Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part IV: Tailstock Handle Repair and New Cross Slide Cover

The third and final handle to be fixed on the Atlas 618 lathe is for the tailstock hand wheel. The original handle was snapped off flush with the wheel.

First order of business is to get the stub out of the hand wheel. I was able to get a partial hole drilled in the stub before it began spinning in the hole. The outside diameter of the stub is tapered so the further out of the hole it got, the tighter it got. Fortunately an Easy Out got enough purchase to twist the stub out all the way.

Interestingly, it appears the handle is meant to spin in the hand wheel, as the stub is tapered about .002" (.249 at the "handle" end and .251 at the other).

I tried to match the taper but won't know how it works until I press the handle onto the wheel. Here is a rough cut of the handle.

Almost finished.

The handle is now pressed into the hand wheel. Not sure why it doesn't spin but it's just too tight in the hand wheel to spin freely. No problem though, as it still works fine.

I think all the broken stuff is now fixed on the lathe. One thing I'd still like to do is work on the belt tension setup. The adjusting screws have worn grooves into the shaft. It still works but I'd like to repair the grooves. Maybe build the grooves up with some weld.

Here's a photo of the shaft. The damage can be seen on the left end.

Oh, and I made a sheet metal cover to enclose the cross slide threaded rod so chips wouldn't fall into that area. It would probably look better painted grey.