1945 Craftsman Info needed

[SnailPowered]

Awesome Bob thank you! I never even thought about checking the bearing dimensions. Looks like no bull barrels are going through that bore lol.

[SnailPowered]

The gentleman I bought my lathe from posted the history of it so I thought I would share it here. After reading it I didn't buy a lathe, I bought a piece of history!

Quote:Just a little info on this machine, I purchased the lathe about 24 years ago from the original owner that lived in Chicago. He told me that He and his brother both purchased identical lathes the year they returned from service during WW II (late 1945). They didn't have a lot of funds and maid payments on the machines. He told me their plan was to pay for the lathes by doing piece work for the war effort; they did this just long enough to pay for the machines. I guess you could say these machines served our country as well. The machines were primarily used for scale down model train and engine modeling, after their tour of duty.

I needed a lathe for my Harley motorcycle repair and restoration side business, this was my first machine. I found it in a Chicago newspaper add ,no Craig’s list or internet back then paid $1500 which was a bunch back then. This handy machine has saved my a-- countless times and put food on the table for a money strapped single DAD. It has been very reliable over the years. I did replace the head stock Timken roller bearings and not much else. The bearings I removed were marked 1945 only one was pitted and made a little noise so replaced them both. The one good dated original bearing is included with some spare parts. I found the original buck chuck a little on the small side for my needs, so I purchased a bison 6.25 adjust true chuck. The adjust true chucks are great but very pricy $$ .
Sorry Elijah it’s not included I will be using it on a replacement machine. Should you need the 6.25 chuck adapter backing plate let me know it’s yours when I'm done with it. I'm giving you as a gift my old veneer caliper and an old Starrett 1" mic. These are the two I’ve used for years nothing special they work & you will need them. Its time I use the new ones I have had sitting in my box for years.

So this machine goes from one service member to another and then another. I hope you enjoy it and it serves you well.

[EdK]

Elijah,

Thanks for sharing that story. It's a good read.

Ed

[Mayhem]

It's nice to have such a history of your machine. I'd love to know the origins of my lathe.

[Highpower]

(09-01-2012, 08:05 PM)EdK Wrote: Elijah,

Thanks for sharing that story. It's a good read.

Ed

Indeed. But the story goes further....

The gentleman that Elijah is getting the lathe from built from scratch - a reusable enclosed shipping crate that the lathe is bolted into, and is palatalized for easy access with a fork lift or pallet jack. He also loaded it into his pickup truck and drove it to the freight company personally.

So the next time the snail man needs to relocate, all he has to do is reassemble the crate and he's off and running again.

[SnailPowered]

Highpower has it right. He made sure that since I'm in the military and will be moving again all I have to do is save the crate and not destroy it so that I can load into my trailer and move it. I'm definitely super excited to get my hands on such a piece of history!

[ETC57]

Very Very Cool!!! Elijah,

Jerry.

[SnailPowered]

So I was looking on ebay and found this 54" lathe bed for my lathe that will give me 36" between headstock and tail stock. The pictures look pretty good to me but from what I can tell these ways are a cast part of the bed and can not be replaced. Do you guys think this is worth getting or should I wait and hunt. I'm not really in a hurry. I asked for a shipping quote so that could certainly determine whether my interest continues in this one or not.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...0910050782

[bobm4360]

Weeeell..... Atlas ways are flat and square, so unless they are in terrible shape, it's fairly simple to have them ground. Simple but not cheap. Still probably cheaper than a complete lathe. Or you can scrape them. Simple, cheap, but lots of work. You'll have muscles in yer mustache and calluses that'll burnish carbide when you're done.

Regards,
Bob

[SnailPowered]

I have more time than money and if putting my back into it gets the job done then I don't see where the reward isn't worth the work. I will keep an eye on the auction. Thanks!