Hey guys,

I know, I may need to go to practical machinist, I thought I'd start here since I know you all better and I'm curious if this would work for gun work.

My uncle bought a giant lathe, decided it was too big and sold it. The other day his buddy gave him one he'd had sitting for over 25 years since they closed their auto dealership where this was in the shop. It is a Craftsman model 101-07403. From what I've found so far on the internet it was made by Atlas and is 12x36 (they made four lengths but I had my uncle measure it, I haven't seen it yet).

He said it's in pretty good shape, has the quick change gears and a bunch of tooling. He also said it has a milling attachment. Here are my questions:

1. is this thing suitable for any sort of gunsmithing work? (is now the time to buy Mark Stratton's book )
2. I hear that Clausing may be a source of parts but they are closed already, anybody know if this is true or where else we'd look?
3. I have somewhere a copy of southbends "how to run a lathe" what else do you guys recommend for a novice? (my uncle has run them before but it's been over 30 years). Any good dvd's?

Thanks all.

Red

it'll be good for light work and depending on how true the spindle is will determine how precise the work you can do.

Ebay is your friend for parts.
As for info the Library would be a good start or and old toolmakers text book.

The hole through the headshock is more than likely too small for a barrel t pass through.

I own and use a 12x36 Atlas/Craftsman and it is adequate if you learn to use workarounds, i.e. alternative machining methods to make up for the small 0.750" ID headstock spindle hole.

For instance at a minimum you will need to obtain or fab a steady-rest, and a set of collets with drawbar is another very desirable thing. Otherwise the usual 3- and 4-jaw chucks, faceplate, Jacobs chucks for both head- and tailstock, milling attachment, follower rest and various tool holders will be fine for many jobs.

It's not a toolroom lathe but IMO it's a heckuva good amateur smith's and Home Shop Machinist's lathe. But I wish I had a reversing switch on mine.....
Regards, Joe

I have one and it works great for hobbyiest work. I would replace it if I was a profesional but for the work that I do it is just fine.

You can see mine in use on this thread in the custom rifle forum

My 7mm 08 Project

If you can chamber through the headstock, that would be nice.

I had a Lagun 14x40. Headstock required a 26" to 28" barrel. So, it made do with follow rest and steady rest. Also the tail stock was a #5 Morse Taper.

I would jump on it. You can always replace bearings and their races to smooth 'er up.

Thanks guys, I was hoping it would be adequate for little things. (cutting dovetails, maybe make a thread protector for my buddies muzzle braked rifle) It was free and my uncle just wants it for anything we need to do around the shop or for the hotrods.

I'll check out the library. I'll find my book and I think I have a machinists handbook out in the garage somewhere too.

At least I know there's guys here with the same one that I can ask questions if I can't figure something out.

Red

You can use that lathe for most of your projects on sporter weight barrels through the headstock. Look up on page 3 above in the Stockmaker Show and Tell. You will see a junker that was given to a friend. It was a basket case and you can read the results of using it for my project. I wrote up that article to help all who want to start learning how to do their own stocks and how a used lathe could be accurate on chambering. Read my whole article and see the end with how to cut a chamber with these old lathes and a mini lathe.

The cabinet model is much better than the bench model. I bought a Craftsman cabinet model when I first started on my own in 1963. Sold it for a profit a few years later. You may find the original manual on Ebay.

Thanks Les, I read through your thread a while back but my eye was more on what could be done by hand, I'll go back through it.

I checked out Brad's thread too, good to see that it's useful. Now I'm almost wishing I hadn't gotten rid of all the extra actions I'd acquired.

Red