Craftsman lathe

crsutton81

Member
Me and my oldest son went back today
to pickup some more of the tools
from Grandads shop. Amongst one of
the items is this lathe. I think he
has some of any kind of attachments
you could need for it it appears.
Not knowing a whole lot about lathes
is there any advice or tips that can
be given to a beginner ? I mainly
wanted one for turning smaller
bushings and making smaller pin type
stuff for the antiquated equipment
we run. I don't understand why there are 2 other beds that are identical to the one already setup on the head attachment.

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That's a handy little lathe!

It takes some practice to get the hang of it. Learning to grind and set the tooling is a big part of it, along with speeds and feeds.

Looking at the numbers on the cross feed, most of the old lathes, what you turn the handle to is the actual distance the tool moves, which means you have to divide that number by 2 to get the cut you desire.

There are lots of good videos on Youtube on setting up and running a lathe. Look for a poster called Tubalcain, he's a retired teacher, know his stuff and explains it well!

I don't know why there are 2 beds, maybe he bought more than one lathe and built a good one out of the best parts.
 

''any advice or tips that can be given to a beginner''

Pick up a copy of the CLASSIC book ''How to Run a Lathe''.

Looks like there's 75 copies on ebay right now, $4.38 a copy and up.
 
Yes, How To Run A Lathe is the best basic booklet you can read. I understand you can find it to view on the internet. But reprints are available too I think. remember that there is NOTHING on the lathe except the motor and belts that oil will hurt and lack of oil will hurt it.
 
I should have mentioned that after you grind the tool bits like in How To Run A Lathe you need to polish out the grinder marks with a FINE stone until it looks good under a 5x magnifier or is perfectly smooth with nice sharp edges.
 
(quoted from post at 01:36:10 06/05/22) I should have mentioned that after you grind the tool bits like in How To Run A Lathe you need to polish out the grinder marks with a FINE stone until it looks good under a 5x magnifier or is perfectly smooth with nice sharp edges.
arbide inserts are so cheap nowadays that it's really the only way to go except in circumstances where a special shape is required. I haven't ground a turn tool in 20 years.
 
Nice little machine.
As said, lots of youtube videos to learn the basics from.
Take a close look at that machine. Scrutinize all the parts and pieces on it. Examine them. Touch and move them.
As you do, ponder this old saying:
A lathe with all of its attachments can duplicate itself.
Pretty cool huh?
 
A 1949-58 Craftsman ''Model 80''. Made for Sears Roebuck by Double A Products Co. of Lansing, MI.
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Good afternoon, crsutton81: I hate to reduce anyone's enthusiasm, but I had a lathe like that several years ago. They also sold under Sears' economy or low-priced tool brand, Dunlap. Made by a company in Ann Arbor, MI. An internet lathe forum used to have discussions about them, they often called them AA lathes. They were made for several years, fairly good quality, but lots of zinc-based die castings. When you have a bad casting in one these days, you are sort of out of luck. Check the 'bay for parts, some may still be turning up. Lots of fun learning about a lathe, but I recommend not getting in too deep.

BTW, there is no comparison regarding quality versus an Atlas. Just me talking......

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
 
In the scheme of things, I doubt
this one will see heavy use by me.
Lol. I have always had to hire any
machine work done, and will continue
to for large and important things.
This one is kind of a learning
experience for me, being I have
never ran one before. No one else in
the family wanted or had a use for
it and I hated to see it scrapped. I
dug around some more in all of the
boxes and finally found all of the paperwork he had about it.
I cannot believe all of the parts he has for this thing, as I keep finding more for it. I'm also confused as to why there are 2 more identical and unused beds still bolted to the shipping crates. Everyone is correct about Double A Products Co being the manufacturer. Thanks to everyone for the replies.

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Agree.
They would have some value.
There are several hobby machine shop forums on the net and they have free classifieds you can post things like those beds.
You have to joun but that is no big deal.

https://www.hobby-machinist.com

https://www.owwm.org
 
(quoted from post at 13:41:53 06/05/22) Good afternoon, crsutton81: I hate to reduce anyone's enthusiasm, but I had a lathe like that several years ago. They also sold under Sears' economy or low-priced tool brand, Dunlap. Made by a company in Ann Arbor, MI. An internet lathe forum used to have discussions about them, they often called them AA lathes. They were made for several years, fairly good quality, but lots of zinc-based die castings. When you have a bad casting in one these days, you are sort of out of luck. Check the 'bay for parts, some may still be turning up. Lots of fun learning about a lathe, but I recommend not getting in too deep.

BTW, there is no comparison regarding quality versus an Atlas. Just me talking......

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.

I also owned a lathe like that for a very short time. I tried making a very light cut on a rusty 1/4" bolt, and discovered the chuck was not running true. Found the spindle to be twisted. Worked it over and made it straight again, only to have it twist again almost immediately. Put an ad on craig's list and sent it down the road.
 
There are a lot of videos on the subject on youtube, but I recommend doing a search for Tubal Cain's videos. He is a retired shop teacher that has a whole series of videos on how to run a lathe.
 

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