Re: Looking for Tooling for my Atlas/Craftsman 101.07403 Lathe
|
Excellent advice!? Here is a lathe starter kit for Atlas/Craftsman 6" lathes.?https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=6364&category=2122081964 That'll give us a baseline price for a fairly complete starter kit. Here is a much more basic kit, also cheaper, that will fit any lathe with a MT2 taper tailstock, including the 10"&12" Atlas lathes, but without a tool post.? Here are all the LMS tool post options. 4-way tool blocks range from about $23 to $55. The AXA QCTP I bought at Amazon is currently about $142, with 5 toolholders. Others have mentioned making their own tool blocks, and once you have a means of holding a milling cutter, and the cutter itself, you could make a 4-way tool block easily. It's a bit more complicated to make the AXA tool blocks, because they need dovetail cut... and unless you buy a kit that has a T-Nut specifically for your lathe you'll need to cut a blank T-nut to fit your compound slide. I used a hacksaw & files to cut mine. A couple thick washers hold it up above the slight hump on my compound. Joe shouldn't need that on his. See the photo. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=atlas+craftsman+tool+post&_sacat=0 is a listing of tool posts for lathes. Some are for actual Atlas or Craftsman lathes, some are for 6" lathes, and some are pretty generic. Looks like most of the Aloris style QCTPs are more expensive than they need to be. And the cheaper lantern posts are incomplete. You need, at a minimum, the lantern itself, the screw that tightens the tool in the post, the rocker, and the base washer the rocker goes in to adjust the tool angle. Also a T-nut, and the? screw to connect the lantern and T-nut.? Mine came without the rocker, and I filed a piece of square stock into a rocker. You could make the lantern and such, too, if needed.? Last I looked, Harbor Freight had a 1/2" drill chuck on an MT2 shank for about $15. They also have a kit of very small HSS tool blanks. Last I got some, the kit was $4.99.?https://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece-m2-high-speed-steel-mini-tool-bits-for-metalworking-lathes-40641.html these are 3/16" and smaller for the square bits.? https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-mini-lathe-drill-chuck-58728.html He'll need a tailstock to use the drill chuck, as it has an MT2 taper. I've made some of my own tooling, but I did buy a 3/8" MT3 endmill holder. And an MT2-MT3 sleeve, which lets me use MT2 tooling in the MT3 spindle. I made an aluminum tool block for 3/8" bits. I've since gotten an MT3 shank ER32 collet holder, and that lets me hold any size milling cutter or material ease your in the spindle.? Making your own parts and tools is a great way to increase your skills. Even if you mess up a part, you'll know more the next time. Done a whole lot of that! If you don't already have them, you should buy a 1" micrometer and 6" dial caliper, and learn to use them. I had a lot of trouble when I got back into machining after more than 35 years. And it took me until I took another class to figure it out. I had either forgotten, or never had the sense of touch necessary to get accurate readings of the micrometer and caliper. A few hours practice with them and a set of gauge blocks fixed that. Just in case I need to do that again, I also have a small set of gauge blocks of my own, now.? Bill in OKC? William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.) Aphorisms to live by: Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.? SEMPER GUMBY! Physics doesn't care about your schedule. The only reason I know anything is because I've done it wrong enough times to START to know better. Expect in one hand, expectorate in the other. See which one gets full first.
On Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 10:20:02 AM CDT, jmartin957 <jmartin957@...> via groups.io <jmartin957@...> wrote:
Good recommendations on the tool holders. But he hasn’t said what other tooling he has with the lathe. ?Without it the lathe is useless, and that tooling can easily cost much more than the lathe itself. My recommendations for basic tooling would be: headstock center tailstock center dogs of appropriate sizes? tailstock chuck four jaw headstock chuck three jaw headstock chuck faceplate tool bits steady rest Given those, plus the lantern toolholder and an assortment of normal shop stuff - lubricants and cutting fluids, taps, measuring tools and a bench grinder - he can make all of the additional tooling he will want. ?I know, I did. ?And that’s the fun of it. Stuff he can pretty easily make will include: end mill holders center drill holders fly cutters boring bars boring bar holder four way tool blocks cross slide angle plate for milling tailstock die holders arbors of various kinds carriage and cross slide stops spiders and catheads clamp straps, studs and special clamps holder to use hand grinder as toolpost grinder indicator holders And probably a lot of things I’ve forgotten. ?In the end, he can have a well-tooled lathe that will easily and efficiently do anything he asks of it - within it’s limitations of size and accuracy. John On Oct 27, 2024, at 10:23 AM, charles brady via groups.io <ctb11365@...> wrote:
|
Bill in OKC too