Help - Shaft Lathe (?) ID needed

CrownCityCorey

CrownCityCorey

Sock it to 'em!
Silver Member
Does anyone recognize this Craftsman Lathe? Would you happen to know a model #?

I have not taken possession of it just yet, but I was thinking to either use it, or sell it. Just not certain what I can do with it (?).

As I understand, the pass-thru hole is not large enough for butt work.

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I think it is a 3983 from your pictures. It uses changewheels instead of the more convenient gearbox for threading. A good lathe but not the best choice for cue work because the spindle bore size is only 25/32". I had a 3986 (same thing but with the gearbox) that I used for a long time, a real good lathe, just not a good cue lathe.
 
ChampionsRepair said:
I think it is a 3983 from your pictures. It uses changewheels instead of the more convenient gearbox for threading. A good lathe but not the best choice for cue work because the spindle bore size is only 25/32". I had a 3986 (same thing but with the gearbox) that I used for a long time, a real good lathe, just not a good cue lathe.
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Thanks for the info.

Delving deeper into the lathe questions, It seems that Atlas made these for Sears under the Craftsman Brand.

This is not the same lathe (pictured below), but I discovered a name plate that has the Atlas and Clausing names? Did Atlas make lathes for Clausing? I had always thought Clausing was a manufacturer.

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CrownCityCorey said:
Thanks for the info.

Delving deeper into the lathe questions, It seems that Atlas made these for Sears under the Craftsman Brand.

This is not the same lathe (pictured below), but I discovered a name plate that has the Atlas and Clausing names? Did Atlas make lathes for Clausing? I had always thought Clausing was a manufacturer.

3n83k93oe5V35Q05W4b6tcf8ce3983f1619fe.jpg
Click to expand...

Clausing made lathes for Atlas and to avoid confusion, they labeled it Atlas/Clausing. Atlas was the lower end of American lathes. A lot of parts were cast and the bed ways were flat . The better lathes had hardened steel parts and the bed had V's on the inside .
Yours look like the " home " version of lathes. Flat bed, short compound and no quick-change gear box.
 
JoeyInCali said:
Clausing made lathes for Atlas and to avoid confusion, they labeled it Atlas/Clausing. Atlas was the lower end of American lathes. A lot of parts were cast and the bed ways were flat . The better lathes had hardened steel parts and the bed had V's on the inside .
Yours look like the " home " version of lathes. Flat bed, short compound and no quick-change gear box.
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This "great-find" is sounding more like a dud.
 
CrownCityCorey said:
This "great-find" is sounding more like a dud.
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It is not a dud. It just won't do everthing a serious metal lathe will do, but for cue work it can do a lot. It would make a great tapering machine. That lathe was made by Atlas. If you want a certain thread pitch you can probably find the gears online for it. If you don't want to cut threads then you have a good little lathe for all around work.
 
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Lathe

These are not bad lathes. I've been using three of them for more than 10 years for cue building and repair. One of the neat features of these lathes is it has a builtin index on the headstock. The bull gear has 60 holes drilled aroung the edge and there is a pin just to the left of the chuck that set into the holes for a positive repeatable stop. There are tons of parts available on ebay. I do have other lathes that I use for boring and threading; however these atlas lathes are great for shafts, cutting points and but tapering.
 
if its big enough between centers you can set it up to do dedicated work between centers or turn it into a finishing lathe. lots of good uses.
 
Without a motor or steady rest I would put that lathe value at around $500 to $600.
 
Trent,
That's a whole lot of lathe for a finishing lathe. I think it would be better for a tapering machine, if he is willing to put some time, effort, and MONEY into it. JMHO
 
I may be wrong but the lathe pictured looks like a 20" between centers.

I paid $100 for 36" between centers but no QC gear box.....delivered.
 
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Nice machine

If the ways are in good shape and the carriage is tight up by the head then it's more than likely not had a whole lot of use. These would make a great little tapering machine. Plenty heavy to get a nice smooth cut.

If you do get the lathe, a 1-1.5hp motor would be more than adequate for it. And just let me know if you need a taper bar set-up, I have 3 complete units ready to roll with 3 adjustable bars and everything you need to get it ready to taper..

NICE FIND!!

Geoff
 
waynewrc said:
These are not bad lathes. I've been using three of them for more than 10 years for cue building and repair. One of the neat features of these lathes is it has a builtin index on the headstock. The bull gear has 60 holes drilled aroung the edge and there is a pin just to the left of the chuck that set into the holes for a positive repeatable stop. There are tons of parts available on ebay. I do have other lathes that I use for boring and threading; however these atlas lathes are great for shafts, cutting points and but tapering.
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One of My old cleaning lathes was a craftsman wood lathe, and even that to My surprise had indexing. I remember I made My first 2 pieces of ring billet using a sliding vice on a drill press, but I used that old wood lathe to mark lines with a pencil for indexing by hand in the vice. Not the way I would do things today, but It worked back then, when I was really desperate and persistent. I still have the cue with that ring-work in it, and looking at it now I don't know how the spacing managed to turn out so well considering how they were made.
 
I have an old Atlas 10 by 54 inch lathe made by Oldsmobile that was on a navy destroyer and with the steadyrest and a bearing you can do great joint work or about anything else on a cue butt or shaft that you will need. Or if the price is good you can part it out on ebay and triple your money or better as clean as it looks.--Leonard
 
My father had a lathe exactly like that when I was a kid. He gave me some basic instructions and safety stuff and off I went. I made a lot of stuff with that little lathe, stuff for bicycles, some mischeivious stuff, etc... It had a gear box on the left side and you swapped the gears to get different speeds and thread pitches. I turned threads on several things and it worked pretty well. Although, you couldn't hog off a lot of metal per pass because the belt would slip. I thought it was pretty easy to use (swapping and figuring out the gears was a but of a pain but not rocket science) and I basically learned to use it with next to no instructions (my dad was an Electrician not a machinist). I was probably around 13 when he got it.

Chris is right about not being able to make shafts with it. Someone mentioned its only 20" long which sounds about right. You won't be able to turn shafts but you could do live tooling to turn ferrule threads and internal joint thread... IF you can find a way to hold the shaft true. It would be good to make tooling, steel collars, Joint and Connecting pins. You may be able to rough Forearms but not sure about the Handle.

Chris might be right on with the price (although, I like Joey's $10 a LB. idea) but I don't think I'd pay $500. I would just save another 500+ and buy a new Grizzly. But I bet that's a nice solid little lathe, helluva lot better than the stuff at harbor Freight. Looks to be in good condition too.

If it ran properly, pretty much everything was there including the gears, and figuring I needed to buy a 1HP motor and belt I might pay $250 or so. Even if you paid the $500 I don't think you made a bad deal.
 
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