1947 Atlas lathe $2000 Langford

[mickeyf]

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Poor photos, but it looks like it has a turret attachment for the tailstock and maybe a collet closer and milling attachment?

 

[trevj]

I saw a blurry pic of a milling attachment. Collet closer (any idea what collets?), and a tailstock turret tool that fits the Morse taper of the tailstock (we hope).

I have known a couple guys with a 10 inch Atlas lathe. All got rid of them as fast as they could find ANY replacement! One guy described his as "Chatter like the women at the Hairdresser" Not the most stellar endorsement!

 

[SightlessSeer]

I saw a blurry pic of a milling attachment. Collet closer (any idea what collets?), and a tailstock turret tool that fits the Morse taper of the tailstock (we hope).

Atlas made a lever operated turret tailstock. I think it was basically a replacement quill in the standard tailstock casting. I think that's probably what that turret is, not an MT turret.

I have known a couple guys with a 10 inch Atlas lathe. All got rid of them as fast as they could find ANY replacement! One guy described his as "Chatter like the women at the Hairdresser" Not the most stellar endorsement!

IMO that's an expectations issue. The Atlas was an inexpensive lathe in its day and you have to remember that. I've got an Atlas 10F from about 1946 (54" bed and Timkin bearing spindle, but no qcgb) and it consistently does good work for me, but if you're expecting a South Bend 10 heavy and buy an Atlas you'll be disappointed.

I paid $600 for my Atlas and have easily gotten that much use out of it. Would I like to upgrade it? Yes, but it has done everything that I have ever asked of it so I'm holding out for the right lathe, at the right price, at the right distance from me. The largest job that I've done on it so far was to turn down a 34" long shaft from 2 1/4" diameter to 2" to make an overarm for my mill and it got the job done. An Atlas in good condition is a good lathe. It's just also a lathe with limitations.

 

[trevj]

I'll heartily agree with your assessment that it has limitations! Based on the experiences of friends who had them, and were very unhappy with them, I would say that the limitations make those particular machine tools, a VERY low priority, if one is shopping for a lathe.

 

[trevj]

Atlas made a lever operated turret tailstock. I think it was basically a replacement quill in the standard tailstock casting. I think that's probably what that turret is, not an MT turret.



IMO that's an expectations issue. The Atlas was an inexpensive lathe in its day and you have to remember that. I've got an Atlas 10F from about 1946 (54" bed and Timkin bearing spindle, but no qcgb) and it consistently does good work for me, but if you're expecting a South Bend 10 heavy and buy an Atlas you'll be disappointed.

I paid $600 for my Atlas and have easily gotten that much use out of it. Would I like to upgrade it? Yes, but it has done everything that I have ever asked of it so I'm holding out for the right lathe, at the right price, at the right distance from me. The largest job that I've done on it so far was to turn down a 34" long shaft from 2 1/4" diameter to 2" to make an overarm for my mill and it got the job done. An Atlas in good condition is a good lathe. It's just also a lathe with limitations.

Late reply, but... I do remember that! But if it is being offered at a price, now, that can buy a much more capable machine, even if in comparable condition, I will always take the other machine!

 

[whydontu]

Repeat after me:

Success of a machining task is 100% dependent on the skill of the machinist, not the quality of the machine.

I earned enough money from my Atlas 618 to buy my next, much bigger, fancier lathe.

That being said, $2000 is a bit much for this particular lathe.

 

[mickeyf]

Success of a machining task is 100% dependent on the skill of the machinist, not the quality of the machine.

When I was actually doing this stuff for a living, back in the dark ages, there was this TOTALLY clapped out lathe that was used only for boring out manually operated cast iron bilge pumps to no particular dimension, but to be more or less circular so that a copper lining could be custom fitted into each one. (It was also said that no one ever used these pumps anyway 'cause if things got to the point that you needed that pump, you were heading for the lifeboat instead. )

I tweaked and fiddled, and put all kinds of weights on the end of the boring bar, seriously reduced the chatter and made improvements that were considerable. I was pretty proud of myself.

Then the new guy from India (both of us in our 20's) took his turn at it. Whether it was because he had been doing this as child labor since he was 6, or simply was well accustomed to using beat up equipment I don't know, but he made it sing. I think he could be done anything with that lathe that could have been done with the one or two "new and modern" lathes that were for the exclusive use of the old hands who had been there for 40 or 50 years.

I do appreciate a lathe that isn't a struggle to use though.

 

[SightlessSeer]

Late reply, but... I do remember that! But if it is being offered at a price, now, that can buy a much more capable machine, even if in comparable condition, I will always take the other machine!

Sure, but your initial post wasn't quibbling over the price. Your post reads as don't buy an Atlas under any circumstances because they do nothing but chatter. That's my main gripe. "ANY replacement" How about a 7x14 mini lathe? Obviously, that's not a comparable machine, but that fits what you said. It's foolish to make such a broad statement.

This is a job that I was doing about a week ago.

Spoiler

That is a 0.100" DoC in 4140 at the finest feed rate available of about 0.002" per revolution. I'm not certain how fast I was running, but I think it was the fastest backgear speed, which is 112 RPM. That gives about 50 SFM, which is fine for HSS on 4140. The piece is 1 5/8" diameter at the largest, held between centers (I turned a center onto some square stock held in the 4 jaw) and I was turning down a 10ish inch long section of it down to 1" diameter. There was not a hint of chatter. I did several passes at that DoC while roughing the piece down without issues.

Yes, for the same price, with similar accessories, in similar condition I would take a South Bend 9B over an Atlas 10F, but that is a false comparison. When we're talking about 80 year old lathes. You'll never find two lathe ads that are so comparable simultaneously listed. It's never a choice you actually get to make.

All that being said, this machine is probably more than I would pay. Even factoring in the solid selection of accessories and the quick change.

 

[trevj]

Sure, but your initial post wasn't quibbling over the price. Your post reads as don't buy an Atlas under any circumstances because they do nothing but chatter. That's my main gripe. "ANY replacement" How about a 7x14 mini lathe? Obviously, that's not a comparable machine, but that fits what you said. It's foolish to make such a broad statement.

This is a job that I was doing about a week ago.

Spoiler

View attachment 63127

That is a 0.100" DoC in 4140 at the finest feed rate available of about 0.002" per revolution. I'm not certain how fast I was running, but I think it was the fastest backgear speed, which is 112 RPM. That gives about 50 SFM, which is fine for HSS on 4140. The piece is 1 5/8" diameter at the largest, held between centers (I turned a center onto some square stock held in the 4 jaw) and I was turning down a 10ish inch long section of it down to 1" diameter. There was not a hint of chatter. I did several passes at that DoC while roughing the piece down without issues.

Yes, for the same price, with similar accessories, in similar condition I would take a South Bend 9B over an Atlas 10F, but that is a false comparison. When we're talking about 80 year old lathes. You'll never find two lathe ads that are so comparable simultaneously listed. It's never a choice you actually get to make.

All that being said, this machine is probably more than I would pay. Even factoring in the solid selection of accessories and the quick change.

Nah. I'm saying, based upon the direct experiences of others I associated (one of whom was very satisfied with the 10 inch Rockwell I sold him as it's replacement) with, plus hearsay from even more, that I wouldn't touch one or give one to a friend. Too many far better performing machines, available at that price point (~$2k). When Atlas was building their Shapers and the Benchtop horizontal mills, they were not cheap with the amount of iron they allocated to each unit. By the time they made the lathes, they were either being cheap about it, in my opinion, or the Designer had his own ideas about what constituted adequate rigidity.

I did however, give a friend, a 12 Inch Atlas, in good working order. Between the two, the 12" actually looked and felt like it had the substance it needed to work.

Glad yours is working out for you. Lots of folks have forgotten that a slow turning back gear cut can move a lot of metal with not very expensive tooling!