Really How Fragile are Lathes
 

I am new to the board. Just purchased an Atlas/Craftsman lathe which I hauled back to Texas from Florida. It is a 12x36 101.28990 s/n in the 104xxx.
The road was quite bumpy in stretches and although tied down, the lathe took quite a few hard bumps. I don't detect any broken pieces, but some bolts vibrated out. Is there any real probability that I did damage this thing?

Also, in good condition, what should this item bring? Don't want to sell it, just want to know whether I should feel foolish for the effort I made to go and get it.

It probable just needs to be put back together and checked for being true. Did you enjoy the trip? If so it might be that it was worth the ride.

thanks for the reassurance that the piece is probably usable. And I must say, that's the most tactful way of saying that the lathe isn't worth very much I could have imagined. :smile: has me chucklin. thanks.

You got a 12" atlas lathe. That'a a prize. Now you have to scrounge up
parts for it . My 1st lathe was a 10" atlas. The manual was 1st class. It
explained lots of things to the noob machinist. I made lots of parts on that machine which earned me money.If you can get the jobs, you can make a living.
Look at it this way. Lets say you invested $1000 in the machine.You make parts and sell them for money. If you got the jobs you can make $10000 or $20000
in 2 years (if you got the jobs or connections) from a $1000 investment.If there's no work just let it sit.It doesn't complain,you don't have to feed it. It takes up space. Compare this to a player in the stock market.The stock investor
gives his/her money to a broker and gets back pieces of paper with funny ink on
it saying they own a piece of some company.What % do they get back on their investment and how long did it take? If the company dies what does the investor have left? fancy toliet paper.What do you have? A machine.Physical assets. Finding work is always the big deal, but you can make a living. Its what i do. regards.