PHPaul
Well-known member
Equipment
B2650, Pronovost snow blower, Landpride rotary mower, Howard tiller, box blade
Having scanned the available forums, I guess this is the place to put it.
Several years ago, a fellow firefighter offered me this ancient (1890-ish) Seneca Falls Star 30 lathe. Originally line shaft driven it had been converted to an electric motor drive and used in his shop for wood turning. It's age and the speeds involved in wood turning hadn't done it any favors but the ways were in good shape, the spindle and gear head were decent and the tailstock was solid.
I used it for several years and accumulated various attachments that were either correct or at least adaptable to it. There were two problems that I couldn't economically solve and they eventually became aggravating enough that replacing the whole thing seemed more and more like a good idea: The 3 jaw chuck had serious runout and the compound was worn to the point that it would move under any cut over a few thousandths and tuck the tool under center with predictable results.
A month or so ago, the planets aligned: I had some cash tucked away and this nice little Atlas 3995 12x24 popped up on Marketplace. I went down and looked at it and snatched it up. Multiple immediate advantages: It is tight, it has a quick change gearbox (vs. swapping change gears) and it has a threading dial on the carriage making threading MUCH easier.
Several years ago, a fellow firefighter offered me this ancient (1890-ish) Seneca Falls Star 30 lathe. Originally line shaft driven it had been converted to an electric motor drive and used in his shop for wood turning. It's age and the speeds involved in wood turning hadn't done it any favors but the ways were in good shape, the spindle and gear head were decent and the tailstock was solid.
I used it for several years and accumulated various attachments that were either correct or at least adaptable to it. There were two problems that I couldn't economically solve and they eventually became aggravating enough that replacing the whole thing seemed more and more like a good idea: The 3 jaw chuck had serious runout and the compound was worn to the point that it would move under any cut over a few thousandths and tuck the tool under center with predictable results.
A month or so ago, the planets aligned: I had some cash tucked away and this nice little Atlas 3995 12x24 popped up on Marketplace. I went down and looked at it and snatched it up. Multiple immediate advantages: It is tight, it has a quick change gearbox (vs. swapping change gears) and it has a threading dial on the carriage making threading MUCH easier.
