Value of old Sears Craftman 12X48 Lathe?

[mfarris]

My cousin ran across an old Sears Craftsman 12X48 Lathe, model 101 (I believe that is what he said). He says it appears to run smoothly and is in what he calls "overall pretty good condition". Sorry, wish I had pictures to show, but I don't. It also has a 4 jaw chuck and steady rest with it. I know it might be difficult without seeing it, but does anyone have just a rough ball park figure on what this size/model of lathe would be worth?

 

[Tin Falcon]

It s hard to say so many variables. in reality whatever price the buyer and seller agree upon.
right now there is a craftsman 109 nicely painted and restored going for $405 Yes the bidding is up that high.
The craftsman of the size you are talking about is an Atlas.
I have heard of south bend 9" lathes received for free same with atlas lathes and shapers or they can go for $1500.
IMHO a middle of the road fair price in decent condition and decent tooling $500 - $750. assuming a quick change gear box less if it has as full set of change gears.
location condition, private sale dealer . perceived value by the dealer and the purchaser. All are factors.
Tin

 

[Rex]

Much depends on location. If you are in the rust belt, lathes are thick on the ground and prices are low. In most of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Alaska etc not so much, and any bench lathe draws a premium.
That said, the older round-head Atlas is the least desirable of the full-size lathes. It was built to a retail price, with pot-metal (Zamak) parts aplenty, and a flexible flat bed.
Unless it's a real cherry, and has a quick-change gearbox, and all the usual accessories ready for use, then it's worth somewhere south of $500 even in this area.
As you describe, with out a 3-jaw chuck, I'd call it $350-$400.
But that's a SWAG without a photo and a location.

 

[Tin Falcon]

They sold for $540 new in 1959 if that helps.And up to $649 new in 1964
http://w1964craftsman6.20mb.pdf
Tin

 

[GWRdriver]

As most everyone has said . . . kind of depends, but IMHO if it's in good clean operating condition the guesses of $500 or so are just wishful thinking. If it's beaten up then maybe so. One thing to ask about is a quick-change gearbox and mounting bench. The QC gearbox (and factory stand or legs) can add as much as $500 to the price of an otherwise good machine. If it's the later-era Atlas 12, in good to very good condition, it would not surprise me to see this sell for between $750 and $1250. The Atlas 10s had 3/8" thick ways and for their price were a decent amateur's home lathe. For a very brief time in the early 1950s Atlas made the first runs of their 12s using beds and aprons, in fact almost everything except the headstocks and tailstocks, from from the 10s and these machines did suffer from lack of rigidity. (I learned lathe work on one of these and it was a struggle.) But Atlas very quickly went to a new bed design with 1/2" thick ways which improved matters considerably. Many home machinists in the 50s and 60s had industrial machine shop experience or exposure, and the standard in most general machine shops was for long bed lathes, so the preference fro long beds got carried over to home shop machines so many lathes had 48" or even 60" beds, even though the longest thing you might have to turn was 24" or less. So in some eyes the 48" bed will add value to it, although nowadays the trend is going the other way to shorter bed lathes, less cost, take up less space. Atlas (now Clausing Corp) got smart (and greedy perhaps) and now manufactures and sells most of the most often replaced Zamak parts.

This is a good example of a late model, bench model, Atlas 101/12" with QC gearbox, appears to be 36" bed-24" between centers.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Here is one on E-bay very little detail. In Corry PA current bid $799 with two days to go.
Atlas lathe on E-Bay

hope this helps
Tin

 

[GWRdriver]

Tin,
That's a rather rare bird . . . an Atlas 10 with a QC gearbox. The 10s were sold as a budget lathe and the QC was an expensive accessory item, $120 in the 1950s, so a very small percentage of 10s had QC boxes. Over time many of the 10s which did have QCs were cannibalized, as they wore out, for their gearboxes and very few survive intact.

Here's another rare bird . . a very early Atlas 12 with QC gearbox. Notice that the carriage assembly and bed are the same as the 10 with the exception of the compound top casting which has an elevated toolpost mounting platform, to account for the difference in center height.

 

[black85vette]

I have a Craftsman 12x48. It came with a steady rest, 4 jaw, nice tool box and basic tooling. Included the QC gear box. I see those from $350 to $500 alone on eBay. Paid $1100 for it a number of years ago. I watch Craigslist and other listings. So far I have only seen one other as nice as mine so they don't show up around here very often. I might have got it cheaper somewhere else but compared to what is out there new I still think I got a good deal. Parts are plentiful on eBay for the Atlas / Craftsman lathes. I would just be sure the ways are not worn too much in the first 12" from the chuck. That is where most of the wear occurs. While the 48" long bed is overkill it makes a nice place to park your magnetic base dial indicator and you can push the tail stock down to the end and get it out of the way.