16" Cincinnati lathe

Nebraska Kirk

Well-known Member
I bought this 1954 16"x102" Cincinnati lathe yesterday. It was hooked up to power in the farmer s shop so I could run it and check out all the speeds and feeds. It came with some tooling, cutting bit holders, steady rest, live & dead centers, follow rest and a taper attachment. The original 3phase motor has been replaced with a single phase and it has also been converted from the silent chain drive to 4 v-belts. The lathe is filthy dirty and I think I will take it to a car wash to try and pressure wash off some of the dirt and grime.
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There are 2 places in town that can straighten and balance drive shafts.
I can't remember what it cost me. It was not that expensive to straighten and balance a driveshaft on an old 1978 dodge van about 30 years ago...
 
I bought a 13" Sharp last weekend, basically new, with steady rest, follower rest, digitals, metric thread gears, taper attachment...

All things my 12" Clausing was lacking. It felt terrible when I unwired it a few minutes ago, it has been good to me. Might keep it around for dirty work, but hard to jusitfy the space.

Very excited about the new lathe and the possibilities it offers.
 
Wow! It looks like a great machine. You'll have a lot of fun with that. Clean it up, oil and adjust. You have a winner.
 
Excellent!
I wouldn't need the length but the swing is
great. I usually pressure wash stuff when I
bring it home. Nice when it is summer and
you can let it bake in the sun for a couple
of days.
I don't know what you have in your shop but
for a lot of us, now comes the expensive
part of buying a machine. All the tooling.
There is no end to it.
 
Nice! I have owned a 19x60 Colchester for
20 years and the extra bed length you have
would have been nice quite a few times.
Next you will want a smaller one,,, and a
mill,,, LOL
 
I would not wash it.
When the old NAPA parts store in town burned, the machine shop was separated by a brick wall from the rest of the building.
Of course, the roof burned off the machine shop.
All the machine tools got wet from the water used fighting the fire.
The 2 men that worked in the shop had to disassemble every piece of equipment and dry it out, oil it up and put it back together.
 
I would not do water wash at all, it may get in place you
dont want and cause problems later. I would use solvent
based degreaser. My 2 cents for what it worth. Good luck
 
Nice find. I have cleaned up and painted old lathes with everything possible including hot water and soap and never caused any damage to anything. I would not wash the motor as mine failed when the old
insulation was so old it fell off. Cast iron really doesn't rust quickly and if it does it is surface rust. After years the paint peeled off painted surfaces because it never got clean enough. On machined
surfaces every year when the weather and metal would warm up(Un heated Building) moisture collects on metal and you can not oil it enough to not rust. Maybe not clean that so much?? On the 12 x 36 Atlas Lathe
how old is it and have you had any trouble with the Back Gear failing? On mine I wanted to chase some threads and when I engaged Back gear the Pot Metal teeth just started lifting off the base metal. Almost
all the gear teeth lifted off and stuck in mating teeth. I think it probably the first time ever and last time the Back Gear will be used until I find a good Replacement?? Cleddy
 
(quoted from post at 09:37:34 03/26/23) Nice find. I have cleaned up and painted old lathes with everything possible including hot water and soap and never caused any damage to anything. I would not wash the motor as mine failed when the old
insulation was so old it fell off. Cast iron really doesn't rust quickly and if it does it is surface rust. After years the paint peeled off painted surfaces because it never got clean enough. On machined
surfaces every year when the weather and metal would warm up(Un heated Building) moisture collects on metal and you can not oil it enough to not rust. Maybe not clean that so much?? On the 12 x 36 Atlas Lathe
how old is it and have you had any trouble with the Back Gear failing? On mine I wanted to chase some threads and when I engaged Back gear the Pot Metal teeth just started lifting off the base metal. Almost
all the gear teeth lifted off and stuck in mating teeth. I think it probably the first time ever and last time the Back Gear will be used until I find a good Replacement?? Cleddy

I do not know how old my atlas lathe is. I have not had any problems with the back years, they are not pot metal I know that. Either steel or cast iron. Back when I bought the lathe and I was doing research on it and looking for the parts I needed, it seems to me I determined that it is at atlas/clausing lathe. It has the Atlas Press Co., Kalamazoo Michigan badge on it, but I dont remember the details.

I did end up pressure washing it and got a lot of the grime off. It air dried on the way home and I oiled the ways and other bare steel parts right away to prevent rusting. I took the top off the headstock gearbox and everything inside looked pristine and it appears no water got inside, although I intend to drain, clean and fill with new oil
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Thanks for the picture of the Atlas Lathe. That is a Real Atlas lathe. What I have is the 12 x 36 Craftsman Lathe made by Atlas for light duty home owner use. They are kind of made cheaply. Fun to tinker
with but not very sturdy. Cleddy
 

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