A Carriage Stop for my Lathe

[vtsteam]

The lathe I built shares some design elements and dimensions with Atlas/Craftsman lathes -- particularly the ways. In fact I use an old Craftsman cast iron tailstock housing on it. All the internals of that and its base, I made, but the housing was purchased from Ebay for $14, and it seemed too hard to pass up at the time -- how much are they now $100?? there are crazy prices these days for machine tool stuff.

Speaking of which, I went searching Ebay just for photos of an Atlas carriage stop, just to see how they did it, in case I wanted to make one similar. I found only one -- which was documented well enough, but I was shocked at the money they wanted for it because it was not only broken and sloppily repaired with braze, but whoever did that also had the setting dial in backwards so the index mark was on the knurled side and the engraved dial was opposite. I think they also had the bottom clamp upside down and backwards. For this they had set a price of $124.99 and an additional $7.50 shipping.

Description: "As shown in pictures. Has a time tested repair. Works fine"

[vtsteam]

Hmmmm, maybe that clamp isn't upside down -- I saw a photo of another one with it having those rounded protrusions up. Rivets?

I would think those are bearing points, possibly softer metal. Not quite getting this design yet....

[vtsteam]

This is gettin' curiouser and curiouser. Definitely in the first set of pics, 2nd photo the bolts are on the wrong side, and the clamp is upside down -- that's the only way the wide and narrow legs will fit the proper way on the main body.

So, maybe in the photo in my post just previous, those rivets (if they are rivets) are round headed on BOTH sides of the clamp. Why...I don't know....

[internal_fire]

I cobbled together a carriage stop from that Atlas unit more than 30 years ago. The mounting depends entirely on the needs of the lathe. In my case both the lathes I used it on had V-ways, so the flat base does not work directly.

My rendition is pretty ugly, but it works fine.

The orientation of the dial can be changed in a few seconds. Many of those ebay deals are from someone who has no idea what the item is or how it works. They got it from a garage sale or estate sale and just slapped it together in some fashion.

Gene

[vtsteam]

Thanks Gene.    It looks like you replaced the mysterious bottom clamp with your adapter. Any idea what those rounded bumps on it were? Dowel pins?

[internal_fire]

Any idea what those rounded bumps on it were? Dowel pins?

There is no way that weird clamp plate came from the factory looking like that. Rough sawn edges, very irregular shape, strange bumps, etc.

My guess is that this is merely some homemade version to work on a specific lathe.

As I said above, the "assembly" is nuts. The bumps would have been opposite the bolt heads or on the top of the screw assembly. I would guess that they are for filling a gap to keep the clamp plate aligned properly. If the plate is not exactly parallel to the face of the ways the clamping force will be reduced.

I had my original clamp plate in my scrap box for a long time, but when I just looked I cannot find it. I may have used it for something else. I do not recall that it had any bumps.

Gene

[vtsteam]

Okay, thanks Gene. 

[Charles Lamont]

That seems both over-complicated and very resistant to adjustment in situ. I posted a simple one I made for my Myford a while ago, here: https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,11700.msg275002.html#msg275002

[vtsteam]

That seems both over-complicated and very resistant to adjustment in situ. I posted a simple one I made for my Myford a while ago, here: https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,11700.msg275002.html#msg275002

Very pretty, but Gene just adapted an existing Atlas lathe carriage stop and showed it here only to answer my questions about the design of the original Atlas stop. 

[internal_fire]

That seems both over-complicated and very resistant to adjustment in situ. I posted a simple one I made for my Myford a while ago, here: https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,11700.msg275002.html#msg275002

Thank you for your helpful review.

My crude version adjusts instantly in a manner completely similar to yours. Move the entire assembly with a single socket-head screw and fine adjust by rotating the graduated knob.

I use it daily, but I never bothered to clean it up to make it presentable to outsiders. 

Gene

[Charles Lamont]

Fair enough, I'll get my coat. But - Steve's OP said he wanted to make his own stop, and I wanted to suggest something that I think might be simpler to make and easier to use.

[vtsteam]

Charles, I'd be happy to see your carriage stop in greater detail, if you still feel like it. 

[vtsteam]

I've just found a new photo of another Atlas carriage stop. In this one the "bumps" are actually screws. This makes some sense, since it might be intended to adjust for wear/scraping of the ways.

[Charles Lamont]

Sure. Here is the GA. My ancient Autosketch does not easily produce good images for the web, differentiating between line weights is problematic, but you get the general idea. You can have the detail drawing too if you like.

The only slightly unusual feature is that the locking cotter blank was clamped in place while the spindle hole was drilled and tapped. After that operation the cotter was removed and shortened a little at the inner end to give clearance. I was unsure about it, but it turns out it can be assembled without much trouble and it work well.

[vtsteam]

Thanks Charles, very nice! 

Turns out I wouldn't be able to make one like that for my lathe because the carriage wings actually can travel beside the headstock -- per photo below where it is approaching.  A full cross piece would really limit movement of the carriage near the headstock. But I do like your design a lot. Thanks for showing!