Congratulations on preserving so many Atlas/ Craftsman machine tools in as new condition so that a wider audience can see how capable and well designed they are. The Sears catalog come to life. Thank you.
Very good video and lesson. I've collected several Atlas Machine tools over the past 40 years but never had the time and room to play with them. Now, I hope to clear an area in my basement and restore 3 them. The drill press was still in it's original crate when I bought that one. Good Luck, Rick
The clearest and simplest explanation I've ever seen, of a relatively complicated subject. Beautifully photographed and without the usual distracting waffle. Thank you for an inspiring video.
50 plus years since I last cut a gear and the little grey cells had gone a bit rusty so thanks for a reminder on the formula working out what cutter is required. A real good video
So pleased to have found this video. I purchased an Atlas several years ago and am only now getting educated on its use. Excellent information and tips.
@@MrHarvard88 nice to hear from you. Just dug it out from the back of the garage. Wow. Heavier than I remember when it being. Has the vertical milling attachment on it too.... forgot about that..
Got an old atlas and finally getting around to restoring it. This old school machinery requires a real education, unfortunately since the 90's I feel our education system has failed America. Thank you for this content! keep up the good work.
Thank you! I'm learning as I go. I'm no expert by any means, but I enjoy learning new things. I feel fortunate to have received a good education. There are a lot of bright young people out there -- I meet one almost every day. Unfortunately, there has been an effort underfoot for many years now to dismantle our public school system and we are seeing the results. Social media doesn't help. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now :-)
Good instructional video! Just the right pace. Not too in-depth and details as to get boring, but yet still very informative. Love the little Atlas milll, loved to have one.
Thank you! I've been thinking of making a video just to show some of the accessories I have for my milling machine, but I'm not sure how many people would be interested in that.
That's quite a score. I remember seeing the shapers occasionally at yard sales and auctions back in the 90s and early 2000s and nobody seemed to want them back then.
absolutely love your 'beginners' video, and that you show us how the arbour goes into the mill, and assemble the whole thing, cutter included in FRONT of us, not 'here is one I prepared earlier' like most others do, and to do one or two cuts full speed, NOT lapsed to show us the true speed of things, then go timelapse, for time, but great video; one other suggestion, how about putting marks on the indexing gear teeth on which is the 'cut' so you don't have to think too much during cutting.
Pretty cool seeing one of these machines complete. I had one of these but it was missing 50% of the components. I gave up looking for the parts and let it go to a new home. Yours looks museum quality. Thanks for the video!
Thanks! I do see a lot of these mills that are missing parts or have damaged parts. But you have to keep in mind that they are all pushing 60 to 80 years old by now.
I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers. You do a very nice and helpful tutorial. I have the same mill with the 1 inch arbor but don't have all the attachments. I see now that I need to start shopping.
That was fantastic!!! I’m dealing on my own lathe and soon I will be spending my life buying tooling. Lol Then I want to find an Atlas Mill like yours so I have a set. Thank you again.
Thank you so much! The tooling can be harder to find than the machines, simply because there are a lot of people looking for the same thing. Have fun with your lathe!
I just picked up a Sheldon horizontal mill really good condition and got it for 300 dollars with 12 cutters and even end mill arbor , great vedio learned alot was going to get a indexing jig but I think I'll try to find the gear jig you have..
Great video, one of the best on the web by far on cutting gears. I have an atlas shaper and was looking for this mill but the prices have gone through the roof. I just (yesterday) got a brown & sharp #2 horizontal mill in great shape with a ton of tooling and a vertical head for $700 bucks. The atlas mill only(all I could find) were $1600 plus! Down side Is the B&S is big and weighs in at 5200 lbs, but fortunately I have the space. Thanks again 😜🧑🏻🦽
Thanks for the comment! I agree the prices for the Atlas mills seem ridiculously high for such a lightweight machine. I bet you'll get more use out of the B&S mill. I would like to find a Hardinge, Clausing, or Rockwell mill, but haven't come across one near me.
Thanks for the video and great in-depth explanation.I’m slightly new to machining I’ve done some stuff simple things and some auto cylinder heads. I just picked up an old craftsman mill same as the Atlas needs a motor. I’ve never set up to cut splines or teeth so this video was great! Thanks again. Now to find tooling and cutters
Thanks! I'm pretty new to machining myself, but it's a lot of fun. The Craftsman mill is exactly the same as the Atlas, but I don't see them nearly as often. Good find and I hope you enjoy using it.
Thanks and I had A question maybe you can answer mine has a open drill chuck as of right now meaning if you look from the back side you can see through the chuck like a lathe would be how is that removed or should I say not sure how it’s removed and the cutter bar which is Morse taper installed. I don’t see the part behind the chuck where there cutter arbor engages
@@jeremyburke2096 It sounds like you may have a Jacobs 56B headstock chuck on your mill. (See if the chuck is labeled near the end.) If so, it simply threads directly onto the spindle. Try locking the spindle in place with the back gears and see if you can unthread the chuck from the nose of the spindle. Don't use too much force or you may break teeth on the back gears. If you can get the chuck off, hang on to it. Those headstock chucks are handy items and Jacobs no longer makes them.
The Tinkerer's Workshop thanks a lot I appreciate your help I have started to work on it I found a tool on line to fit the back gears to hold them that I may order right now I’m looking for a replacement motor and cleaning it up as it sat for a long time. Thanks again I may have to pic your brain agin sometime.
Great Tutorial - Thank You! I am in possession of an MF, and am looking to put it to good use. Haven't run a lathe since high school, and loved it then.
Hi thanks for an informative and thorough video. I have purchased an Atlas Milling machine. Unfortunately no tools where with it . I was wanting to know where you can get the slot cutters Regards Peter
I’m enjoying your videos, just a note for others who may not know... Clausing is a great company to deal with, often times they will send you part drawings if you email and ask them for them, just be sure to give them the model and clausing specific part number (not just the name) it makes it super easy to reproduce parts that way.
Thank you Dennis! I agree that Clausing is a great company to deal with. How many other companies continue to provide support for machines made 75 years ago? Thanks for mentioning the availability of parts drawings from Clausing. One thing I've heard is that Clausing will only provide drawings for parts that are no longer available. But even so, it's a great resource and one that I've taken advantage of on several occasions. - Vince
liked and subscribed: Wo! I like to watch stuff like that, it's the realization of dreaming to know-and-see without the need to own 1000s of dollaaars worth of equipment. WELL DONE, wipes out most of the other videos that are so coarse and time-wasting. Please bear with me, I could be confused, but I bring up what I think a structure of understanding... Now, I am young fire-spittin'-noob... never have had a chance to even come near such equipment, but I am a bookworm, thus I can relate to everything shown here, technically wise... a bloom of geometry! Guaranteed, my automatic without brakes brain whirlin' sends me into all sorts of conjectures and questions. I am learning all of this without even a sheet of scientific graph paper, pencil, compass(not the boussole type), protractor, etc... I do keep a caliper within reach to get a more precise feel of my mind's estimate as to what 1 in.(or any fractional part) actually is, but that's it. I want my mind to be the complete dictionary, so I can go to the job light, no tool bag encumbrance. GIVEN: just about all that is involved revolves around PI(or TAU if one prefers to use the RADius as the base), irrational it is, thus get used to approximate measurements dealing with the decimal imperial system. In what may be referred to as direct distances the fractional imperial system follows a binary sequence: ..., 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, ... which translates into ..., .015625, .03125, .0625, .125, .250, .500, .750, 1, ... also a binary sequence. ...no, I do not know those by heart, I just manipulate the numbers in my head and come up with it as needed... now, 1/2(.5) and 1/4(.25) and other easy ones, no computing needed. So, this appears easy, until PI/TAU says, not so fast buddy, there are a multitude of numbers between these easy direct numbers that only PI/TAU can provide... so, get your formulas and calculator out! We can see that the higher the tolerance(smaller distance), the decimal places increase... For example the 1/64 takes us to the 100 thousandths, that's a digit away from the millionth! Therefore when a particular precision is rounded(as was noted on the cutter tool, it would be nice to know the rest of the digits to see how far from the 'direct' rounded number the actual computation is. why? ...well if the number of teeth gets high, there is an accumulating(or diminishing?) effect, obviously, is there not? Surely, the simple answer is that at the counts currently used, this is not a concern. ...and that is ok, but it does not address the above conjectures. QUESTION: at what decimal place does a machinist disregards the discrepancy, ON AVERAGE? ...and I can feel this is not a fit all answer, there is a stair case effect, thus the answer needs to be comprehensive, not just a one figure. No, no tables, no thick book to carry around, just a count of digits to the left or right estimate. One clue would be the smallest tolerance used in fabrication of precise instruments... no, not at the atomic clock level... lol! I am thinking 'the thousandth' is the hover around precision.? CONCERN: if one goes around a circle with a set-dividing-measurement(a stick/chord), would not the last segment that closes the job, be OFF as compared to all other previously processed steps? (Now I understand that tolerances are needed so things have elbow room to get along(and that is a good thing), and if the precision is high enough, one small variation in one spot maybe acceptable, but how is that loss/gain [ evenly divided amongst all segments ] ? [ reparti, in one word, French ], or is it?, do we get a railroad rail clonk in the mix? RELATED: I always wonder(and must make a point to verify this) how the measurement dial lines are laid out? At one point, you did say they were hard to see... thus, when adjusting the fine spiky pointer to a particular measurement, where is the pointer visually adjusted: to the center of the line, the left, the right ? (What about the perpendicular perspective of the eye, and the precision as to where the center or the edge of the line are?) Surely, to pick one for the whole job adds to consistency, but which is the correct way? I am assuming safe center!? ...or the final tooth gap might end up too tight or too loose!? OTHER OPTION: I see this as Ole School, not a fast production option, and a massively heavy and costly device. Is this style tool being replaced, or do they still do things, the higher technology does not yet provide? - ...will not a CNC with a 4th axis produce a level of comparative precision ? - I wonder if a CNC would not get this done at the speed of light(comparatively) with a lot less chances for one killer mistake !? - ...and once setup in the CAD, an easy repeat, not need for all these steps and adjustments each time a piece is in need of making. - not even a need for a CAD for standard pieces, just get the G-code file.
one tip, before you remove the dog, mark the slot in the driver with whiteout, sharpie, chalk, etc. so you don't phase the part by 180 degrees!, meaning you are not on the same place on the head stock spindle,for runout, etc.
I appreciate your explanation of the setup of your mill. I can't seem to find a lot of info on using small horizontal mills which is a pity in my opinion. I own a small horizontal mill (not atlas, haven't seen one over here in the Netherlands) but haven't used it much because I don't know much about using them yet. Thanks for your instructional video! Peter
Thank you Peter for your comment. Yes, I have had a difficult time finding information on horizontal milling as well. I think they have largely been replaced by vertical mills. I would enjoy seeing some photos of your mill.
I was looking up hobbing videos, and your came up. Thought you had some sort of manual synchronizer setup. Sadly that wasn't the case, but still a great well explained video on gear cutting and some older equipment. Was a great watch :)
I have one of these wonderful Atlas Horizontal Milling Machines.This video was absolutely amazing and would like to know if you have any other videos about your Atlas Horizontal Milling Machine?
Thank you so much!! I would like to make some more videos using the Atlas milling machine, but haven't had the time lately. I will put that on my to-do list though. Thanks again.
I had one of those mills for a little while but it was literally just the machine so I sold it on to someone that wanted to gather all the accessories. Really nice demo. How long did just the gear cutting take?
I didn't time it, but I would guess I spent 1-2 hours to cut that gear. It's definitely not a production mill. But for hobby use, time isn't as much of an issue.
This is such a great video. Very informative and easy to watch... thank you very much sir, for taking the time to make our work a lot easier. One question... would it have been easier to make the gear and shaft as one piece ? Thanks again. BTW... I've been quoted £700 to make a spur gear from nylon from a local company here in Northern Ireland. After watching this video, you can only guess what my reply to them will be lol
Hi, I just happened across your video while doing a search for horizontal bench mills. Thanks for the video! Very concise, very relaxing to view. Do you happen to know if little milks like this are still made and where to source them?
Thanks, Joe. Atlas stopped making these mills in the early 1960s, I believe. I’m not aware of anyone still making a small, horizontal mill like this. The closest thing I’ve seen is a small combo vertical/horizontal mill from Grizzly G0727. (I’ve never used one, so can’t recommend it one way or the other.) And of course there are several small vertical mills available.
@@joewest2560 Mine is a model MFC. Atlas made several different models (MF, MFA, MFB, etc.) The main thing I'd look for is one with the power feed for the table.
Thanks for this video! I have this index attachment for my atlas mill and looking forward to trying it. But where does the mandrel for holding your gear come from? Do you have to make it to hold your gear blank?
Hmm so correct me if am wrong use a gear to make a gear...query if can make a blank same width and thickness as old gear and enough of old gear still exists the teeth could I not use that to index it on thereby duplicating it
Ive been working on restoring my Atlas and recently discovered that I have the head stock and tailstock accesories! However I am missing the set of 9 gears as well as the dog drive. What would you suggest for obtaining the missing components?
Nice find! You are very fortunate to have both the headstock and tailstock as they often get separated and one or the other gets lost. The gears are the same as the change gears used with the Atlas 10" and 12" lathes. You can find used ones on eBay pretty easily. I think there is even someone on eBay who is making gears out of plastic with a 3D printer and they would work fine for this application. As for the dog drive, if you mean the piece that threads onto the headstock spindle, it's not anything too complicated and a person could make one out of some steel bar stock.
@@mikegruizinga6875 Great! I'm glad I could help. You must have a 3D printer? That's something I've wanted to delve into, but haven't made the plunge on a machine yet.
@@MrHarvard88 Yeah we have a few at work i can access. Before that however I used shapeways.com quite a bit. Their prices are reasonable for most things!
Yeah,Placing those timing centers makes MFC ideal for gear cuttings..Compare Shaper/Shaver it like old vs new...This is number one main reason why Shavers been replaced with milling machines,multi bladed tools does make difference in cutting numerous minutes to several hours compare..
Got repaired my bottom base and paint it with matching color paint,special black color protective paint at bottom....Table to be fixed next,4 chippings but rather than that table in pristine condition and ready to mount..I had repaired gear mounting plate and fabricate support arm/bar from 2 king pins that match diameter..Welding was done at professional level,cooling of such arm took 2 hours and also result me burned finger because of extreme heat..It wasn't just been surface weld,I used guide first to tog 2 pins together so everything looks balance and straight,ones connection been made than real welding started welding from inside out until completed..The earing locks good as original,instead 16 inches long like standard one have my version is 18 inches long,little extra won't hurt..The partially damaged parts end up cheap for me,only need repair and it good as new again..
I had a chance to buy this exact mills for $1000 and it was in beautiful beautiful beautiful shape and I passed it by it also came with a vertical attachments I've never seen sounds maybe it was a slightly larger one but I know it was smaller listen. i am kicking myself for not buying it
Condition is everything with these mills as the parts are hard to come by and usually expensive if you can find them. Hopefully another one will cross your path some time.
Really well demonstrated. But........"a poor mans indexer". Yes they would have been that when Atlas was originally selling those simple indexer's. The asking prices for them today such as on Ebay are insane for what they are. $600 - $800 or more from what I've been seeing. That's 1/2 - 3/4's of what I paid for a fairly large 10" swing Vertex universal dividing head that I think was directly copied from the B & S universal head. Unfortunately because of it's size and weight it can only be used on my vertical mill and not my little Atlas. My Atlas is an MFB model so it wasn't set up to use that highly desirable and now expensive if you can even find one vertical support bar and the other 3 parts needed to use it. Your extremely lucky to have those additional accessories for your Alas. I'm assuming yours is a MFC model? Your mill was either in almost unused condition when you bought it or you've done extensive surface grinding to put it back to how it left the factory. I'm more than envious of it's condition.
I think those $600 - $800 asking prices are a bit optimistic. They seem to sell for around half of that when offered as a straight auction. But still, I agree that the Atlas accessories are rather expensive for what they are. I think you hit the nail on the head as far as the reason. Atlas sized and designed their accessories to work quite well with their machines. Even though there are better accessories available for less money, they are often too big to fit the Atlas. Yes, my mill is an MFC. It's actually one of the first MFC models made, as it came with the overarm guard that was discontinued shortly afterward. I purchased it from a university where it was used in the instrument shop of the physics and astronomy department for nearly 70 years. When I acquired it, I disassembled it and cleaned all the parts and replaced the main bearings, but I didn't regrind or scrape any of the surfaces.
@@MrHarvard88 My mid 1940's MFB wasn't so lucky, belt guards missing, one .030" deep groove cut in the table, rusted and scored MT 2 spindle bore, grease used instead of oil until the machine had to be soaked in solvent to get the slides to even move. I was lucky enough to run across an Ebay seller in Winnipeg some years ago who had one single example left of a CNC machined replacement spindle and I've since found both belt guards. I bought all three sizes of the MT 2 arbors Tools4Cheap was selling for these machines when they were still in business. Once I replace the spindle bearings and running bushing for the arbor that part of the drive will be 100% new. Your MFC might be different than mine, but so far I've found no evidence of any scraping or surface grinding on it other than the table top and sides of it. All the slide surfaces appear to be only Blanchard ground. Apparently there's an Ebay seller who's going to be offering replacement cast iron vertical support bars in the next few months (I hope) The other three parts Atlas changed to use that support I should be able to build from scratch. Had I known what I do now I would have bought a much better condition machine to start with. Your machine as an MFC and still having an over arm guard that fits it would be extremely rare. I didn't even know it was still offered as late as the MFB model. There a half decent little machine for a small home shop and probably a lot better built than the under 12" swing lathes Atlas were making at the time. Using that Zamak for the gears wasn't one of there better ideas, but they didn't know about it's degradation over time in some environmental conditions. Watch the hand torque applied to those locking levers on the Atlas machines. While they look strong enough, there some type of fairly weak cast material. I don't think it's that Zamak though.Mine has a couple of them where the steel stud has popped the end out of the large ball. Atlas / Clausing can still supply replacements, about $100 for each one though. Phillip Duclose in the mid 1980's designed a Model Makers dividing head and wrote it up for the HSM magazine based on the California made and much larger Ellis DH. If it's of any interest it's reprinted in the book The Shop Wisdom of Phillip Duclose from Village Press. It's about the perfect size for an Atlas horizontal. The worm and wheel he used isn't hard to find from either Browning or Boston Gear.
Those knobs are definitely some kind of pot metal. I broke one this morning trying to straighten it's associated bolt. On the plus side I've found that the material can be soldered, so repair is straightforward enough.
@@nerd1000ify Yeah, those knobs are made out of Zamak, an alloy of zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper. As far as I know, it can't be welded or bent back into shape, but I didn't realize it could be soldered. I'll have to remember that for future repairs. Thanks for the comment.
...if you measure the worn gear over wires...and then use that dimension for the new gear...aren't you losing some material off both sides of the new gear teeth?...
Yes, you're absolutely correct. It worked in this case only because one end of the gear did not have any wear on it and I was able to take my measurements at that area.
Hallo du? Bitte komm zur Sache, den deine Erklärungen sind langweilig, wie es funktioniert sieht man auch wenn du neben deinen Erzählungen ( berichten) die Maschine fertig zusammenbaust? Dann einschaltet und zu fräsen beginnst? Bitte Rede nicht so viel, der Erfolg zählt? Oder bist du ein Lehrer, der seine Schülern eine Maschine erklärt?? LG.Herbst Johann aus Österreich
I'm sorry if you found it boring. It's challenging to strike a balance between providing enough explanation and going into too much detail. That's why I noted in the description the timestamp where the action starts so people who don't want to listen to me explaining everything could just skip to the milling. Thanks for your comment.
This might be the best explanation of gear cutting that I happened to stumble upon after seeing 40 others that left me lacking.
Wow! I'm truly humbled by your comment. Thank you!
Congratulations on preserving so many Atlas/ Craftsman machine tools in as new condition so that a wider audience can see how capable and well designed they are. The Sears catalog come to life. Thank you.
Thank you very much!
Wow.
I am lost. Because I lost nearly one week looking for such video. I finally found you. Thanks for video
Very good video and lesson. I've collected several Atlas Machine tools over the past 40 years but never had the time and room to play with them. Now, I hope to clear an area in my basement and restore 3 them. The drill press was still in it's original crate when I bought that one. Good Luck, Rick
Very nice, concise explanation and demonstration. Very good speaking ability. Easy to listen to and follow, unlike many UA-cam presenters. Thank you
Thank you so much. I appreciate the encouraging comments!
The clearest and simplest explanation I've ever seen, of a relatively complicated subject. Beautifully photographed and without the usual distracting waffle.
Thank you for an inspiring video.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. It means a lot to me!
He explains what he is doing as well as Abom79.
50 plus years since I last cut a gear and the little grey cells had gone a bit rusty so thanks for a reminder on the formula working out what cutter is required. A real good video
Thank you so much for the comment, Melvin! I'm just a hobby guy, so you probably have forgotten more than I know, but I appreciate the comment!
So pleased to have found this video. I purchased an Atlas several years ago and am only now getting educated on its use. Excellent information and tips.
Thank you and good luck with your Atlas. It's a lot of fun to use.
@@MrHarvard88 nice to hear from you. Just dug it out from the back of the garage. Wow. Heavier than I remember when it being. Has the vertical milling attachment on it too.... forgot about that..
Got an old atlas and finally getting around to restoring it. This old school machinery requires a real education, unfortunately since the 90's I feel our education system has failed America. Thank you for this content! keep up the good work.
Thank you! I'm learning as I go. I'm no expert by any means, but I enjoy learning new things. I feel fortunate to have received a good education. There are a lot of bright young people out there -- I meet one almost every day. Unfortunately, there has been an effort underfoot for many years now to dismantle our public school system and we are seeing the results. Social media doesn't help. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now :-)
Your explanation as simple and pristine as your machine.
Dont underestimate the machine power. Right feeds and speeds will allow for one pass. Needless to say, you love that machine like your little girl.
Thank you very much for your encouraging comments! I really appreciate it!
Good instructional video! Just the right pace. Not too in-depth and details as to get boring, but yet still very informative. Love the little Atlas milll, loved to have one.
Thanks! For me, there's a fine line between overexplaining things and not giving enough information, so I appreciate the comment.
@@MrHarvard88 I did hear you talk about a metal shaper, I'd love to see you make some parts on it!
Beautiful bit of kit. Work of art. Too good to be working with.
Thank you! I've been thinking of making a video just to show some of the accessories I have for my milling machine, but I'm not sure how many people would be interested in that.
@@MrHarvard88 just do it mate. Don't be worried what people say, such a nice unit, they'll be interested.
They are made to work!
Thanks for the simple explanation of what you are doing. I want one of these mills. We appreciate you Sir.
Thank you for the kind comment. Although limited in size, I find the Atlas mill a lot of fun to use in my home shop. I hope you can find one.
I bought an Atlas mill and shaper at an auction in 88" ,Both get used and enjoyed completely. Gave 250 for the pair.Great video.
That's quite a score. I remember seeing the shapers occasionally at yard sales and auctions back in the 90s and early 2000s and nobody seemed to want them back then.
absolutely love your 'beginners' video, and that you show us how the arbour goes into the mill, and assemble the whole thing, cutter included in FRONT of us, not 'here is one I prepared earlier' like most others do, and to do one or two cuts full speed, NOT lapsed to show us the true speed of things, then go timelapse, for time, but great video; one other suggestion, how about putting marks on the indexing gear teeth on which is the 'cut' so you don't have to think too much during cutting.
I watched the whole thing, it was very good. Thanks for posting. Loved seeing that little mill in action.
Thanks, and thanks for watching!
Pretty cool seeing one of these machines complete. I had one of these but it was missing 50% of the components. I gave up looking for the parts and let it go to a new home. Yours looks museum quality. Thanks for the video!
Thanks! I do see a lot of these mills that are missing parts or have damaged parts. But you have to keep in mind that they are all pushing 60 to 80 years old by now.
I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers. You do a very nice and helpful tutorial. I have the same mill with the 1 inch arbor but don't have all the attachments. I see now that I need to start shopping.
Hi Jim -- Thanks for the kind comments. I'm surprised too :-)
That little mill is so sweet , Thanks for that . Cheers Ade.
I am not a Machinist,but i enjoyed the video, always like to know how stuff is made ! Thanks !
Thanks! To be perfectly honest, I am not a machinist either. Just a hobbyist.
That was fantastic!!!
I’m dealing on my own lathe and soon I will be spending my life buying tooling. Lol
Then I want to find an Atlas Mill like yours so I have a set.
Thank you again.
Thank you so much! The tooling can be harder to find than the machines, simply because there are a lot of people looking for the same thing. Have fun with your lathe!
Thank you for sharing this. I'm ready to start cutting gears on my Atlas.
Good luck to you. It's a slow process, but rewarding when it comes out right.
I just picked up a Sheldon horizontal mill really good condition and got it for 300 dollars with 12 cutters and even end mill arbor , great vedio learned alot was going to get a indexing jig but I think I'll try to find the gear jig you have..
Great video, one of the best on the web by far on cutting gears. I have an atlas shaper and was looking for this mill but the prices have gone through the roof. I just (yesterday) got a brown & sharp #2 horizontal mill in great shape with a ton of tooling and a vertical head for $700 bucks. The atlas mill only(all I could find) were $1600 plus! Down side Is the B&S is big and weighs in at 5200 lbs, but fortunately I have the space. Thanks again 😜🧑🏻🦽
Thanks for the comment! I agree the prices for the Atlas mills seem ridiculously high for such a lightweight machine. I bet you'll get more use out of the B&S mill. I would like to find a Hardinge, Clausing, or Rockwell mill, but haven't come across one near me.
Wow! I love working on a machine, i'ved learned a lot from this clip, thank you very much....
Thanks! I appreciate the comment.
Nicely done. Another good site is Joe Pie's where he shows how to simplify the process of using wires.
Thank you. I've seen a few of Joe's videos, but must have missed that one. I'll have to check it out.
Thanks for the video and great in-depth explanation.I’m slightly new to machining I’ve done some stuff simple things and some auto cylinder heads. I just picked up an old craftsman mill same as the Atlas needs a motor. I’ve never set up to cut splines or teeth so this video was great! Thanks again. Now to find tooling and cutters
Thanks! I'm pretty new to machining myself, but it's a lot of fun. The Craftsman mill is exactly the same as the Atlas, but I don't see them nearly as often. Good find and I hope you enjoy using it.
Thanks and I had A question maybe you can answer mine has a open drill chuck as of right now meaning if you look from the back side you can see through the chuck like a lathe would be how is that removed or should I say not sure how it’s removed and the cutter bar which is Morse taper installed. I don’t see the part behind the chuck where there cutter arbor engages
@@jeremyburke2096 It sounds like you may have a Jacobs 56B headstock chuck on your mill. (See if the chuck is labeled near the end.) If so, it simply threads directly onto the spindle. Try locking the spindle in place with the back gears and see if you can unthread the chuck from the nose of the spindle. Don't use too much force or you may break teeth on the back gears. If you can get the chuck off, hang on to it. Those headstock chucks are handy items and Jacobs no longer makes them.
The Tinkerer's Workshop thanks a lot I appreciate your help I have started to work on it I found a tool on line to fit the back gears to hold them that I may order right now I’m looking for a replacement motor and cleaning it up as it sat for a long time. Thanks again I may have to pic your brain agin sometime.
Great Tutorial - Thank You! I am in possession of an MF, and am looking to put it to good use. Haven't run a lathe since high school, and loved it then.
Thanks! It's definitely a lot of fun. Good luck with your Atlas milling machine.
Wonderful little mill.
This is a wonderful video. Please do more Atlas mill videos!
Thanks William! I would definitely like to do some more videos on the Atlas mill. I have a couple of projects in mind -- just have to find the time.
Hi thanks for an informative and thorough video. I have purchased an Atlas Milling machine. Unfortunately no tools where with it . I was wanting to know where you can get the slot cutters Regards Peter
I’m enjoying your videos, just a note for others who may not know...
Clausing is a great company to deal with, often times they will send you part drawings if you email and ask them for them, just be sure to give them the model and clausing specific part number (not just the name) it makes it super easy to reproduce parts that way.
Thank you Dennis! I agree that Clausing is a great company to deal with. How many other companies continue to provide support for machines made 75 years ago?
Thanks for mentioning the availability of parts drawings from Clausing. One thing I've heard is that Clausing will only provide drawings for parts that are no longer available. But even so, it's a great resource and one that I've taken advantage of on several occasions. - Vince
Lots of really god detail. Thanks
Fantastic video. Thank you!
liked and subscribed:
Wo! I like to watch stuff like that, it's the realization of dreaming to know-and-see without the need to own 1000s of dollaaars worth of equipment. WELL DONE, wipes out most of the other videos that are so coarse and time-wasting.
Please bear with me, I could be confused, but I bring up what I think a structure of understanding...
Now, I am young fire-spittin'-noob... never have had a chance to even come near such equipment, but I am a bookworm, thus I can relate to everything shown here, technically wise... a bloom of geometry!
Guaranteed, my automatic without brakes brain whirlin' sends me into all sorts of conjectures and questions.
I am learning all of this without even a sheet of scientific graph paper, pencil, compass(not the boussole type), protractor, etc... I do keep a caliper within reach to get a more precise feel of my mind's estimate as to what 1 in.(or any fractional part) actually is, but that's it. I want my mind to be the complete dictionary, so I can go to the job light, no tool bag encumbrance.
GIVEN: just about all that is involved revolves around PI(or TAU if one prefers to use the RADius as the base), irrational it is, thus get used to approximate measurements dealing with the decimal imperial system.
In what may be referred to as direct distances the fractional imperial system follows a binary sequence: ..., 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, ...
which translates into ..., .015625, .03125, .0625, .125, .250, .500, .750, 1, ... also a binary sequence.
...no, I do not know those by heart, I just manipulate the numbers in my head and come up with it as needed... now, 1/2(.5) and 1/4(.25) and other easy ones, no computing needed.
So, this appears easy, until PI/TAU says, not so fast buddy, there are a multitude of numbers between these easy direct numbers that only PI/TAU can provide... so, get your formulas and calculator out!
We can see that the higher the tolerance(smaller distance), the decimal places increase...
For example the 1/64 takes us to the 100 thousandths, that's a digit away from the millionth!
Therefore when a particular precision is rounded(as was noted on the cutter tool, it would be nice to know the rest of the digits to see how far from the 'direct' rounded number the actual computation is.
why? ...well if the number of teeth gets high, there is an accumulating(or diminishing?) effect, obviously, is there not?
Surely, the simple answer is that at the counts currently used, this is not a concern.
...and that is ok, but it does not address the above conjectures.
QUESTION: at what decimal place does a machinist disregards the discrepancy, ON AVERAGE?
...and I can feel this is not a fit all answer, there is a stair case effect, thus the answer needs to be comprehensive, not just a one figure. No, no tables, no thick book to carry around, just a count of digits to the left or right estimate. One clue would be the smallest tolerance used in fabrication of precise instruments... no, not at the atomic clock level... lol! I am thinking 'the thousandth' is the hover around precision.?
CONCERN: if one goes around a circle with a set-dividing-measurement(a stick/chord), would not the last segment that closes the job, be OFF as compared to all other previously processed steps?
(Now I understand that tolerances are needed so things have elbow room to get along(and that is a good thing), and if the precision is high enough, one small variation in one spot maybe acceptable, but how is that loss/gain [ evenly divided amongst all segments ] ? [ reparti, in one word, French ], or is it?, do we get a railroad rail clonk in the mix?
RELATED:
I always wonder(and must make a point to verify this) how the measurement dial lines are laid out?
At one point, you did say they were hard to see... thus, when adjusting the fine spiky pointer to a particular measurement, where is the pointer visually adjusted: to the center of the line, the left, the right ? (What about the perpendicular perspective of the eye, and the precision as to where the center or the edge of the line are?) Surely, to pick one for the whole job adds to consistency, but which is the correct way? I am assuming safe center!? ...or the final tooth gap might end up too tight or too loose!?
OTHER OPTION:
I see this as Ole School, not a fast production option, and a massively heavy and costly device.
Is this style tool being replaced, or do they still do things, the higher technology does not yet provide?
- ...will not a CNC with a 4th axis produce a level of comparative precision ?
- I wonder if a CNC would not get this done at the speed of light(comparatively) with a lot less chances for one killer mistake !?
- ...and once setup in the CAD, an easy repeat, not need for all these steps and adjustments each time a piece is in need of making.
- not even a need for a CAD for standard pieces, just get the G-code file.
Wow cool I always wondered if Atlas made a milling machine.
Yep, they made a milling machine and a metal shaper, both geared to the home machinist market.
I like the index you use to do this. Nice work
Thanks for your comment! it is a handy little index.
I really enjoyed your video. Beautiful machines.
Thanks Jim. I appreciate the comment.
Your milling machine is very good
one tip, before you remove the dog, mark the slot in the driver with whiteout, sharpie, chalk, etc. so you don't phase the part by 180 degrees!, meaning you are not on the same place on the head stock spindle,for runout, etc.
Excellent program.
Glad to see you using a fountain pen....
You're the first person to comment on that... thanks! I love my Esterbrook fountain pens.
I appreciate your explanation of the setup of your mill. I can't seem to find a lot of info on using small horizontal mills which is a pity in my opinion. I own a small horizontal mill (not atlas, haven't seen one over here in the Netherlands) but haven't used it much because I don't know much about using them yet. Thanks for your instructional video!
Peter
Thank you Peter for your comment. Yes, I have had a difficult time finding information on horizontal milling as well. I think they have largely been replaced by vertical mills. I would enjoy seeing some photos of your mill.
I was looking up hobbing videos, and your came up. Thought you had some sort of manual synchronizer setup. Sadly that wasn't the case, but still a great well explained video on gear cutting and some older equipment. Was a great watch :)
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
I have one of these wonderful Atlas Horizontal Milling Machines.This video was absolutely amazing and would like to know if you have any other videos about your Atlas Horizontal Milling Machine?
Thank you so much!! I would like to make some more videos using the Atlas milling machine, but haven't had the time lately. I will put that on my to-do list though. Thanks again.
this is real cool stuff thanks man
Right back at you. Thanks!
Great procedure very well annotated
Thank you!
I had one of those mills for a little while but it was literally just the machine so I sold it on to someone that wanted to gather all the accessories. Really nice demo. How long did just the gear cutting take?
I didn't time it, but I would guess I spent 1-2 hours to cut that gear. It's definitely not a production mill. But for hobby use, time isn't as much of an issue.
so well explained!!!!
Simple and clear
Many thanks sir
This is such a great video. Very informative and easy to watch... thank you very much sir, for taking the time to make our work a lot easier. One question... would it have been easier to make the gear and shaft as one piece ? Thanks again. BTW... I've been quoted £700 to make a spur gear from nylon from a local company here in Northern Ireland. After watching this video, you can only guess what my reply to them will be lol
Hi, I just happened across your video while doing a search for horizontal bench mills. Thanks for the video! Very concise, very relaxing to view. Do you happen to know if little milks like this are still made and where to source them?
Thanks, Joe. Atlas stopped making these mills in the early 1960s, I believe. I’m not aware of anyone still making a small, horizontal mill like this. The closest thing I’ve seen is a small combo vertical/horizontal mill from Grizzly G0727. (I’ve never used one, so can’t recommend it one way or the other.) And of course there are several small vertical mills available.
@@MrHarvard88 thx, I have a PM25 mill, but this looked pretty nice. Did I miss you giving a model number? Maybe I'll get lucky finding one.
@@joewest2560 Mine is a model MFC. Atlas made several different models (MF, MFA, MFB, etc.) The main thing I'd look for is one with the power feed for the table.
@@MrHarvard88 Thanks much, that's exactly the info I needed!
Thanks for this video! I have this index attachment for my atlas mill and looking forward to trying it. But where does the mandrel for holding your gear come from? Do you have to make it to hold your gear blank?
The mandrels are purchased separately. You can buy them from places like MSC or other tool dealers. Thanks for your comment!
Those charts you reference in the book were created before calculators... 🤯
Isn't it amazing to see what folks were able to do before we had calculators and computers. It's humbling.
nice work
Thanks!
great video.
nice video of atlas mill. what size is that mill? MFC?
I have the atlas MFC mill nearly unused but reconditioned and a George Thomas Universal dividing head and I need to make the tailstock
Thanks! Yes, it is an MFC model.
Hmm so correct me if am wrong use a gear to make a gear...query if can make a blank same width and thickness as old gear and enough of old gear still exists the teeth could I not use that to index it on thereby duplicating it
Ive been working on restoring my Atlas and recently discovered that I have the head stock and tailstock accesories! However I am missing the set of 9 gears as well as the dog drive. What would you suggest for obtaining the missing components?
Nice find! You are very fortunate to have both the headstock and tailstock as they often get separated and one or the other gets lost. The gears are the same as the change gears used with the Atlas 10" and 12" lathes. You can find used ones on eBay pretty easily. I think there is even someone on eBay who is making gears out of plastic with a 3D printer and they would work fine for this application. As for the dog drive, if you mean the piece that threads onto the headstock spindle, it's not anything too complicated and a person could make one out of some steel bar stock.
@@MrHarvard88 Thank you so much! I was able to find them for 3d printing on thingiverse: www.thingiverse.com/thing:143893
@@mikegruizinga6875 Great! I'm glad I could help. You must have a 3D printer? That's something I've wanted to delve into, but haven't made the plunge on a machine yet.
@@MrHarvard88 Yeah we have a few at work i can access. Before that however I used shapeways.com quite a bit. Their prices are reasonable for most things!
Sim mestre uma máquina que dá até prazer de trabalhar com ela uma bela apresentação 🙏
Yeah,Placing those timing centers makes MFC ideal for gear cuttings..Compare Shaper/Shaver it like old vs new...This is number one main reason why Shavers been replaced with milling machines,multi bladed tools does make difference in cutting numerous minutes to several hours compare..
I agree. You can cut gears on a shaper or vertical milling machine as well, but I prefer the horizontal milling machine for this task.
Got repaired my bottom base and paint it with matching color paint,special black color protective paint at bottom....Table to be fixed next,4 chippings but rather than that table in pristine condition and ready to mount..I had repaired gear mounting plate and fabricate support arm/bar from 2 king pins that match diameter..Welding was done at professional level,cooling of such arm took 2 hours and also result me burned finger because of extreme heat..It wasn't just been surface weld,I used guide first to tog 2 pins together so everything looks balance and straight,ones connection been made than real welding started welding from inside out until completed..The earing locks good as original,instead 16 inches long like standard one have my version is 18 inches long,little extra won't hurt..The partially damaged parts end up cheap for me,only need repair and it good as new again..
Great job..
Wonderful video thank you
Thank you, I appreciate the comment
Cool, thanks
I had a chance to buy this exact mills for $1000 and it was in beautiful beautiful beautiful shape and I passed it by it also came with a vertical attachments I've never seen sounds maybe it was a slightly larger one but I know it was smaller listen. i am kicking myself for not buying it
Condition is everything with these mills as the parts are hard to come by and usually expensive if you can find them. Hopefully another one will cross your path some time.
Great explanation. But it would have been easier to just flip the original gear over and use the unworn half... DoH
Great video, thanks for sharing! subscribing..
Thanks! I really appreciate the encouragement.
Really well demonstrated. But........"a poor mans indexer". Yes they would have been that when Atlas was originally selling those simple indexer's. The asking prices for them today such as on Ebay are insane for what they are. $600 - $800 or more from what I've been seeing. That's 1/2 - 3/4's of what I paid for a fairly large 10" swing Vertex universal dividing head that I think was directly copied from the B & S universal head. Unfortunately because of it's size and weight it can only be used on my vertical mill and not my little Atlas. My Atlas is an MFB model so it wasn't set up to use that highly desirable and now expensive if you can even find one vertical support bar and the other 3 parts needed to use it. Your extremely lucky to have those additional accessories for your Alas. I'm assuming yours is a MFC model? Your mill was either in almost unused condition when you bought it or you've done extensive surface grinding to put it back to how it left the factory. I'm more than envious of it's condition.
I think those $600 - $800 asking prices are a bit optimistic. They seem to sell for around half of that when offered as a straight auction. But still, I agree that the Atlas accessories are rather expensive for what they are. I think you hit the nail on the head as far as the reason. Atlas sized and designed their accessories to work quite well with their machines. Even though there are better accessories available for less money, they are often too big to fit the Atlas.
Yes, my mill is an MFC. It's actually one of the first MFC models made, as it came with the overarm guard that was discontinued shortly afterward. I purchased it from a university where it was used in the instrument shop of the physics and astronomy department for nearly 70 years. When I acquired it, I disassembled it and cleaned all the parts and replaced the main bearings, but I didn't regrind or scrape any of the surfaces.
@@MrHarvard88 My mid 1940's MFB wasn't so lucky, belt guards missing, one .030" deep groove cut in the table, rusted and scored MT 2 spindle bore, grease used instead of oil until the machine had to be soaked in solvent to get the slides to even move. I was lucky enough to run across an Ebay seller in Winnipeg some years ago who had one single example left of a CNC machined replacement spindle and I've since found both belt guards. I bought all three sizes of the MT 2 arbors Tools4Cheap was selling for these machines when they were still in business. Once I replace the spindle bearings and running bushing for the arbor that part of the drive will be 100% new. Your MFC might be different than mine, but so far I've found no evidence of any scraping or surface grinding on it other than the table top and sides of it. All the slide surfaces appear to be only Blanchard ground.
Apparently there's an Ebay seller who's going to be offering replacement cast iron vertical support bars in the next few months (I hope) The other three parts Atlas changed to use that support I should be able to build from scratch. Had I known what I do now I would have bought a much better condition machine to start with. Your machine as an MFC and still having an over arm guard that fits it would be extremely rare. I didn't even know it was still offered as late as the MFB model. There a half decent little machine for a small home shop and probably a lot better built than the under 12" swing lathes Atlas were making at the time. Using that Zamak for the gears wasn't one of there better ideas, but they didn't know about it's degradation over time in some environmental conditions.
Watch the hand torque applied to those locking levers on the Atlas machines. While they look strong enough, there some type of fairly weak cast material. I don't think it's that Zamak though.Mine has a couple of them where the steel stud has popped the end out of the large ball. Atlas / Clausing can still supply replacements, about $100 for each one though. Phillip Duclose in the mid 1980's designed a Model Makers dividing head and wrote it up for the HSM magazine based on the California made and much larger Ellis DH. If it's of any interest it's reprinted in the book The Shop Wisdom of Phillip Duclose from Village Press. It's about the perfect size for an Atlas horizontal. The worm and wheel he used isn't hard to find from either Browning or Boston Gear.
Those knobs are definitely some kind of pot metal. I broke one this morning trying to straighten it's associated bolt. On the plus side I've found that the material can be soldered, so repair is straightforward enough.
@@nerd1000ify Yeah, those knobs are made out of Zamak, an alloy of zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper. As far as I know, it can't be welded or bent back into shape, but I didn't realize it could be soldered. I'll have to remember that for future repairs. Thanks for the comment.
...if you measure the worn gear over wires...and then use that dimension for the new gear...aren't you losing some material off both sides of the new gear teeth?...
Yes, you're absolutely correct. It worked in this case only because one end of the gear did not have any wear on it and I was able to take my measurements at that area.
Where to buy this book?
You can buy the newest edition on Amazon, or you can buy older editions on eBay or abebooks.com. Mine is an older edition.
@@MrHarvard88 thank you
What about cooling ?
I just used some cutting oil.
Hallo du?
Bitte komm zur Sache, den deine Erklärungen sind langweilig, wie es funktioniert sieht man auch wenn du neben deinen Erzählungen ( berichten) die Maschine fertig zusammenbaust?
Dann einschaltet und zu fräsen beginnst? Bitte Rede nicht so viel, der Erfolg zählt?
Oder bist du ein Lehrer, der seine Schülern eine Maschine erklärt??
LG.Herbst Johann
aus Österreich
I'm sorry if you found it boring. It's challenging to strike a balance between providing enough explanation and going into too much detail. That's why I noted in the description the timestamp where the action starts so people who don't want to listen to me explaining everything could just skip to the milling. Thanks for your comment.
Talking too much,uff, should concentrate on work
Thanks for the suggestion