12" Atlas/Craftsman Quick Change Gear Box Plans?

[biometrics]

Has anyone seen any home grown plans for a quick change gear box for a 12" Atlas or Craftsman Lathe?

I have seen them on the yahoo groups for the 6" lathes, but have not seen any for 12" lathes...

I know it would be an ambitious project, but I would like to know all that would be involved with the design so I can decide if I want to go this route or just cough up the mega hundreds of dollars for one from a lathe that has been parted out...

Thanks,

-John

[Allegheny]

I have an Atlas 12 for which I would like to have a QC gearbox as well. I've never seen an article or even a plan for one. If you have the ability to make one, you should be able to scale up the plans for the 618 version. There were two series of articles that I know of - the better of the two is the one from Modeltec magazine - July-December 1991. The other was in, I believe, Home Shop Machinist, but I can't give you an exact issue.

Brian

[jeff]

I wonder if you could adapt one from another machine. Seems the Atlas ones demand a premium and typically sell in the $400-450 range yet the southbend ones can be found in the $150-$250 range and are much more common. They look very similar I think i recall reading that a 3rd party made alot of the gear boxes for various companies.

[biometrics]

If anyone has the blueprints for the 10-12" Atlas/Craftsman QCGB and the Southbend (for example) it would sure make that analysis a lot easier than trying to re-engineer an unknown quantity...

I have considered doing that exact adaptation, but wonder if it might be simpler to just design one from scratch since that way you have control of all dimensions...

Your thoughts?

[GEP]

I have plans for a atlas QC gear box and it looks like the original it uses all atlas gears. I know its a long time after this was posted but if there is interest in this QC plan let me know and please tell me how to post it
GEP

[Milwaukee tool Guy]

I would like to see the plans. I don't really need it but I like to make things I'm up for a challenge......

[yar]

John, somewhere on this site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/atlas_craftsman/
there is information on adapting a South Bend QC box onto an Atlas lathe.

There is also a forum for Chevy truck owners called stovebolt.com. On that site there is a guy named Jerry with username hotrodlincoln who bought an Atlas QC and found he wasn't able to use it. It is from an Atlas lathe of one size (10" or 12") and he intended to use it on the other size and that is not a bolt on. He may still have it.

I've had a 10" Atlas for about 35 years and except for convenience in setting up for threading a QC is not essential in what I do in my home shop. Mine has one. It's a really nice feature and looks very cool but a machine without one is still useful.

[silverspur26]

In the November/December 2005 issue of The Home Shop Machinist there is an article by Ken Hollenbeck on Upgrading a Atlas 10F lathe. One of the upgrades is a QC Gearbox built from plans appearing in the October 1946 issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Back issues of Home Shop Machinist are available from the publisher, contact Nancy Whitten (800.773-7798). They may have contact information of the author of the article. If they do and provide it, then maybe he will have some detail on the QC fabrication. Check ebay for Mechanix Illustrated magazines. I personally purchased a QC Gearbox Kit for my 10" Atlas on ebay and am very pleased with the result.