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This is the small Craftmaster lathe from Henry Power Tools. It came on a welded steel stand that included a small Craftmaster 4" jointer. I thought that I would give it the spaceship look
"Being so impressed with the beauty of nature, I never cease to be amazed at how the
'touch of the human hand' can transform it into another kind of beauty that is so uniquely human."
John Snow, Outdoorsman and Retired Teacher
there are some interesting variations on those little lathes
a "baby" craftmaster was my first lathe, belonged to my father in law. it had solid spindles at both ends and a bent steel bed with no gap, where as yours has a cast bed with a gap!
i found a second one in london a few years back, same bent steel bed but morse tapers #1 in both spindles!
both had the same 3/4-10 tpi spindle thread
i made a shorter wood bed for the rebuilt lathe(used parts from both) and i will use it doing demos at craftshows
edit i just remembered another variation too! yours has a wheel on the tailstock as did my first one. my second one had a handle on the tailstock spindle
It is a Golden machine Rory , nice combination, they did come like that apparently. the one toolrest has a rather long shaft on it, wonder what it did get used on, maybe there was a larger disk turning setup and the long shaft was needed for that.
Quite nice lines on these lathes, and nice machines for some lucky new owners I do assume
I also have one of those and a little bit different; as a matter of fact I have the whole collection of Crafsmaster tools lol..
Jacques, you have Elroy's Dad George. That's the one I thought I was getting. The difference is the tailstock. Yours is the very cool boat tail version.
there are some interesting variations on those little lathes
a "baby" craftmaster was my first lathe, belonged to my father in law. it had solid spindles at both ends and a bent steel bed with no gap, where as yours has a cast bed with a gap!
i found a second one in london a few years back, same bent steel bed but morse tapers #1 in both spindles!
both had the same 3/4-10 tpi spindle thread
i made a shorter wood bed for the rebuilt lathe(used parts from both) and i will use it doing demos at craftshows
edit i just remembered another variation too! yours has a wheel on the tailstock as did my first one. my second one had a handle on the tailstock spindle
Before I even looked at this one, I asked the seller about the bed and when he assured me that it was cast, I was sure that I was getting the bigger Craftmaster, the boat tail one. When I got there I was disappointed but not so much that I didn't buy this one. The ones with the sheet metal beds really are not very good, other than the appealing shape of the head and tailstocks.
Before I even looked at this one, I asked the seller about the bed and when he assured me that it was cast, I was sure that I was getting the bigger Craftmaster, the boat tail one. When I got there I was disappointed but not so much that I didn't buy this one. The ones with the sheet metal beds really are not very good, other than the appealing shape of the head and tailstocks.
yes the bent steel bed sucked, the beaver was a huge stepup from my first "baby" craftmaster, the one have now(wooden bed) is a great little pen lathe
here's my regular "boat tail" in its usual well used state, 4 speed jackshaft, 1 hp reversible, all the modern conveniences(except speed control)
somewher on this forum is my original "baby" cm, complete with vicegrip on the tailstock, my fil was a duct tape and big hammer type of fixit guy!
That big Craftmaster is a rare lathe in this part of the world. Last year there was one in a local online estate auction. There were a lot of extras including a vfd. I pushed the price to $500 and then quit. I didn't get it. I've seen 3 or 4 of the little ones, but this is the only one with a cast bed. That is a pretty nice set up that you have on yours.
the bigger craftmaster is a rare piece anywhere!
there was a ;listing for a mastercraft lathe on kijiji and a picture of this cm, just the lathe, nothing else under a bench 10 minutes away from me, i recognized it and picked it up
the stand and jackshaft was the one i had under my beaver. i added the 8 inch pulley to the jackshaft because the cm has a very close ratio 4 speed at the headstock. the motor end of the jack shaft uses three different belt lengths to get proper combinations for different speeds
the baby cm is great little pen lathe and i have an adaptor for my talon. mt#1 accessories are not as common, i'll be looking into ring making stuff for it, right now i'm doing that on the big lathe. it also needs a reverse switch. it's setup more for travel, collapsible stand etc etc
i'll search for a pic of my original baby, i tried yesterday but the forum search doesnt go back that far any more!
LOL, i found it, my baby cm from 2007 when i first started turning!!
It's an old picture, right from when I bought it a couple years ago. I've cleaned it up and have modified it some since. Unfortunately, the PO completely destroyed the threads on the outboard side of the spindle, and broke about 1/2" of the threads on the drive side. I'm hoping to get a new spindle made, as the probability of finding an original seems to be highly unlikely.
Mine had the same patina when I got it. Removing the rust was the hardest part. Thankfully the head and tailstocks are cast aluminum and all that I had to do there was wire brush off the paint. Here's what I started with (picture from the seller).
It was interesting to read about your first lathe Steve. Thanks for digging that up.
It's an old picture, right from when I bought it a couple years ago. I've cleaned it up and have modified it some since. Unfortunately, the PO completely destroyed the threads on the outboard side of the spindle, and broke about 1/2" of the threads on the drive side. I'm hoping to get a new spindle made, as the probability of finding an original seems to be highly unlikely.
i think i have a spare spindle!! no morse taper, just a solid spindle, should be in good shape though. i'll take a look
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