# Questions - Craftsman 12'' Lathe



## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Hello everyone - I have been wanting to get a woodworking lathe for a while, and when my grandpa died, he left me a Craftsman 12" lathe. Any opinions or suggestions regarding this lathe? I guess what I really want to know is if this particular craftsman tool is one of the good ones that slipped through, or scrap iron like my craftsman jointer. I am looking forward to getting it back to West Virginia and turning some things. 

regards, 
Colt


----------



## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

I guess it depends on the model number. I have one from 1050's-1060's ( it has one long tubular rail ) and I choose to get a newer one because of the parts/accessories that are available for the old one are few and far between. I just got the new one A Craftsman yesterday so hopefully I can set it up and try it out. 

What model are you talking about?

Does it look like this one?


----------



## [email protected] (Sep 27, 2010)

i have a sears planer/molder model 35123383. where can iget info on this? sears doesn"have it.


----------



## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> i have a sears planer/molder model 35123383. where can iget info on this? sears doesn"have it.


I think you should start your own thread. This thread was about a lathe. If you have questions about a planer you should ask in your own thread. That said google for it this was my search page.


http://www.google.com/search?q=plan...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a


----------



## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Richard, did my picture show up in the first post?


I got my lathe home today and setup. It is model number 113.228160

It is a 12" Craftsman with a 36" bed, and my GPA bought it new in January, 1982, two years to the day before I was born. He kept all the books and receipts, and it even came with a copier!

Let's try that picture again


----------



## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

Well Colt still no picture. Is the bed a round tube or a solid flat base?


----------



## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Richard, 

It is round. 

The picture is showing up on both of my posts, hmmm....


----------



## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Let me try one more time


----------



## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

Well Colt it looks pretty much the same as mine. The one I bought is older and needs aligning and probably a belt because i have some vibration. The design is a little hard to keep the centers aligned after moving the tail stock around. I got mine where its close most of the time. The only other problem is it has a MT-1 taper head and tail stock which is harder to find things for. The design was obviously been around for like 30-40 years if not longer so it can't be that bad. Hopefully yours stays aligned better (mine is worn) and maybe they changed to a MT-2 taper which would be better. I think you should be ok to start with it and maybe later you may want a newer model. I'm thinking of putting a 4 jaw chuck on mine for bowl turning and using my new one to set up the bowl blank for the chuck, pens and just about everything else since they are both 12" swing.

Good luck and I hope it works good for you.


----------



## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

I have the same lathe but it is labeled Duracraft. Not sure who makes it but I have seen several different labels on them. when it was the only lathe I had, I built a heavy duty wooden table with 4X4 legs and a bottom shelf. I weighted the shelf with 600lbs.of nails. That reduced vibration considerably. One problem you may have is keeping the tail center in allignment. I used this lathe for several years, it will work.
Watch some videos so you don't develop bad habits. And learn to sharpen your tools......Have fun and be carefull!


----------



## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

One of the good things about this lathe is that even though its nearly 30 years old, it was only used a few times through out its life, and my grandpa took excellent care of everything. He never left his shop cluttered, dusty or dirty. He probably spent more time cleaning that wood working, hehe. 

As far as sharpening tools is concerned, I religiously sharpen all of my tools. Even my hatchet has a razor sharp edge.


----------



## CoastieCWO4 (Jul 29, 2014)

*Craftsman 113.228160 Loose Pipe Bed*

Good Afternoon,
A caveat on this lathe's bed. The tailstock and tool rest moved to and fro during operation, and potential was high for dislodging the mis-aligned stock and throwing it out. This is the solution I found to work:
After disassembling the lathe, I realized a design flaw; the tailstock/toolrest aligning bar at the bottom of the pipe bed did not extend into the head unit. Without this support, the friction nut/bolt combo at the tail end of the bed alone was prone to slipping and required constant tightening, which sometimes did not suffice. At first I considered drilling a hole down through the pipe at the far right end, near the tail-end support, and bolting the whole assembly right down into the tabletop, thus locking the pipe rigidly in place. I decided it was too uncertain that I could get the proper alignment, so that idea was out.
I then considered the support's location; at the tail end, the "keel" extended to the end of the pipe, but at the head end, the keel stopped about 3" from the end, to allow the pipe to be inserted into the head unit's support hole. This appeared to be a mistake, as the support hole could have been manufactured with a slot at the bottom center to match the keel, keeping the pipe aligned when installed. I reversed the pipe, marked off, and sawed/filed/dremel'ed the appropriate slot at the botton point of the head unit hole. When the lathe was re-assembled, the keel fit the "keyway" tightly, the tail support was attached as before, the head and tail centers remain aligned, and now the lathe operates safely. Your thoughts?
Regards...


----------

