lathe as much as me perhaps being on the wrong pulley groove.
All the change years are there and in perfect shape. There's a 3 jaw chuck with inside and outside claws. A 4 jaw chuck is on the lathe already.
Drive plate and all the dogs are there.
Left right and straight tool holders. Its the lantern tool post, but that will do just fine until I source a qctp.
A box of hss cutters, a Center drill and the Center rest.
There's an assortment of gears that look worn and a short lead screw which makes me suspect the cross slide has been rebuilt.
Tail stock has a dead and live center.
No milling attachment or follow rest.
Basically, think it's got everything it would have come with when new.
It does have some wear. The lead screw is still good, but you can see where it has lived most of its life. The compound is tight and the tail stock doesn't move. A good cleaning and adjustment should fix both.
Pics!
Did I get a screaming deal? Well, no. Not at 1000 bucks and no qcgb.
But it is complete, it is in good shape and then guy did hold it for a month for me (turned away 4 buyers he says) so all that is worth something. It looks grungy, but that will clean and chipped paint is just a repaint a way from looking nice again.
I'm not over the moon with what I paid, but for what I got and where I got it I am satisfied I got a reasonable deal that I can live with.
Would I have liked to have spent 500 instead of a grand? Well, sure. Who wouldn't?
But I'm good with where I ended up. The guy is also a car guy (like me), we struck up a good conversation and spent lots of time going over his projects. Turns out he's got a clapped out/mostly stripped 63 tbird in his woods and said anytime I want a knob or switch for my 62 tbird feels free to drop by and grab one off his dads old wreck in the woods.
Next step is to tear it down for inspection, replace parts if needed and a nice light resto.
Then build the bench/table and start making chips!
I've decided to hold off on things like qctp and such for the time being. I want to get used to grinding my own cutters and getting used to the lathe as is. Then move into more purchases and improvements for it when I'm ready.
Right now, I just want to get it functional, clean and start using it!
Will be nice to just be able to spin up my parts at home instead of using down time at work.
It's sitting in the bed of my truck right now as we are still moving in to our new house.
Its dirty and greasy, but underneath the mess it's rust free iron. The bed ways have no visible wear , except a few "dinks" right under the chuck. Nothing serious, just marks where someone has dropped something.
It all runs except the back gear selection, but I'm not so sure that is the lathe as much as me perhaps being on the wrong pulley groove.
All the change years are there and in perfect shape. There's a 3 jaw chuck with inside and outside claws. A 4 jaw chuck is on the lathe already.
Drive plate and all the dogs are there.
Left right and straight tool holders. Its the lantern tool post, but that will do just fine until I source a qctp.
A box of hss cutters, a Center drill and the Center rest.
There's an assortment of gears that look worn and a short lead screw which makes me suspect the cross slide has been rebuilt.
Tail stock has a dead and live center.
No milling attachment or follow rest.
Basically, think it's got everything it would have come with when new.
It does have some wear. The lead screw is still good, but you can see where it has lived most of its life. The compound is tight and the tail stock doesn't move. A good cleaning and adjustment should fix both.
Pics!
Did I get a screaming deal? Well, no. Not at 1000 bucks and no qcgb.
But it is complete, it is in good shape and then guy did hold it for a month for me (turned away 4 buyers he says) so all that is worth something. It looks grungy, but that will clean and chipped paint is just a repaint a way from looking nice again.
I'm not over the moon with what I paid, but for what I got and where I got it I am satisfied I got a reasonable deal that I can live with.
Would I have liked to have spent 500 instead of a grand? Well, sure. Who wouldn't?
But I'm good with where I ended up. The guy is also a car guy (like me), we struck up a good conversation and spent lots of time going over his projects. Turns out he's got a clapped out/mostly stripped 63 tbird in his woods and said anytime I want a knob or switch for my 62 tbird feels free to drop by and grab one off his dads old wreck in the woods.
Next step is to tear it down for inspection, replace parts if needed and a nice light resto.
Then build the bench/table and start making chips!
I've decided to hold off on things like qctp and such for the time being. I want to get used to grinding my own cutters and getting used to the lathe as is. Then move into more purchases and improvements for it when I'm ready.
Right now, I just want to get it functional, clean and start using it!
Will be nice to just be able to spin up my parts at home instead of using down time at work.
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