Atlas Lathe Gear Cover

thingiverse

This is a custom gear cover for an Atlas lathe built in 1935. My old Atlas lathe came without a gear cover. After searching online, I found pictures of covers and even purchased one on eBay, but unfortunately, it didn't fit properly - it seemed to be made for a smaller version of the lathe. So I decided to create my own model and print it out. I've included photos here of the source covers, which are obviously different from the one provided. Due to the unique shape of this gear cover and how it was modeled in OpenSCAD, rendering took a long time with CGAL (F6), but quick render with F5 was okay. It wasn't unusual for rendering to take an hour or more for just one part. To accommodate its large size, I divided the object into six separate pieces that could be printed and then added parts to screw them together. Unfortunately, my OpenSCAD software kept crashing when trying to render the piece with connecting parts, so I had to render each piece separately and then import it into Blender to unite them there. I've saved the resulting STL files from this process. The sides of the cover aren't completely smooth, and I suspect that an expert in Blender could significantly reduce the polygon count of the object if they were able to figure out how to do it - unfortunately, I wasn't able to crack the code myself. For finishing touches, I applied several coats of XTC-3D to fill in the gaps between layers and then painted with enamel-based paint. The support arm clamps onto a ledge along the side of the lathe, using the same method as the original cover. Since this arm will be subject to substantial torque, I would recommend printing it with at least 80% infill. The OpenSCAD file includes an option to print out a bolt for the arm, but I think metal bolts would be a better choice. As of now, there's no provision for latching the cover closed - I'm planning on adding that as a separate part in the future and gluing or screwing it into place.