Atlas 6 MK2 mods/upgrades?????

[WILD-BILL]

Recently I picked up this Atlas 6" MK2 lathe and have been having some fun with it. Playing, learning, and trying to bring her up to the best she can be.

I know the first thing I want is a QCTP but I've been thinking about what other mods and upgrades would be worth while on it.

A carriage stop/ micrometer would be a good start, also thinking of drilling and tapping the carriage for a lock bolt.

I've seen larger dials for the compound and cross slides but in all honesty I can't see how they fit with out interfering.

Anyone use these?

http://www.tallgrasstools.com/Page.html

What else have you done to make this gem better??

 

[ranger302]

First off you should wire in a KILL switch. After that just make/buy what you need to complete the projects you want to take on. Oh and have fun with it.

 

[930dreamer]

How's the lathe work, money well spent?

 

[WILD-BILL]

I forgot o mention that I dd rewire it

It had an old 70's style cord and cord mounted switch on it. Now it's wired to a light switch I mounted on the LH side and works great.

I just got done making a brass tipped carage lock for it.

I'll post that when I go in the house later.

So far the lathe has been great. Still overcome some the issues that creep upand dealing with the dull/wrong style tooling I'm muddeling through it

 

[Kenwc]

I think you would enjoy having a quick chage tool post. I had a MK2 that had one on it and the lathe I have now has a QCTP and I doubt I'll ever use the lantern post again.

Since you asked about possible upgrades you could also switch over to a dc motor and have variable speed.

I would suggest that you join the yahoo atlas lathe forum and you can get tons of info on that lathe.

 

[WILD-BILL]

Well, here's my carriage stop addition....

A 5/16 cap screw getting in the right location...

Took a little ingenuity to get the carriage to sit level in the drill press to drill the hole....

Leveled in the vise to tap..

Lines up on the ways great

Now for the first real "job" for the lathe. Before this I was just playing. Sizing and facing the bolt.........

My first thought was just to use the bolt but I didn't want to leave any marks on the bed. I found a little piece of 1/8" brass rod @ Lowe's so I drilled the bolt.......

Cut the brass rod a little long.......

Then used the vise to mushroom the brass to squeeze tight into the hole and also form a button on the end of the bolt...

Finished stop bolt with brass nub......

Here it is in place....

And it works great! Holds the carriage without any deflection and leaves no marks in the bed

 

[Kenwc]

Just curious....the bolt on the other side of the carriage near the threading dial is the carriage lock bolt....does it not work? There should be a small square clamp plate under the bed over there that the bolt tightens against the bed font edge.

 

[rsanter]

I had one of those lathes and it was a great little machine, the one thing I didn't like about it was the small dials and handles.
What I wanted to do to mine was was to convert to variable speed by either using a salvaged DC motor and controller from a treadmill or find a deal on a small 3ph motor and use a vfd.

Do you have the original manual for it?

Bob

 

[WILD-BILL]

The bolt on the other side is for tighten or loosening the threading dial.

I don;t have the manual yet. The guy I got it from is looking but if he doesn't find it I'll buy one.

I know what you mean about the dials. That's why I posted the link to the larger dials above. Hoping to get some feed back.

I did get an articulated magnifying lamp to clamp on the table and that's made a world of difference.

 

[Kenwc]

Yes there is bolt on the other side that locks the thread dial...however the bolt on top is the carriage lock. No need to buy a manual....lHere is a link to the the manual.....check out page 6 figure 16 item A and you'll see the carriage lock.


http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=3442

thread

Here

 

[WILD-BILL]

Links not working

So basically I did all this for nothing just because I didn't know what I had

 

[Kenwc]

The link should be working now.....

We've all done don't sweat it. At least you know what the carriage looks like inside. Just take your time making sure its all aligned well.

 

[WILD-BILL]

I seem to do it often

Oh well, at least I did actually make something with the lathe

Ok, back to my original ?

has anyone made any improvements to theirs or used the dial's that I linked?

 

[Outlawmws]

I seem to do it often

Oh well, at least I did actually make something with the lathe

Ok, back to my original ?

has anyone made any improvements to theirs or used the dial's that I linked?

I haven't used them, but any number of guys I know on line have made larger ones for different machine tools. If you have trouble reading yours, it's worthwhile, if not, I wouldn't sink the extra $$ into it.

What is a more common addition is to convert an inexpensive 6" digital caliper to a DRO.

 

[rsanter]

I asked about the manual because I have a cman version of the manual I can scan and send you

Bob

 

[WILD-BILL]

That would be great, thank you