Is a Craftsman (Atlas) 12"x42" lathe a precision enough lathe to do gun (barrel) work? I have not seen it yet so I don't know the condition. What diameter would the through hole in the headstock be? Rojelio

Yep... big enough.. nice lathe, if it works right

for specs, go over here and ask
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi

jeffe

Thanks Jeffe, asking price is $850.00. I don't know what if any tooling comes with it or if it has quick change attachment or not. Will probably have a look see today. Are parts still available for it? Thanks, Rojelio

850 for an american made 12"?

my advice... take cash...

i would offer 700 if it doesn't have lots of tooling and parts..

is SHOULD have
3jaw chuck
steady rest
follow rest
tailstock

it should have all the gearing for cutting threads
it should reverse...

it should be able to make a cut, at the chuck and then at least a foot out, that, given how cold it is, and the machine will be cold, are withing .002 of eachother in diameter...

spindle bore is going to be about an inch to and inch and 1/8... probably...

if you are learning smithing, it should have a LOW speed, like 70 or so... 150ish is fine (under 200)

if it has SURFACE rust.. not pitting, don't be concerned... CLR will fix that (we'll talk on that later)

it should have a toolpost, no matter what style... a quickchange would be nice.. if no toolpost, or the other parts I listed, start backing of 50 buck each....

it MIGHT have a 4 jaw... ASK.... you'll want this, even if you only use it 2 times a year
jeffe

Rojelio,

Yes it should do. I cannot recall the through hole size but IIRC it is around 1" or to 1.25". The head stock spindle should use Timken taper roller bearings, but will require manual oiling through the two oil holes. The chucks thread directly to the spindle nose and if in good repair, exhibit far less deflection than the current "D lock" crap that the import lathes all seem to use.

The Atlas lathes have flat ways and they are NOT hardened! Before you buy it check for wear of the ways. This is very important, as if the ways are significantly worn only in the portion of the bed (which is typical) you could/will have significant accuracy issues. Typically, the ways will wear in the first half of the bed closest to the head stock. What this means is that you will not be able to adjust the gibbs tight enough to tighen up the carriage in the worn area and still move the carriage up into the area of low wear. Essentially, if you want a accurate machine, it will cut your center distance roughly in half.

Also, if the machine doesn't have a quick change gear box, that all the gears are present for the feed speed transmission. IIRC the Craftsman 12" had a quick change box. It won't run in reverse by the way.

To check accuracy turn a piece between centers and measure the OD from tailstock to head stock. Take a relatively light cut of around 0.025" or less. Also use the machine feed, do not hand feed. If the lathe is in excellent condition it will easily hold 0.001" full length of bed. If the ways are worn, which is highly possible if the machine has been used much, it will have more like a 0.002" to 0.005" accuracy or worse.

Also, IIRC the machine feed is done solely by half nuts which are pot metal. These are f__king expensive to buy as replacment parts, so you want to know if the machine comes with extras. These half nuts wear out FAR too quickly.

I have found that these little Atlas lathes will do everything a SouthBend will do, and typically for far less cost.

ASS_CLOWN

I use an Atlas (non-Craftsman) 12" in my shop for everything.
Not the best lathe but it works great.

If anyone knows a source for relatively inexpensive half-nuts and cam piece, please PM me.

-Spencer

if it is a 12" atlas it will have a spindle bore that will just pass a 3/4 dia. rod . The same goes for 10 " Atlas, 9" and 10 k southbends.

if you pass, let me know if the guy is open to trading for a FANTASTIC 257 roberts.

jeffe

The guy lives in Boerne. I'm going to call him again in the morning and if he still has it, I'm gonna run up there and check it out. That's about an hour from me. Rojelio

I know BERNIE!!
it's 4.5 hours from home...

best of luck.. take a cheap camara with you... like a disposable from walmart, or a 20$ digital.. you'll want it on the decision making process

jeffe