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.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part III: Compound Slide Handle Manufacture

Now that the cross slide handle is glued together, time to concentrate on the compound slide handle. The handle on the compound is currently two 1/4-20 nuts jammed together, which makes for slow going.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part II: Cross Slide Handle Repair

There were a couple pieces of broken handle bits in amongst the goodies I got with the mini Atlas lathe, and they happened to go with the broken handle on the cross slide. Not wanting to throw away perfectly good handle bits, I attempted to repair the handle. Besides, I'm cheap. Or Frugal. Not sure which.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part I: Drum Switch Repair

The first item to check off on the to-do list for my new miniature Atlas lathe was to fix the motor / switch issue so I didn't have to give it a kick start to get it going. First thing I did was pull the motor off the mounting board and tear into it, which in hindsight was the wrong thing to start on. I'd figured the motor was the most likely culprit, and it was either the start winding was toast or the centrifugal switch was not working. Nope. The motor was fine, albeit a little grimy inside. Next step was to pull the Furnas Electric Co. drum switch apart. Hopefully I'd find a clue to the problem at hand.

Atlas 618 Lathe

I knew this would happen. Even after I picked up my Sheldon lathe, I kept looking at the want ads (Craigslist and OfferUp) for that great deal of the day. Funny thing, or maybe not so funny if you ask my kids, an Atlas 618 lathe popped up on OfferUp for a good price. And surprise, surprise, it almost magically jumped in the back of our car.

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part IV: New Steady Rest and Clamp Modification

So, is it "IV" or "IIII" to depict the number 4 in Roman numerals? Watch dials usually have "IIII" (if they are sporting a Roman numeral dial) while pretty much everywhere else it is "IV". Moving right along to the real subject of this blog entry, I was able to purchase a steady rest for my 78-year-old Sheldon lathe. Here is a photo from the seller:

Rebuild of a Bendix Two Speed Automatic Hub on an early 60's Schwinn Bicycle

I've sort of inherited a couple of Schwinn bicycles. They were my parents' bikes when I was a kid. Somehow the bikes just kept following either my parents or me around during moves and whatnot. Both bikes have a two speed "automatic" Bendix hub. They've sat in one garage or another taking up space, but never got used in the last 30 or so years. Below is a photo of Dad's bike. I'm not sure if Dad had planned on painting the entire bike blue or if he was satisfied with the color scheme once he'd finished painting the fenders. The red paint is original.

Yet Another Singer 66 - Why, oh why do I keep buying these things?

Yep, another Singer 66. *sigh*
Straight stitch, no reverse, no real redeeming qualities. Ok, maybe that last sentiment was uncalled for. After all, it does look kinda nice even with the layers of grime, dirt, and crusty varnish. I guess it's called "patina" these days. And ooh-ooh, "barn find"! Yes, I can call it a barn find, right?! And it's old - from 1912.

So, an honest-to-goodness 106-year-old anty-que, with the "early" 6-spoke hand wheel, high-mount "treadle" bobbin winder, rear-mount foot.

Sewing Machine Stitch Length - an unscientific evaluation

A friend was wondering about which domestic sewing machine might have the longest stitch length. So I thought, hmm, I have a "few" sewing machines that I could test out to find an answer. And let me say right off the hop, I have no formal sewing machine training, so any opinions I might have are strictly from my own observations.

That being said, I was a bit surprised at one of the test subjects I used for this evaluation. But you'll have to read on to find out. Here are the results. DUHNNN.. DUH-DUH-DUH.. DUHN-DUHN-DUHN-DUHNNNN! And the winner is......

SewMor Class 15 clone (1950s, straight stitch, cast iron):

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part III: Tailstock Threads

Ok, I've realized that Super Glue has its place, but not where I used it on the lathe. My last post showed the tailstock screw insert that was just kind of floating in the spindle. I glued it in but the first time I tried extracting a chuck from the tailstock spindle, the threaded insert pulled free of the spindle. Soooooo, the option I chose was to repair what someone had previously done. There was a hole in the right end of the spindle that had been threaded at an angle to hold the insert in place but the both the insert and the 1/4-20 threads were damaged. I was able to drill the hole slightly larger and make new 5/16-18 threads, then insert a set screw. Here's the result:

That should hold things in place quite nicely. And me being a hobbyist, I'm sure it will last a long time.

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part II: Tailstock Threads, Chuck Key

I've been able to check two things off my to-do list for the Sheldon lathe. The first item was the tailstock threads that felt sub par. They were very rough to the feel and the threaded screw felt bent.

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part I: Reversing Tumbler, T-bolt

Here are the specs on my new/old lathe:
11 inch swing
44 inch bed length, 24 inches between centers
Mounted on a cast iron pedestal base with chip tray
Power carriage and cross slide
2-1/4 x 8 TPI spindle thread
MT5 spindle taper

Serial number KBU1764
  K - early 11 inch lathe
  B - ball bearing headstock (apparently very rare, most were either plain bearing or roller bearing)
  U - under drive motor system
  1764 - sequential serial number, dates to late '40 or early '41 (the company started in 1935)

The "under drive" motor system has a transmission of sorts with two levers that poke out the front of the pedestal door. Each lever has two positions, which gives the lathe 4 speeds in direct drive plus 4 more in back gear drive, giving spindle speeds of 45 RPM to 1200 RPM. Most lathes of this vintage required the operator to move belts between pulleys to get different spindle speeds, so this was quite an improvement at the time, and still is even today. The below photo shows the two levers poking out from the lower left door for selecting gears.

Look what followed me home - a Sheldon 11-inch lathe from 1941...

I don't really need another lathe. Or another project. But that doesn't stop me from perusing the local Craigslist for a good deal. This lathe popped up on CL last week and it was just what I was looking for. And it was advertised at a very good price (yes, I'm cheap, er, thrifty). The seller didn't know anything about lathes so he couldn't tell me much about it, other than it is a Sheldon lathe and is old. It did not have a power cord so the seller also didn't know if it actually ran (part of the reason it was cheap), but he'd been told by the previous owner that it did run. We've all heard that before. Here it sits in all its glory (seller's photo):

Singer 306K - Freeing up zig zag and needle position L-C-R levers, and eliminating clacking sound

I picked up this Singer 306K a little over 4 years ago. The thing actually showed up in a *free* ad! It was, however, in much need of some pretty serious attention and was missing some minor bits (one of two locking thumb screws on zig zag assembly and the stitch length stop, from what I recall). Oh, and the bobbin case lever was snapped off. Not sure how that could happen.

Be that as it may, I was still up for the challenge. Here the condition, before doing anything to it:

Downsizing...... a LOT.

I remember reading Ed Lamoureux's "Sometimes You Gotta Let Go!" blog a number of years ago, when I was but a novice sewing machine buff.
http://sewing-machines.blogspot.com/2010/01/sometimes-you-gotta-let-go.html

In his blog in 2010, he reposted "The Phases of Sewing Machine Collecting" that he mentioned he'd written around 2000, when he was at Phase 3. It was accurate in many respects and humorous, although I didn't have the wild dream of retiring in luxury after selling my collection to a museum. I was probably nearing the end of Phase 3 when I came across Ed's list, since friends knew of my affliction. Between them and the local thrift stores, I was amassing a great empire in a hurry.

Alas, times change. I have achieved Phase 7, and have started to "dispose of [my] space-hogging old sewing machines". In other words, craigslist was my friend.