Atlas Benchtop Mill

[jfk92]

Hey all,

Anyone else have an Atlas benchtop mill here? I got this from a neighbor quite a while ago. Runs and I've used it to mill some rebar experimenting - I have a lot of fixtures and cutting bits for it. But I think I might need to run through a light resto on it - I hear the head taper bearings rattling and the bit continues to spin even when the drive is disengaged. (think the belt is just catching the pulley). I'd like to oil up the ways (name?) so the mill deck slides in all 3 axis smoothly and with minimal effort too - catches a little vertically up. Anyway - a neat little mill I got for a song - want to keep it "right" as it as before my ownership. Looking for resources - an ask was shut down on Practical Machinist forum as their policy is "no Atlas machines" allowed.... TIA - John

 

[Bob-B]

Try over here. Atlas machine owners are welcome.

General - The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop Magazine's BBS

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bbs.homeshopmachinist.net

Here too.

VintageMachinery.org | Welcome

 

[Cruzan80]

The fact you have the vertical head is SUPER-RARE! Those are not found often at all, and probably worth the price of the rest of the machine. If the vertical continues to spin, I am not sure you will find too many experiences with that to help. Does it spin as well in horizontal mode?

 

[HaiKarate]

I was expecting a horizontal machine as well - that is all I've ever come across. Nice mill!

 

[jfk92]

I've never turned it to the horizontal mode - tbh - I'm not exactly sure how but there are some pins, rods and levers! I can't seem to find any documentation on it - but maybe need to ramp up my searching. My first job out of school as an engineer was working for SKF USA, Inc - bearing application engineer - I get a kick out of the Timken Bearings label on the head to be honest. Anyway - thx for the insight

 

[Cruzan80]

The Marvin vertical head is aftermarket. Period to the machine, but Atlas itself only made it for horizontal use. IIRC, the Marvin head uses a looped belt to drive the vertical spindle, and uses the overarm support for mounting. On the Vintagemachinery site, there is a manual for just the Atlas machine itself.

 

[qdvuu]

Looking for resources - an ask was shut down on Practical Machinist forum as their policy is "no Atlas machines" allowed....

Why don't they allow Atlas machines on that forum? I'm looking to beef up my little home shop/garage capabilities and Atlas may be of interest to me so I'm curious if I should strike them from my list.

 

[Cruzan80]

Practical machinist frowns on "hobby-level" machines, which in their mind, Atlas is. Primarily they hate ZAMAK, IME. There is a large difference between a 109 6x18 lathe (without even dials), and the later 12x36 with a QCGB and undermount cabinet, but in their eyes, it is all the same. The same way some people think flat ways are inherently inferior to V ways.

 

[WisJim]

I have an Atlas mill, currently waiting for me to get other things moved into the shop before I finish setting up the little mill, so I'm not much help right now. And I've never seen the vertical attachment

 

[Aaron_W]

Why don't they allow Atlas machines on that forum? I'm looking to beef up my little home shop/garage capabilities and Atlas may be of interest to me so I'm curious if I should strike them from my list.

It is a site focused on professional machinists, so they take a dim view of the vintage and import machines favored by hobbyists. You can find a lot of good information there so a good place to search posts, but many members are verbally abusive and dismissive of any machines / questions they see as beneath them to respond to (yet, they find the time to belittle and demean posters for asking...).

There are several good sites which are hobbyist friendly, that will not turn away questions comments about "lessor" machines and beginners questions.

 

[Aaron_W]

These mills have a loyal following and like small shapers often sell for more than their strict "worth". Neat little mills and that vertical head is a very desirable attachment. Sounds like you got it cheap, if so you did very well.

 

[Firebrick43]

Why don't they allow Atlas machines on that forum? I'm looking to beef up my little home shop/garage capabilities and Atlas may be of interest to me so I'm curious if I should strike them from my list.

because its not a commercial use machine.

 

[yardiron]

I never realized that Atlas was considered a hobbyist level brand?
About 40 years ago, at my first real job we had a very large, slightly strange shop press that had the Atlas Press Company logo on it.
It was rated something like 150 tons and had three press sections. The main frame of the press was huge, over 8ft long and over 7ft tall.
The middle had a manual or air powered hydraulic ram but unlike most modern presses, this thing had a threaded ram.
There was a huge cast iron wheel near the top, just below the main beam. The wheel was at least 24" in diameter and resembled a 1 1/2" thick cast iron steering wheel of sorts.
It could be used with or without air. To apply pressure you would pull down on a long lever till you heard it click or ratchet. There was a 6" pressure gauge on top as well. One each end of the main table were manual gear driven arbor presses, one large, one smaller.
The table was raised and lowered with a gear tooth rack and a crank which turned a shaft, to a transmission, which rotated a driven gear which lifted or lowered the table.
When the place closed we all called dibs on the equipment, I took the brake lathes, air compressors, and the smaller press. I was going to take the Atlas press but I just didn't have a place to put it then. I wish I had it now.
I was told at the time that it was original to the dealership who opened its doors in 1928 selling tractors and Ford trucks.

Atlas also changed its name to Clausing in the 1960's, which is a well respected brand even today.

Back in high school I worked on weekends at a place that built wooden shipping crates, their main cabinet saw was made by Atlas Press Co. It had the same logo and name plate as the contractors saw I have from the early 50's. That saw ran 7 days a week for decades. I was told that it was bought new in the late 40's when the owner's father came back from the war and started the business. It ran on three phase power.
They also had two huge radial arm saws, one was a huge Atlas saw, the other was Dewalt. The two saws were nearly identical other than the branding. The Dewalt was dated 1959, the Atlas info was worn off.
The two RAS were set up along two conveyor lines, wood coming from the supply room would get directed to the saws, each which had been set up with work stops to make repeated cuts. Two guys ran those saws all day. I seem to think the blades were 20 inch or more, I have one or two of the old blades around here somewhere. Each radial arm saw would make enough sawdust each day to fill a medium sized dump truck. One of my jobs was to keep those trucks empty. (they had three dump trucks, one was to always be under the dust chute so I'd switch out the trucks, and go empty the full one). Every so often I'd get paid to haul a trailer load of sealed bags of sawdust to a lumber company. They would bag the sawdust and fill a 45ft trailer with it every few days. In the past, they had just let the sawdust pile up but got complaints from the neighbors and the fire marshal.
I wouldn't consider either of those machines hobbyist level machines.

 

[WisJim]

Check out "groups io" for the Atlas groups. Lots of users there.

 

[skeer]

Man, that guy is beautiful!

 

[jfk92]

Thx for all of the replies and information. Fueling the fire to clean it up and ensure it lasts beyond my time. It's gotten a lot of fine, black shop dust on it now compared to this picture of when I bought it. Wishing I had covered it with a blanket at least in my work garage. I had no idea about Marvin attachment value - in looking online just that attachment is on ebay and sold for much more than I got this mill for including buckets of tooling and fixtures

 

[RoninB4]

The OP landed on a nice little machine for the garage shop. Decently built, small footprint, and better castings than any of the newer imports. Hope it serves you well, congratulations.

Why don't they allow Atlas machines on that forum?

-Very OT so skip this if you don't want to read it: Others have already mentioned that it's a site for the professionals engaged in commercial ventures. What hasn't been mentioned is the sheer volume of posts from people too lazy to do research into their own questions, sometimes from college students wanting somebody to supply the bulk of information for their assignments so they can do a cut-n-paste. Other posts can/will be from people contemplating machines or machining operations so far beyond their capability that it's absurd to even consider or dangerous to continue. Once again, a little homework would have told them so but they can't be bothered to do anything but ask others to supply answers for them. Posts of this nature would clog the bandwidth on a daily basis and the members/owners/moderators prefer to keep the website tidy and free from clutter. It happens on this site too.

Genuine interest and questions from beginners that have done previous research are seldom run off. Any of the members criticizing an earnest beginner are chastised by the rest of us and reminded that we were all once beginners. For any that have questions, do your homework and state what you've found before posting your questions. Light duty, hobby grade machines are not what professionals use for several reasons. If you want professional advice, use the equipment and the methods professionals use. It's not about elitism.

The "forbidden" machines themselves are a bit iffy. Some machines that can still be used in commercial ventures aren't favored. Shapers used to be a machine commonly found in professional shops but have largely fallen out of favor for the last 80 years and were going to be banned but were instead relegated to the "antique" forum after some protest by members that still used them for internal keyways. Older machines have their own forum for the same reasons. The inexpensive, imported machines from China that have flooded the market are generally of very poor quality and that's why they aren't used by professionals. Many of the professionals have one or two of these (yes....even me) hiding but see occasional use. Machinery like Atlas, Logan, and South Bend are considered hobby grade and always have been, even when new. All of them have made departure designs when trying to offer professional grade machinery.

Just because it's a hobby grade or light duty doesn't mean it's useless for good quality work, you just have to be mindful of the audience you mention it with. The website PM has a wealth of information in it, reading is better than posting if you're a beginner.

 

[RoninB4]

Wishing I had covered it with a blanket at least in my work garage.

-If you do that give it a good spray down with some sort of oil (not WD-40) or rust preventative or you may trap moisture condensation under the tarp/blanket and find a layer of rust has developed on all the surfaces. Photos after cleanup would be of interest, it will look nice when you're done. Don't worry if it's not pristine either, nobody expects it to be.

 

[jfk92]

sound advice. I'm going to begin by blowing it all off/out with some compressed air. I want to clean but not strip the paint and have several recommendations in hand from the Craftsman-King Seeley benchtop drill press i just restored with guidance in this forum - (did the only logical next thing with that - gave it to my wife's cousin's husband - then bought a 150 series (1951 motor code) I found locally for $60 and plan on doing it again!)

 

[bmwrd0]

Go to https://www.hobby-machinist.com/ if you actually want to learn how to machine. The PracticalMachinist crowd is less then helpful, and in some cases actively discouraging.

And you don't want to blow it out with compressed air, as you will get chips in every nook, crany and machined surface.

 

[jfk92]

Thx rmwrd0 - headed to hobby machinist right now. I ended up brushing, vacuuming and wiping down with a shop towel which cleaned it up nicely. then - I discovered how to use the power feed function of the deck - saw a video online and never realized I had that. it's cleaned up rather nicely. so I went and milled out a rebar bottle opener! then cleaned up those chips.
I am going to move it from my work garage to my home next week - so I can work on learning more. thx for the site lead.

 

[Provincial]

I have an Atlas lathe that lives in an unheated shop. It has spent forty years covered with an old cotton bedsheet when not in use. I keep the unpainted surfaces coated with a light film of oil, and some oil has permeated the bedsheet, but not all of it. I live in the west side of the Willamette Valley of Oregon, with a climate described as "Warm-Summer Mediterranean" with mild, rainy winters.

​

 

[Aaron_W]

Atlas also changed its name to Clausing in the 1960's, which is a well respected brand even today.

Atlas has a long history, and started out making presses (as the Atlas Press Company), so that massive press may have been one of their earlier products. They later made their mark selling affordable woodworking and machine tools frequently partnering with Sears.

Atlas essentially held a position similar to the "Chinese" machine tool makers today. They bought Clausing in the 1960s and eventually took the Clausing name which was held in higher regard than Atlas was.

When a company takes the name of the product line they bought out, that tells you something about how the company is looked at.

Atlas tools are not terrible, and perfectly fine for home shop and light industrial work, but they were among the cheapest machine tools available in their day. Sears sold the Atlas (Craftsman) 12x36" with QCGB and cabinet for $650 in 1963. A South Bend 10-k aka "light 10" 10x34" lathe with QCGB, sold for $864. The Craftsman 12x36 had a shipping weight of 545lbs vs the "smaller" South Bend's 755lbs.

I think the Atlas machines are actually quite nice for what they are and in many cases they offer more user friendly features than more industrial machines, likely because their target market was lesser skilled hobbyists and collateral duty machinists. You can also see where they cut costs though too, with their cheaper materials, flat ways etc.

 

[larry4406]

Very cool! I don't need one but want one.

Attached are some manuals that might be helpful.

 

[jfk92]

@larry4406 - thanks for the manuals

 

[HaiKarate]

Practical machinist frowns on "hobby-level" machines, which in their mind, Atlas is. Primarily they hate ZAMAK, IME. There is a large difference between a 109 6x18 lathe (without even dials), and the later 12x36 with a QCGB and undermount cabinet, but in their eyes, it is all the same. The same way some people think flat ways are inherently inferior to V ways.

My impression is that it's a group of close-minded, self-important machinists that used to consider themselves king sh!t before CNC - now they are pathetically trying to maintain any remaining relevance they still have by putting down guys in garages working on 10" craftsman lathes and import round column mills - and then bitching about how their profession is dying.

 

[yardiron]

I worked in a machine shop in the 80's that had a good number of old Atlas, Craftsman, and Clausing 12x36 lathes, a few Clausing mills, and row of Atlas, Sears, and Rockwell drill presses. They also had a few older South Bend lathes, a pair of Bridgeport mills, and one newer but much larger Clausing lathe. They were primarily a custom part shop and automotive machine shop. CNC was new then and the few machines we had then were a hassle to program and it often took hours of trial and error to get an operation right. They would use plastic for test cuts so if the machine crashed it didn't break any tooling or the machine itself. They had a mix of Haas and a few import machines, both were problematic to say the least.

When they closed up in the 1990's I bought some of the equipment, I bought the Atlas and Craftsman 12x36 lathes, one Atlas and one Rockwell drill press, one Clausing mill, and most of the tooling and shop tools. It all went cheap, that was back in 1999. The Craftsman lathe was new but made in 1961. I eventually put he Craftsman together and sold the Atlas version for more than I paid for the whole lot. I also sold the two older drill presses replacing them with a newer, 1980's Craftsman with a larger table and more power. I still have the mill, plus one 2hp import mill which was also new but never assembled when I got it.
I think we mostly looked at Atlas as just another brand back then, they were on par with most others, at least in the equipment we used. They didn't make larger equipment but we didn't run much large equipment either. The one thing I wish I had gotten from that shop was the smallest Atlas lathe, which was no bigger than a large typewriter. I've never seen another one since. It was small enough that the guy who bought it dropped it into an old bicycle front basket and two guys carried it out to their car. The shop used it cut small armature contacts for old Generators, but it had a lead screw and threading ability too.