Re: Craftsman (Atlas) 12x36 lathe - opinions?
- From: spaco <spaco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:54:32 -0500
Whatever you do, make sure you get a quick change gearbox. I have had a 10" for with manual change gears for over 25 years. And have made a lot of stuff on it, both as a hobby and to make money.
I have also used other lathes like South Bend 9" and heavy 10, some Colchesters up to about 20", an ENCO 12 X 36, some Clausing 12" lathes and some Doall 14 X 40's.
All of them are more rigid than my Atlas. But I get along.
The issue here is that when you put on a 10 thou cut, you'd like 10 thou taken off. The less rigid the lathe, the more "spring" in the whole system and the less you take off. You calculate that during roughing, but when you get to the last cut, if you need half thou accuracy, it's harder to do with less rigid lathes.
The problem, IMHO, with getting a "first lathe", as somebody suggested, is that you start buying tooling for it and pretty soon, you are sort of tied down to that machine, because you have so much invested in its tooling. And then, when you get that "better" lathe, most of that stuff doesn't fit. Particularly true with the Atlas, not because its a bad machine, but just because it is what it is.
If this doesn't make sense, to you, email me and I'll tell you more.
Other limiting factors of that lathe are the 3/4" bore in the headstock and the 1 1/2"-8 spindle thread. I guess the spindle bore will never be big enough for that next job coming in the door, but 1 1/2" bore or 2" bore would be nice real often for me. AND, this allows for through collet setups that hold bigger stock.
Also, IMHO, it is very valuable to have a lathe with a D series spindle.
If you have a particular lathe in mind, check the quality of the 3 jaw chuck carefully. If it isn't concentric within 0.001 in 3 inches, reduce your offer price by $300 or so and buy a Set-True chuck when you get it, or you'll hate your lathe forever.
Summing it all up; If I were you, knowing what I know now, I'd have mortgaged the house to get a better lathe to begin with. Remember: I am not flaming the lathe. I am a guy who has one and who uses it at least every other day when I'm around here.
A decent lathe isn't going to loose value, so it's not like buying a car. OTOH, if you can get the machine for, let's say $1000, well tooled, and $1000 is all you can scrape up, get it. But be warned that this is an obsessive thing and you will be forever addicted to watching E-Bay or Craiglist looking for that next accessory whatever you buy!
Pete Stanaitis
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Siggy wrote:
I want to get some thoughts on this brand of lathe - is it good, bad or ugly. I seem to recall some previous posts from folks on this list who have or have had this lathe but don't really remember what the consensus was. I would be doing mostly small home shop hobby stuff like making model IC or steam engines, etc. Thanks..
Robert
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- Craftsman (Atlas) 12x36 lathe - opinions?
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