Atlas 10F lathe value

[Flowboy]

Thanks Screwdriver, I will look at that. When I re-assembled it after moving house 8 or 9 years ago (that was a job getting it out of a basement...) I seem to remember getting some advice that the bed might need some work to set-up. Seems funny to think that such a big chunk of metal could be made to distort but it is heavy.
Penfold, there aren't any real ridges in the ways, mostly various scratches as you can see in the pics & a few deeper marks by the chuck. The carriage & tail stock move fairly smoothly. The TS gets tighter towards the tail end of bed where I assume it is less worn (I adjusted it to be good nearer the chuck where I mostly use it)
Regarding dead or live centres, how do you fit a morse taper one to a parallel chuck? Do they have a sleeve or cup they sit in that the chuck could grip?
Looking online I can only find morse tapers.

 

[gaz1]

 

[Henrik]

Regarding dead or live centres, how do you fit a morse taper one to a parallel chuck? Do they have a sleeve or cup they sit in that the chuck could grip?
Looking online I can only find morse tapers.

Your lathe should have a 2mt taper in the tailstock and a 3mt in the headstock.

Perhaps you need to manage to get the chuck off before you can fit one in the headstock, though

 

[Henrik]

How about holding a bar in the headstock and turning it to a point? That way it should be exactly centered even if you have a dodgy 3 jaw chuck.

 

[Gareth J]

I'd say offer what you think the tooling and accessories are worth plus not a lot more for the lathe. £200-300 would be my guess??

That amount of misalignment suggests something is "out" and if it's not repairable, value is going to be low.

Then, presuming the current owner says OK, you can keep your eye out for something less tired to replace it with and have your pick of the chucks and tools.

Selling that one on should recoup a bit. And if it makes more than you feel comfortable with, a cheque in the post is a nice gesture that should appease your conscience. Same can be said if you find out it's fixable.

You may have to look for ages to find a replacement that's not a hundred miles away. Be nice to have one in the mean time even if it is tired.

Also, I'm sure you'll be able to get the chuck off eventually. My lathe book talks of drastic measures like cutting it off with the lathe itself but it's got to be worth trying a bit of gentle persuasion (and I do mean gentle) and a bit of heat first...

 

[Flowboy]

Thanks Henrik, there's an awful lot I don't know about lathes & engineering! I assumed the headstock was parallel internally. I can get the jaws out of the chuck but that probably doesn't help?
Do need to get the chuck off methinks. To do that, going on the practical machinist .com advice, looks like I have to remove the pinion from the headstock shaft so I can grip the shaft - maybe making an insert for the shaft first. Have tried heat before without success.
Thanks Gaz1 for the vid I will watch it later
Johnser, thanks, I am thinking along those lines. I have a 400+ mile round trip to return the lathe. I could well have a long trip to pick up another if I can find a decent one at a good price. A lathe in the hand is worth 2 in the bush or something. If I know I can get the chuck off & fettle the centring issue with all you good folks advice I would keep it & sort the cross slide at my leisure. It does have good capacity.

 

[Screwdriver]

For alignment of my own lathe, I bought a taper adapter. Morse to parallel. Like this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MT3-Morse...839891?hash=item567f0e6f53:g:MkoAAMXQVERSvtHw

S.

 

[harryb94]

I'm far from any sort of expert with lathes but if the tail stock did turn out to he worn would it not be possible to make an appropriate sized shim to go underneath the tailstock? Not sure how you'd fasten it in place but just a thought

 

[gaz1]

sorry id leave the stuck part in the system unless your buying it

what is it worth to you at this point you have used it and know its problems

what is it worth to me or the buyer id say between 100.00 to 150.00 as it stands now all you can do is buy it and use it near on straight away
if you factor in the lathe stand add a little more saves building one

extra bits some are for another lathe and you have a broken face plate and some i have no idea the only thing worth anything is the collets but i cant see a collet holder within there

the damage near the head classic unscrew the face plate or chuck and drop it on the base damage

 

[Screwdriver]

sorry id leave the stuck part in the system unless your buying it

what is it worth to you at this point you have used it and know its problems

what is it worth to me or the buyer id say between 100.00 to 150.00 as it stands now all you can do is buy it and use it near on straight away
if you factor in the lathe stand add a little more saves building one

extra bits some are for another lathe and you have a broken face plate and some i have no idea the only thing worth anything is the collets but i cant see a collet holder within there

the damage near the head classic unscrew the face plate or chuck and drop it on the base damage

The three jaw has to come off one way or another. Probably find a bit (!) of heat and a sharp shock will see it unscrew.

The collet fastener bolt is the big thing at the bottom of the box of collets.

I can see a machine like that easily making £300 - £450 on eBay and a fair offer to buy it would be £200 - £250. If it were me I'd offer £150 after listing all the known faults and sharing horror stories about being ripped off and messed about on eBay. But that's just what I'm like!

S.

 

[gaz1]

whilst looking for my lathe ml4 i came across the ml7

i only wanted the ml4 to buy for the parts on it and it had all the set never even sold for 200.00 I enquired through pm to view then offer a price for it was just going to view it and was told this
the seller then said it was sold i suspect didnt get the high price never mind any bids on the lathe in end I bidded on the ml7 and got that instead so seller did me a favour in the end

ive watched others whilst looking and only ml7, boxfords and a few others have hit that price or gone higher

ebay and private sales are greedy they think they have something special to sell it also depends on area and how many people want it in that area

what i have found is the lathe in question its the parts that is sold with it a fully tooled up system gets the higher price but the basic lathe with some cutting tools dosnt get the higher price even with myfords

 

[Screwdriver]

Well I don't know this specific model, all I know is a working lathe that size will typically sell on eBay for the values I suggest. Go look at sold listings if you don't believe me.

£150 is the price I'd buy the one in the OP - if I wanted a little project. They rarely go for much less unless they are rusted solid.

 

[addjunkie]

Offer what you think fair, in my opinion 2 to 300 max, if the quibble, say come and collect it, failing that its in your shed, do nothing and itll still be in your shed.

My suggestion is ask them what they expect to get for it. To an un knowing eye, theyd not really know what it is.

For example i was contacted by an ex girlfirnd from my teens, shes still cute too, wanting rid of her old mans myford i lusted after 35 years ago. She was going to give it to scrap man if i didnt want it, because it was old. Gave her 350 for it, she was over joyed, and it had far far more bits than that one. Basically for the 350 i got the contents of his workshop, drills, milling cutters, vice, marking out tools, bar stock etc.

Lathe went to a friends oldman for 350, i kept the rest, and he knew the lathes worth, so the deal is i get it back when he cant use it anymore for the 350.

 

[Gritineye]

The tailstock casting may be worn on the bottom, I had one that was.

Tighten the tailstock ram pinch bolt (lever on top) and re-check the height, this will eliminate any droop. If it's still low, make some shims out of anything you have around like beer cans, cake tins, or even shim stock place them between the top and bottom parts of the tailstock, repeat until height is within acceptable tolerances. check the side to side adjustment.

This doesn't have to be absolutely 10th perfect for your usage at this stage, it takes a surprising amount of miss match to dramatically affect the diameter of any work you're turning.

Likewise bed wear, I forget the formula but it takes quite a bit to affect short work pieces which is what most work usually is. Wear across the bed is more critical on an Atlas as it can induce chatter but gib adjustment can reduce the effect.

Bernard

 

[ford34/2]

Take the tailstock off, then see if it comes to bits in two parts and if there are any height adjusters in between the two sections. Seems more than strange to be that low, and not in line with the headstock centre line.
If there are defiantly no adjusters, consider shimming in between the two pieces. You will have noticed it is also adjustable for lateral alignment.



Stan

 

[addjunkie]

It could be wear at the tailstock end, but have you checked to spindle is running true. If the bearing was more worn furthest from the chuck it would lift the center at the chuck. You can possible shim those bearings too.

Another thing to check is for damage inside the morse taper, it does happens sometimes.

 

[gaz1]

saying about the prices on lathes ive watched this coming to an end

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Myford-ML...953272?hash=item3f57154c78:g:JjIAAOSwZVhWRHN5

for an adapted machine surprised it got so high

 

[ford34/2]

saying about the prices on lathes ive watched this coming to an end

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Myford-ML...953272?hash=item3f57154c78:g:JjIAAOSwZVhWRHN5

for an adapted machine surprised it got so high

wow!!!!!!!! thats a price and a half.

Stan

 

[addjunkie]

wow!!!!!!!! thats a price and a half.

Stan

Rediculous, hasnt even got the screw cutting gear box! Some one must have more money than sense!

 

[Flowboy]

Phew! A lot of things to consider... as I wasn't looking for a lathe when it was offered to me I feel I've done ok out of the deal. Had a knackered lathe to mess around on, got to make a few useful things over the years & get chance to buy it. I've known my late mates family for nearly 20 years. The prices I've seen lathes fetch (on ebay) is always higher than I expect or are miles away - not easy to check over. I'm not in the engineering world & have no contacts for old gear at cheap rates. With all the advice I'm getting here it seems the Atlas may be rescuable. Especially having looked at Henricks long term resto' & other dilapidated lathes, seems it can be done.
Gritineye & Ford 34/2 I was thinking along those lines - shimming. Something I've done setting up magnetos for backlash. Just wasn't sure how acceptable this is lathe wise but any improvement over current state has got to be good. I don't like to watch drill bits squirelling about so off-centre =0 (that's eek!) I'm unlikely to be making anything very hi-fi; just the odd bush or spacer. If I could true up a brake drum that'd be good. Last thing was a nylon adaptor for my bro's non-std bathroom basin tap.