Posted by Alex J [216.54.94.2] on Monday, September 30, 2013 at 10:49:35 :
I picked up a 12" Atlas - Craftsman lathe over the weekend. Decent amount of tooling came with it, and a few accesories, as well as an entire replacement bed as the one on the machine has some minor but not drastic wear on the ways so the previous owner bought a replacement just to garuntee his eventual resale.
Anyways, from the looking around and asking it seems that the opinion of most is that this thing is junk, garbage, and no better than the imports you can buy today. Mine is a later production date of '71 so a few things have been beefed up from the earlier versions. I thought the Atlas lathe was the "Late that won the war". Seems everyone thinks Clausing and Monarch are far superior. I'm only 29, and as a kid I grew up around a massive South Bend industrial unit at our family's Deere dealership. I was 18 when I last laid hands on that lathe however so much is lost to me until recent.
How many folks really hate this late? Most people cite the Zamak gears and half nuts stating that they wear and break too easily. Others say the square ground ways make it in accurate. With the poor tooling, faint setup memory, and lack of patience, I tinkered with the machine this weekend and aside from my desire for a decent steady rest for facing longer pieces of tubing, I was pleased with the parts I created.
Fire away folks.
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