Resurrecting Arthur, the first lathe I used

[MBfreak]

Arthur was the father of my best childhood friend back in the fifties. He taught a bunch of kids the dignity of being a craftsman and the importance of also getting a solid engineering degree. He was way ahead of his time.
Arthur had a basement home shop with a small lathe. Arthur passed away thirty years ago, and his lathe fell on hard times. A year ago we resurrected it from a barn. I have started to rebuild it and in a month or two it will be back in service.
It is made by " ATLAS, Stockholm ". Probably made in the thirties, all parts are handfitted and all has the serial no 160 engraved.

The chuck is a "modern" part, it is made in the seventies .


Best regards

Ola

 

[daveroy]

Looks good so far.. keep it coming. I have a deep appreciation for older machinery, just no room/money/expertise to do that myself (yet!).

 

[blasto9000]

Nice! I've always wanted to find a worthy lathe to restore. (Well, after finding a few other not-as-worthy lathes to practice make all the beginner's mistakes on first.) I see suitable candidates on Craigslist all the time... no space or time to pull the project through in a reasonable time unfortunately.

 

[dankeenan]

what are you using for paint?

 

[MBfreak]

I am using an oil based machine paint. It is called " hammerlacquer " (translated from Swedish, hammarlack ). It is not that easy to find here, you have to go to a dealer that sells to industry.
It takes several days to harden but once done it is very durable. It is designed to be painted directly on well cleaned and degreased steel. I have a gallon of it that I bought several years ago.
The color is "typical Swedish mid last century machine green ", was used by every manufacturer.

I think there is brand called " Hammerite " which is pretty close to the one I use.

Ola

 

[geologist]

So far, so good.

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

keep the progress coming.

 

[A_Pmech]

Mid-century machine green.

Love that color!

 

[fergus]

Wow...that thing is looking awesome!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

A worthy and useful restoration; appropriately named!

Looking forward to more pictures! Any pictures of its namesake? Seems like a plaque with his picture laminated upon it would be a nice honorarium to your mentor. Hang it above the restored lathe as a remembrance to him.

 

[MBfreak]

Some progress, all parts are now ready and final painting takes place when they are assembled on the lathe.
Have investigated the possibility to replace the spindle brass bearings with modern needle-bearings. Not enough metal in the spindle support casting, so that plan is shelved.
In a couple of more evenings Arthur will be ready, and it will be interesting to see how it works. Arthur, who was an ace, made a brass steam engine on it.

Best regards

Ola

 

[MBfreak]

Hi.
Arthur is now back in service and is being finalized. I have put on a new motor and a VFD. The VFD will be hidden in the SUN cabinet that serves as the stand for Arthur. The SUN cabinet is all that remains on another of my technoromantic rebuilds.
Fixed a temporary mount for the motor and made some brass parts, using the old 1/4" HSS that came with Arthur.
Will however compromize on that part and use a modern holder and sintered tools. Live 70 km´s away from the SECO tool plant, so most old car markets have tons of NOS SECO cutting tools.

Best regards

Ola

 

[W-Cummins]

That turned out GREAT nice job! It makes me want to repaint my Harrison back to its original green color..

William....