All in all, the lathe looks to be in fairly good condition. I don't know how to tell the manufacturing year, but the serial number seems to be quite low (M2746). I'd read online that Atlas made 30,000 of these lathes, so I would guess this one to be 1950's vintage. Supposedly the headstock bearings possibly have dates on them, so that could be a way to tell the age of this thing.
One thing I noticed immediately when I first saw this lathe was how small it was. I knew it was small but this thing is really small. It's almost like "Honey, I shrunk the lathe" small. That's not a bad thing, just something I found interesting.
The lathe came with a fairly complete set of change gears (missing only one and extras of several others) and two 4-inch chucks, a 3-jaw and a 4-jaw. Both chucks look like they are genuine Atlas from what I can tell of their part numbers.
The motor is also a genuine Atlas product, so I'm assuming it is original to the lathe.
The lathe does have issues, but that is one reason the tools I usually purchase are less expensive, and it gives me a challenge to get them working properly. The issues that I know of are: 1) the motor does not start unless you give it a whirl first; 2) several handles are broken or missing; 3) the belt tensioner has deep grooves worn in it from the adjusting screws; 4) the threading dial is very tight; 5) the lathe is mounted on a flimsy piece of plywood. I'm sure there are other things needing tidying up but that list comprises the main things I will be working on. The paint isn't that great but I don't know if I want to repaint it since it is only original once, as they say.
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