Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

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speedypetey
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Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:54 am

Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by speedypetey »

So my newly acquired Atlas 10" has very worn ways in the obvious area closest to the chuck. So much so that the whole cross slide will move up and down prob .020-.040 while cutting. I can hold/clamp it when facing but it's a deal killer when turning.

A) Are replacement ways available?
B) Can the ways be removed and reversed? I am almost sure this can be done with some minor drilling and tapping? The wear is quite local and flipping the ways around will give me a nice wide area of unspoiled width to work with. I highly doubt I'll be turning anything more than 12" or so. Even if the wear winds up at the tail stock it is FAR better than right in front of the chuck.
stephenc
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by stephenc »

I'm not so sure just flipping everything end for end is as it might sound or look at first glance .

I think the atlas lathes have flat ways and not v ways . And it makes it look much easier then it actualy is .

Are both sides of the ways the same width ? If not that's the first deal breaker .
Second will be does the back side of the carriage have a Gibb that relies on a ground surface under the rear way .
You'll loose that when flipping things end for end

Those are the first two hurdles that I can picture with many many more in mind
earlgo
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by earlgo »

I thought of flipping the ways on my 12" Atlas, but finally decided against it.
What I did do is pull the carriage and disassemble it. Then I Prussian blued the unworn end of the ways and slid the carriage over it. It was plain that the underside of the carriage nearest the headstock was severely worn (because of poor lubrication or whatever). I scraped the center third of each side of the carriage until it was no longer marked by the blued ways. THEN I scraped the outer thirds of each side until there was even contact on the blued ways.
This was not a perfect solution, but it helped immensely.
I checked with a local machine builder and his quote for grinding/scraping the ways was over $2k, which is why I elected to do it myself.
Here are some pics of the Atlas in question.
Groove in way
Groove in way
groove after some stoning of the ways
groove after some stoning of the ways
under side of carriage before scraping
under side of carriage before scraping
It can be done but it won't be perfect, just better. In the last picture the lower right corner nearest the headstock was -.003 below the center. This in addition to the .004 groove in the ways made a bit of slop

--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
John Evans
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by John Evans »

There really is no cost effective way of repairing this. Cheaper to replace the whole machine. You may find a bed on eBay but shipping could get pricey . And if you make any noticeable change in the carriage height referenced to the bed and spindle center line you then cause issues with lead screw alignment.
www.chaski.com
SteveM
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by SteveM »

You might find a bed on ebay, but the reason it's on ebay is probably that the machine was so worn that someone parted it out.

Occasionally, you will get someone parting out a perfectly good machine (because they are worth about double as parts as they are intact), but you should inspect the bed first.

My suggestion is to part YOUR lathe out and put the money towards a better lathe.

Steve
spro
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by spro »

I don't know how much you have invested in this lathe or whether selling parts is even a consideration now. The advise above makes sense but you have used it enough to measure the wear points. "Renewing" the bed is a topic which goes way back before the net. There was floating the worn surfaces with brass, silver solder and earlier epoxies. There are newer methods now as described in the discussion forum here. "Is Devcon 2.." by ccfl.
The Atlas lathe flat bed offers an easier way to regain some precision. Using straightedges, the wear is between the outer flats at the head side because the tailstock rarely gets there. That is a register. At the tail end, the wear is at the inside and the saddle doesn't get there. That is another register. If the lathe is leveled it gets better but if it isn't twisted, cross measurements can tell the wear in the middle.
The fill can be leveled by simple ways and while not perfect, gains many .001s . What do you have to lose?
spro
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by spro »

When I said " wear between", I meant associated with those two. Once the bed is renewed, the saddle and tailstock can be improved.
spro
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by spro »

I "Binged" surface renewal and mostly see grinding operations. Were there a better way to fill the wear depressions, it is preferred. As noted before, reducing the ways' height requires more addition to the saddle and tailstock. The preparation of the surfaces of the bed ways is another matter. One would have to get below the lapped, worn surface for the media to adhere. It is a commitment to do it this way. If done correctly, the lead screw and other parts would be at original alignment.
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liveaboard
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Re: Atlas 10" TH48 badly worn ways

Post by liveaboard »

My lathe has had the ways reground at some point; which is really quite odd since it's a small and very old thing.
I can tell because the ways have no detectable wear even though the est of the machine is VERY worn. the tailstock guides have wear, the leadscrew has rounded corners [at the working end]. I had to replace the cross slide screw. There are rust pits everywhere.

Why someone spent a fortune to get the ways ground on a machine that was never valuable, then left it to rust remains a mystery.
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