Sears craftsman metal lather

[Chadwilliam1]

Hello, my dad owns this metal lathe and he is considering selling it if has any value if it doesn't he wants to just keep it. I don't know what it could be worth I was hoping to get some input on a fair price.

It does run and it runs well only issues is the base for the tool holder is cracked.

Thanks you
Chad

Sent from my LG V30+ using Tapatalk

 

[rlitman]

Those pictures are from the back (the motor is on the back).
That lathe was made for Craftsman by Atlas.
And that cracked compound detracts a LOT from the value.

 

[ducksface]

More display than tool.
The cracked part isn't deadly important unto itself but it is an indicator of bad juujuu and warpage wear... or just that it was dropped.
Except as parts(chucks and handles) the value is pretty minimal.
I'd give fifty bucks just to turn it into a book rack and the motor head into a craftsman themed fan.
I'd give nothing for it as a lathe.

 

[shoe1]

look on ebay for pricing. I have one like it been rebuilding if you part it out will get the most out of it. They have a cult following it seems not great lathe but great for hobby stuff.

 

[Maui]

Provide some more photos from the front of the lathe, and also photograph the gears behind the headstock. If that is the only damage to this lathe, you could buy a replacement for the broken part and sell that lathe for $400 - $500 easily.

Maui

 

[matt_i]

Just change the compound slide. An Atlas 10" lathe will be easier to source the parts from (or search, etc).

Seems like the model number was TH-54 or QC-54 in the Atlas nomenclature.

Someone could have wrecked it by not paying attention to the engagement of the tapped flat nut and the vertical stud on a QC tool post, basically driving the stud so deep thru the flat nut that it burst the compound T-slot before clamping everything tight...

 

[lilredex]

Agree, the damage could have been caused by the bolt going through the "T" nut too far...the reason for installing "imperfect threads". Easily done with a chisel.

 

[Builder302]

In decent running condition they bring 500 to 1000 depending on where in the country you are.

 

[exmaxima1]

That looks like a pretty small model. I owned a longer version, very similar Craftsman (Atlas) with its flat ways and manual change gears. Not a very good design. Sold it a few years ago for $100

 

[PugetDude]

Except as parts(chucks and handles) the value is pretty minimal.
I'd give fifty bucks just to turn it into a book rack and the motor head into a craftsman themed fan.
I'd give nothing for it as a lathe.

In decent running condition they bring 500 to 1000 depending on where in the country you are.

Apparently not in Northern Arizona....

 

[ducksface]

Here's always the deal I have on gj pricing.
If a price quoter gives the asker just two thirds of what the quoter say its worth, I'll revise my estimate to match.
Reality strikes, or it just settles in.

I'll tell a small tale easily verified through gj posts.

'we love your restored lista and the powder coated nice vise attached. Lista is worth 100 bucks a drawer and yours has eight drawers. The powder coated vise is 200 bucks alone!

After offering it to everyone in the world the kid was lucky to get the 125 bucks he got for it.
I was going to swing back from Phoenix through Prescott, give him 100 bucks and let him buy it back when he got settled. Someone finally answered his Craigslist ad.

Many people here think the $500 dollars paid for a wrench to complete a $100,000 obscure collection sets the price for all.
That's a form of mental hoarding.


https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395230
(I've posted The pictures of the craftsman lathe that is now a book rack)
Op, look. At that book rack. That might be the unbroken version of your broken part. As you can tell I put little value on some things. Make me a a trade of something interesting, include your broken piece and someone here will commit right in this very thread to 1000 dollars for your dad's lathe. Or someone is way off base. Either way(ha!) I'll try to help with the restoration if the part fits.

That pictured vise is a 20 buck vise looking for a 400 buck base.
The base is a 20 buck base looking for a 400 buck vise.
And only three people in the whole world are looking for each other. See how that works?
(I'll take a hundred for that vise.)

 

[L5wolvesf]

Apparently not in Northern Arizona....

I've been looking at and keeping track of lathe prices in Northern AZ over about the last year or so. 6 Atlas/Craftsman lathes on CL average price before the ad was gone $670.

 

[ducksface]

I've been looking at and keeping track of lathe prices in Northern AZ over about the last year or so. 6 Atlas/Craftsman lathes on CL average price before the ad was gone $670.

I paid 65 bucks that lathe in Havasu, in a bundle of other stuff, at a retail shop.
I didn't buy one at auction just a month or so ago for 70 bucks bundled.
(you should have came to that auction in junipine.)

I'm not saying people won't pay. People get sentimental and goofy. And we a remember the goofy buys.
I'm saying if you're going to quote a price, I consider that you'll buy it from the person for that amount.
Otherwise wouldn't it go like this:
I would buy it for $190 bucks but I've seen asking prices at $1,000. I didn't buy it at $1,000 because it wasn't worth it to me.


I think if you won't buy it at the price you quote, can't show through real Lifel experience as the guy from the Midwest did on his 100 buck sale or my actual purchase and picture proof mine, maybe prices should be a bit more conservative in their estimates.

I don't care much, but when we all see this pitifully broken item on Craigslist for 1500 bucks so he can come down to 1000, its gonna get posted in the
Craigslist is bogus threads. And all it will do is raise the average price asked for this thing.

Because that's what he was just told.
1000 dollars is the number to shoot for.
1000 is the number he'll remember if he's like Anyone else.

The two guys who have actually transacted were 100 bucks complete and 65 bucks for my not completely Dissimilar incomplete unit. I'd have given 150 complete and built a fan from The gear drive.

 

[L5wolvesf]

I paid 65 bucks that lathe in Havasu, in a bundle of other stuff, at a retail shop.
I didn't buy one at auction just a month or so ago for 70 bucks bundled.
(you should have came to that auction in junipine.)

I'm not saying people won't pay. People get sentimental and goofy. And we a remember the goofy buys.
I'm saying if you're going to quote a price, I consider that you'll buy it from the person for that amount.
Otherwise wouldn't it go like this:
I would buy it for $190 bucks but I've seen asking prices at $1,000. I didn't buy it at $1,000 because it wasn't worth it to me.

Hey Duck, If I'd known about Junipine maybe I woulda.

What I posted was just raw info on what was on CL here - for working (supposedly) lathes. I don't pay attention to broken ones.

 

[ducksface]

Hey Duck, If I'd known about Junipine maybe I woulda.

What I posted was just raw info on what was on CL here - for working (supposedly) lathes. I don't pay attention to broken ones.

That's part of the problem with this particular lathe.
It's for parts only until proven differently. All used lathes are.
It's broken and no one has mentioned if it's a $100 part or an unobtanium part.
People here say
'buy an old American lathe, you're a novice and don't know ****, but why take a chance on a warranted item from a known retailer when you can buy a fire warped with one way an eighth of an inch out?'


The auction websites in Coconino ****.
There is Supposed to be a regular auction house in Prescott. I checked once years ago, decrepit furniture and thrift store cast outs. If I lived closer I'd preflight each sale for that diamond studded caprine orifice.

Check the two in Mojave County. It's a long drive for me to Kingman, but we can take a trailer and give it a shot if Fred or Fran has anything worth driving to Kingman for.

Kingman is where I saw a $14,000 man lift, used for 200 bucks...and was laughed at for paying so much....

 

[Maui]

Matt, this is an Atlas 618 Lathe (with a 6” swing) not a Th-54. You can purchase the compound slide assembly on EBay. There’s one there now for $99 or best offer.