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As has already been said, the Atlas may not be the greatest lathe in the world, but there's a lot of them left and no telling how many parts or how many BILLIONS of dollars have been made with these things. They are a decent home shop machien if treated properly and not pushed beyond their capabilities. You certainly got it for the right price. One of the weak links is the die cast gears. If left exposed to the elements for long they will simply crumble. That may explain your broken parts there. Those parts are usually cheap, that's the good news. A few things could lock the carriage in place. There is a clamp that is specifically designed to keep the carriage put. Usually on the right hand side of the top of the carriage and with a square head. Make sure it is loose. The power feed may be engaged. The half nuts may be engaged. Check all that to see if that's what is holding it. The gear for the hand wheel does not engage the leadscrew (threaded rod on the front). There will be a rack hanging down from the underside of the bed for the handwheel gear. The half nuts clamp the leadscrew from either side to drive the carriage in relation to the spindle for thread cutting. They should be open and not touching to move the carriage with the handwheel. Clausing does indeed sell new parts. Some of the stuff like the smaller gears are so cheap it's not even worth screwing with Ebay. Some of the other stuff is just stupid expensive when new. You can also start poking around and asking folks in the area if they know of a clunker in a barn or something. A friend with a Craftsman/Atlas did just that and bought an entire lathe in pieces.. with enough spare parts to fix his up... for about $50.
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