Question re: Atlas metal lathe

Brian Rupnow · Nov 2, 2024

A friend of mine has recently purchased a mid 1950's Atlas metal lathe. It's all there except for the chuck and the drive motor and pulley. I have set him up with a 3 jaw chuck, and the literature he has suggest using a 1/2 hp. motor. What he really needs to know is the outside diameter of the drive pulleys which go on the motor. His literature shows a 2 step v-pulley, but no reference is made to the pulley diameters. Does anyone out there own a similar Atlas lathe, and if so, what diameters are the 2 step v-pulleys that go on the motor.----Brian

djc · Nov 2, 2024

Does any of the literature give the speeds of the lathe? If it does, you can calculate the drive pulley size from the driven pulley size, the motor speed and the spindle speeds given in the manual.

I do not know if it is the correct Atlas lathe, but see page 6 here:

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=3440

Edit:

Go here:

https://groups.io/g/Atlas618lathe/topic/two_step_motor_pulley/74290371

Download this:

https://groups.io/g/Atlas618lathe/attachment/9514/0/_Atlas M6-428 2-step Motor Pulley.pdf

Brian Rupnow · Nov 2, 2024

Thank you djc---I have forwarded your response to my friend.---Brian

kuhncw · Nov 2, 2024

Brian, you might also suggest a 3 phase motor and VFD to your friend.

Chuck

trlvn · Nov 2, 2024

Brian Rupnow said:
similar Atlas lathe, and if so, what diameters are the 2 step v-pulleys that go on the motor

Atlas made lathes from 6 inch to 12 inch swings and only a few parts were interchangeable between sizes. What model does your friend have? I know for the 6 inch, the motor pulley was available with either a 1/2 or 5/8 inch bore. I believe all 1/2 HP motors in the last 50(?) years have a 5/8" bore.

The Atlas lathe business eventually ended up in Clausing Corporation. They still stock some parts. A search should find a 1-800 number for their Service Department. Be sure to verify what shipping they intend to use. I bought a set of half-nuts for a 6" Atlas where the shipping to Canada far exceeded the cost of the parts. Where they no longer offer the parts, sometimes they are able to supply drawings.

There are Atlas-oriented groups on Hobby-Machinist.com, Facebook and elsewhere. I know HobbyMachinist has an extensive set of downloads that includes blueprints of some parts (either from Atlas or user-drawn).

BTW, there is a guy near Caledonia, ON, that often has lathe parts. He, Wayne, regularly posts on Kijiji about buying and selling machines and parts.

Craig

WisJim · Nov 3, 2024

There is a helpful Atlas/Craftsman group on groupsio dot com

TSutrina · Nov 3, 2024

I have an atlas lathe F series. I totally modeled the lathe and it is on "grab cad" as a step file. The version of freeCad I used is older but it does come up in the latest version. Just not as friendly and each part is individually modeled and put in complete in that version. Where now it references a model of each part.
I did it with a caliper and make some guesses but it is close, and I didn't put in the nice cast rounded corners or a lot of the bolts and screws. But it does have the full set of gears that came with the lathe. I did purchase for a gear change box that happen to be for a later version then mine so had to drill two holes to mount it and a few other pieces like a top plate was needed to align up the forward and back lever. Didn't purchase the cast covers that cost more then the gear box.
My lathe came with a 1/3 hp single phase motor that was of that period. If finally failed and I replaced it with a similar motor of the same size and power. I do know a lot of them have 1/2 hp.

Brian Rupnow · Nov 4, 2024

Today I got some more information on my friends Atlas lathe. It is a 10" F series lathe catalogue number TH42 and TH54. My friend lives about 20 miles from me, and I don't have the lathe here in my shop.---Brian

trlvn · Nov 5, 2024

This is a drawing I got from another site.

Craig

Brian Rupnow · Nov 5, 2024

Thank you so much trlvn.---Brian

TSutrina · Nov 8, 2024

These are the documents I have obtained for a Atlas 10 inch F size I am including the 12 inch because this is a derivative of the 10 inch I chose the Sears but I also have the Atlas similar document.

djc · Nov 9, 2024

TSutrina said:
These are the documents I have obtained for a Atlas 10 inch F size....

Please could you see if these documents have been uploaded already to vintagemachinery.org . If they do not appear there, please consider adding them to their collection. Thanks.

Question re: Atlas metal lathe

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