Who made this lathe?

[Dominick Giarraputo]

Hi all, I was hoping someone might recognize this lathe and tell me who made it. I was given to me and there is no name on it anywhere.

Also, what kind of center do I need for the tailstock?

[Gene Michael]

AMT (American Machine and Tool) manufactured it as well as a number of other very low cost WW tools. I still have mine. The tailstock center is one of a kind. If you can't backseat engineer one, a machine shop should be able to make one. My question is, are you sure you want to use this tool? The twin tube rails flex quite a bit and the tail stock device won't hold its setting (slips). When I decided to make 46 balusters and 5 newell posts, I started on this old machine. After throwing a partially completed baluster for the #@^(^!!! time, I coughed up the $ for a better lathe. I bought a Sears Craftsman that is really a Palmgren. I could have bought three of them on Ebay for what I paid Sears. I've read many negative comments about the Sears/Palmgren 15" lathe, but mine has worked flawlessly while fihnishing the project. If you cruise Ebay, sometimes you can find very good buys on decent used lathes of a number of brands. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. By the way, AMT was bought out years ago and the WW tool line dropped by the new owners.

[Dominick Giarraputo]

Gene, thanks very much for the quick ID of the lathe. I don't plan on using it on a regular basis or doing anything "heavy duty" on this thing so I should be okay. I've never turned on a wood lathe so this will be a first for me. I have used a metal lathe but I know it's totally different. I was planning on building one from scratch and this kinda fell into my lap. Do you still have yours? If so, if you could take a picture of the tail center for me so I could see what it looks like I would be very appreciative.
BTW, do you know if this is the same AMT who made the semi-auto pistols?

Thanks again!!

[Gene Michael]

Dominick, when I put up the Craftsman, I disassembled the AMT. I'll look for the tail center tomorrow. It shouldn't be hard to find. If you dont hear from me tomorrow night, send me a private message on SMC as a reminder. I'll take some measurements too.

[Gene Michael]

Dominik, when I put up the Craftsman, I disassembled the AMT lathe. I'll look for the tail center tomorrow. If you haven't heard from me by midnight tomorrow, send me a private message on SMC as a reminder.

[robert hainstock]

I bought my two tube lathe from Sears in the Sixties. Found out it was an AMT later and bought a lot of accessories for it from AMT. It came with a middle support to handle the flexing. If you use it I suggest you look into that option. :eek::eek::):)
Bob

[Gene Michael]

Dominick, here goes. This is my first attempt at attaching photos. I apologize for the fuzzy pics - my camera doesn't have a close-up feature. The drawing is marked in millimeters.