My "new" ATW lathe

Well I didnt find a Leblond but I found a machine that seems to fit just what I was looking for. Its a 14x60 ATW gearhead, with bronze bearings. And it will match my new drill press. It came from Mr. Machinery Inc in Hollandale, MN. Seemed like a good guy, and had quite abit of older, reasonably priced machinery.

Pictures by bgandt - Photobucket

I do have a couple questions allready. Im sure there will be alot more later on. First what color would this machine have been originally? The red paint seems to be the first layer after primer but I had in my head that it should have been green. The drill press appears to be factory paint, and its green. Not sure that Im going to repaint it right away but still would like to know. I intend to use it as soon as possible.
Also what is the hook on the front of the crosslide for? It looks like there must be a piece missing.
SN is 58682, says "inspected by" but there is no initials to go with it. Is there any records surviving to date this machine? From what Ive found it must be somewhere around 1930.

Also what is the hook on the front of the crosslide for?

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Likely cross slide stop.

The hook is for the cross-slide stop, the missing part is a threaded rod w/ stop nuts, fitted into the hole you see on the front end of the cross-slide. The lathe seems to be a late 20's/early 30's machine. The most common colors were grey and green, but I wouldn't be surprised by other colors. The spindle bearings should be lubricated via the oil pump, so it well worth taking off that little panel on the top of the headstock to make sure its pumping well.

Regards,

Greg

I'm surprised by how far out the cross-slide handle is...Was that the "normal" position, or has someone in the past extended it?

I'm interested in more close-ups of the ATW drill press. Here's my rebuild thread (http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v.../american-tool-works-radial-arm-drill-209283/).

Yours looks like it has a shorter arm and base. Also has the round table, obviously. I'm guessing that this is the 2 foot model? (16 inch travel on the arm.) The 2 1/2 foot had 21 3/4" travel. 3 foot had 27 3/4" travel. The round table was standard equipment on the 2 foot model.

Has the same original ATW gearbox as mine. I'm definitely going to request some close-ups of the spring handle on the gearbox. On mine the main handle is still there, but the spring and locking handle are long gone. I'm going to have to manufacture something there. I would also like some closeups of the motor mounting. I'm rebuilding my mount since it covered up the speed plate on the gearbox.

The casting on the top of the column has been broken and repaired in the past...mine was too! Maybe this was a weak point on these drills?

I see yours has oil cups on it. Hopefully your bearings are still good then. Mine had grease cups put on it at some point and I've had to pull every bearing to clean the grease out. 3 bearings so far needed new ones made...just too worn out after years of no lubrication!

I see that the counterweight chain is loose. Hopefully the weight was simply removed for shipping?

The shade of green is almost a dead-ringer for mine. I am repainting in grey, but I guess that green must have been the official color!

If you look at my thread, you'll notice that Herb's drill has no guards (and no provisions for them either). His is slightly older than mine going by serial number. (My thread will show you where to look for the serial number.) Mine has more guards than yours however. So either yours is somewhere in between Herb's and mine, or maybe yours is simply missing some of the guards...???

This is a great start for documentation: http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com/docs/index.html . Download the 1911 catalog, 1914 catalog. By the 1919 catalog, the design had changed. Still a good read, but the files are large, so if you want to save on download time, you can skip catalogs newer than 1919 for the drill. I've also got scans from a 1907 catalog. Can't remember where I got them from...maybe someone else can chime in. If you want them, I could email them to you.

Andrew

Ill get some more pictures of the drill press up sometime this week. Its SN 43915. Yes its a 2 foot model. I havent done anything with it yet besides move it inside. There are a couple of guards that are off the machine, hopefully they are all there. The counterweight is there but the little arm that mounts it to the spindle is bent alittle. That causes it to look loose. So far the only real damage I see is the depth stop rod and the broken handles. We did manage to break one when loading it. The worst part is I didnt notice it till I got home. So its a gonner as well.
Ive started to work on the lathe. The crosslide handle appears to be all original along with the rest of the apron. Looking at Gregs page the machine appears to be around 1930? Maybe later? It has the apron clutch levers like the later machine, but still has bronze bearings in the headstock. The catalogs do say they were still available with bronze by special order though. Anyone have a Timken bearing machine to reference SNs?
I found out you cant take the bearing caps off the spindle unless the upper half of the gearcase is off. Not sure if I will go that deep or not. Guess it depends on how it runs. There is a sight glass between the pump and the top of the headstock to verify that its pumping oil. I havnt turned it on yet though, half to decide what kind of converter Im going to use. It appears to have the original 3hp, 1165rpm GE motor. I thought it would be bigger but I guess at such low spindle speed thats all it needed.
I am having difficulty getting the ram out of the tailstock. Does anyone know how it comes apart. The last lathe I did was a Southbend. It just unscrewed and pulled out. What does the stud and nut running perpindicular to the ram, but horizontal do?

I am having difficulty getting the ram out of the tailstock. Does anyone know how it comes apart. The last lathe I did was a Southbend. It just unscrewed and pulled out. What does the stud and nut running perpindicular to the ram, but horizontal do?

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I had a L&S that would not come out because the end of the screw was all mashed over from ejecting way too many jammed in tight tail stock tools. Had to saw screw in half.

The part you ask about sounds like the lock for binding up the barrel or quill or ram.

Thanks. Yeah kindof a duh moment. I didnt realize the other vertical bolt also locked the tailstock to the bed. I got the ram screw to back out all the way. Just need to get the back side unscrewed so I can drive out the ram. Atleast thats what it looks like now.
Is it ok to use a wire brush on the ram?

The ATW yahoo groups pages have a small-ish table of some High Duty serial #'s with dates, enough to place your machine's age, though dating as per design features has proven to be fairly reliable. There are also quite a few pics of various ATW lathes, its not a high traffic list so is convenient by email too.

americanlathe : American Lathe

I agree with the 1927-1935 sort of range, probably closer to 1930. The headstock top half will come off without drama, the shifting dogs hang from the upper half down onto the gear units so there are no internal linkages to mess with. The clutch assy may complicate disassembly but unless you're hunting for a noise or similar there isn't a lot of need to get inside there other than do fondle the gears etc. OTOH there may well be a lot of crud down in the sump so a good cleanout is always a reason. I've not seen a diagram showing how the pressure-lubed bronze bearings are set up so if you do go in there, some pics would be much appreciated.

The bearing type isn't an absolute indicator, ATW started w/ antifriction bearings in the late 20's but they made bronze bushed spindles and coneheads for quite a while. Similarly, they offered threaded spindles till very late, besides L and camlock being available too. The major distinguishing features are the levers on the apron (1927 as per a note in their parts manual), tailstock style and clutch lever design (on the later machines). Very late model machines have an integral thread dial on the apron- yours has the older style which I've always liked.

Regards,

Greg

Since you mentioned the thread dial, What does the knob that comes out the front of it do? Its sping loaded to the in position but I cant tell that it does anything when its pulled out.
Ill get some more pictures added as I start to tear into things. Havent gotten very far yet though.
Thanks

The old thread dial shifts up & down in its mount, to engage/disenage the gear from the leadscrew. The button operates the latch. ATW claims that when disengaged the thread dial is lowered its out of the way & less liable to be bashed up. Lots fancier than a simple pivot.. as far as I know the design lasted up until the permanently engaged apron dial replaced it. If yours won't shift when the button is operated then its gunked up, its simple to take apart and clean. I found dripping some black paint diluted w/ acetone into the dial face made it a lot easier to read.

Greg