My father in law brought over an old Craftsman 109.0702 lathe he is planning to put in our yard sale. Is it worth trying to save this? I'm not a machinist, but was thinking it might be nice to do a few little projects at home if I ever needed too.
Craftsman 109.0702 Lathe worth saving?
- Thread starter MattN03
- Start date
yatg
Well-known member
Start here to check for completeness
bmwrd0
Well-known member
If nothing else, the parts are worth saving and putting on eBay. But as for the lathe itself, sure. They get a lot of hatred in the large lathe community, and they aren't the most accurate machine, but you can teach yourself a lot with one of those while not taking up much space.
paulsomlo
Well-known member
It's not much of a lathe, but any lathe is better than none.
very true!
rlitman
Well-known member
I had one that I restored years ago before selling it off.
In my case, I had the head rebored to use tapered roller bearings and have a 1" thread for a normal chuck. The MT0 IIRC tailstock was a pain to find parts for, and it ***** for threading, but it was still useful.
In my case, I had the head rebored to use tapered roller bearings and have a 1" thread for a normal chuck. The MT0 IIRC tailstock was a pain to find parts for, and it ***** for threading, but it was still useful.
BombShelter
Well-known member
Those little Sear's are so neat, they make great shelf queens if you just want it for decoration. Check out the money they're getting for them nowadays, even the parts go for a decent amount. I've never used mine but it looks cool out in the shop.
Maui
Well-known member
I was in the process of restoring one of those lathes years ago and had to make a backing plate for the 4 jaw chuck that I had planned on using on it. I did most of the rough turning on one of my other lathes, and did the finish work on the Craftsman 109. I needed to turn the steel backing plate (which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 3/4” across if memory serves) to a very accurate diameter so that it would seat properly in the 4 jaw chuck. My goal was to get the diameter to plus or minus 0.0002”. And I was was able to do it on that lathe! It worked beautifully. I have another Craftsman 109 that I am in the process of restoring now. After centering the tailstock I put a piece of material in the jaw and supported it with a dead center in the tail stock and turned it to measure the amount of taper in the resulting part. It had about 0.0001” taper per inch. These lathes are often maligned by folks on the internet, but they can really do some impressive work if the operator has the proper skillset and works within the limitations of the machine.
I have had several of these over the years. IMO they make great little lathe models for shelf display. They are our grandfather's minilathe, made either side of WW2. I have had a few on my library shelves at home. Fun and easy resto project. As a working lathe, they are very light duty, with a spindle that is easily bent. A chinese minilathe is actually a better machine.
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mtkarnuth
Member
I have the SAME lathe!
Mine has NO thread gear train,
I'm new to lathes, figured this would be a good one for me to learn on!
rsanter
Well-known member
That lathe will be limited with what you can do with it.
But that’s a great starter machine for you to get your feet wet.
Most of the clean up can be done with an evaporust bath and get things lined and running smooth
But that’s a great starter machine for you to get your feet wet.
Most of the clean up can be done with an evaporust bath and get things lined and running smooth
mtkarnuth
Member
This may NOT be the correct thread to ask questions, but here goes! My 109 0702 does NOT have the planetary gear pack on the pulley shaft, only pulleys. Did the planetary gear thing not come into ay until the 0703's, and what is the advantage of this?
Thank you.
Thank you.