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Continued: Interestingly, the English versions, Sphere, Halifax and Acorntoolsdid not just sport different badges but had either the "maker's" name cast into the easily-changed bed foot together with the claim "British Made" Sphere or with so few major mechanical differences Halifax and Acorntools that they must either have been specially constructed by Atlas, or copied and manufactured under licence in England or, more likely, built up there from a combination of made-in-England parts and original spares.īeginning in the late s, numbers of standard Atlas lathes were imported into the UK by Acorntools Ltd. In this form apart from power cross feed F introduced a year later the lathe had reached almost its final evolutionary form and was to continue largely unchanged until - and the introduction of the heavily revised " inch " model. Unless post-production testing is carried out on a regular basis this problem will not be picked up until, many years later, examination of identical components used in the same environment will show some to be as-new - but others hopelessly weakened.Ĭontinued below: Atlas 10" Model D the original model with integral "Vertical-type" countershaft drive fastened to the back of the headstock and bed. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of even high-quality ZAMAK is that any contamination at the casting stage will shorten part life and lead, eventually, to failure. The ZAMAK process represents one of the shortest paths available between metal raw material and a finished product it is still widely used today and should not to be confused with "pot metal", a cheap alloy of mainly lead and zinc often used in the production of toysthat can eventually crumble to dust.
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It was developed by the New Jersey Zinc Company based near the Franklin and Sterling Hill mines of northern New Jersey where the zinc ore was extracted and employed from the very beginning of Atlas lathe production in The use of ZAMAK would have required a number of expensive dies - and Atlas must have reckoned on selling substantial numbers of machines to recoup their investment. Even in pre-WW2 years Atlas had made novel and economical use of new materials and all models had their changewheels, most other gears, handwheels, pulleys, clasp nuts and other small items made from "ZAMAK". In the USA no such version was offered, though it was possible to fit the ordinary machine with a conversion kit - a bed-mounted 6-station capstan unit and a cut-ff forming slide. Also produced, though in the UK only during and just after WW2, was a capstan version screw-machine a lathe dedicated to production work. If you don't recognise your particular Atlas model, explore all the hyper-links above for, besides different sizes of lathe, the company also produced a range of " Utility " and what were called " Unit Plan " models - some without screwcutting and with unguarded belt drives - that can be difficult to categorise. However, the very early 9-inch and the later more thoroughly developed inch are not uncommon.Īs the final inch lathe was assembled on the 6th of March,that gives a production run for the type as a whole, including the first 9-inch models, of almost 50 years. Because they sold in such huge numbers, the most frequently encountered models today are the "10F", a power-cross feed version of the "D", and the useful little backgeared and screwcutting 6-inch 3-inch centre height.