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OK a couple of things to bring up. I did have the gibs on the cross slide and compound replaced by a shop here in town. I supplied the gibs as bought from Logan. I had them measure things....however at that point (maybe 2015?) I had even less of a clue. When I got the parts back they had things tightened up to the point it limited movement too much in my mind anyway. Much later I started using it and spotting things to fix....or wanting to fix. While I was replacing the spindle bearings on my Bridgeport rebuild I found a set of NOS bearings to fit the Logan. About two months ago? One month who knows. But it's got new bearings...oh and a new motor and a new serpentine belt....I put a QC tool post on it. But didn't have the mill so it's a round nut. That needs work.

I want to make my own feed screws. But I need a follow rest to cut the acme threads on both. I think it would be a good learning experience to do those. The nut is no problem I have taps for those. It has lots of backlash in the cross feed and the compound feed. The lead screw/half nuts seem to be in good shape. Almost no backlash. I have learned from being on here that backlash in a lathe is easily overcome by backing out enough. I never noticed the compound was able to twist until just a couple of months ago. Because it would POP when touching off on the work occasionally.

The guy I got it from was up around Tahoe city I think. 2014 Had a 10ee in his garage and a tempering oven he had just built.

So here we are. I will paint the new legs hopefully by the end of the week and figure out what to do about the chip pan.

That's it for my explosion of thoughts to drain out of me from today. lol

Paul
 
When leveling or removing twist, it takes time for the "system", bed legs n all, to fully react to adjustments.
The larger the adjustment, the longer it takes. Give the machine a couple days or more before re-checking.
The compound rides on the cross slide and could be scraped before leveling the machine " except " it is best if it sits on a parallel plane to the bed and cross slide.
That being said, you could indicate from reference points and unless the bed or cross slide look like corkscrews it would work fine.
Perhaps the experts will jump in on this. Please!
I didn't do this but everything was so far out there wasn't meat enough to machine it true.. Wish it had been otherwise.
Patience is a virtue.

It's obvious I need a machinist level for this and to level this and the Bridgeport. What do I look for and what length?
I'm sure this will have to sit for a while to reform with my floors the way they are..and the frame it's mounted on seems to stay with all 4 wheels down...

I'm working on the patience thing. Lucky you guys that I have the mill to fix otherwise I'd be even more of a mess on this topic!
 
Enable? This only comes into play regarding tool acquisition. I would say buy but there are so many ways to acquire tools. :grin big:

As Bob said, legs and chip tray, then someone walking by will do a double take and remark, nice legs, good looking flared skirt on the tray, and level too. :big grin:

Very true I wish one of my tenants was a machinist! Oh and I just remembered I need the 5th Leg! For that outboard motor setup :(
 
Yes, the slop in the compound needs to be repaired, it is keeping you from using a fully operational machine. Have you taken it apart yet? Unless your compound is damaged beyond repair, I can see no reason to buy another one. You probably should show the disassembled pieces to someone who knows what to do. You might also want to bring the cross slide and it's gibs at the same time, they can be part of the issue and are needed to match the compound rest to. Read Connelly some more. The first two tasks in the sequence of operations for reconditioning a lathe are
1. Level the bed (see Sec. 26.35 through Sec. 26.39)
2. Scrape and align compound slide rest assembly.
So, get the legs and perhaps the chip pan on it, and level it... Journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, Grasshopper... 8^)

On the taken it apart see previous reply...plus I've cleaned all moving parts thoroughly

OK so do you feel I need to read each section on all the different machines? Or are there lots of redundancy? I don't mind doing so if needed.

Wax on Wax off Master Bob! :) I guess you could call me Paulson but that might get a little weird. 8)
 
On the taken it apart see previous reply...plus I've cleaned all moving parts thoroughly

OK so do you feel I need to read each section on all the different machines? Or are there lots of redundancy? I don't mind doing so if needed.

Wax on Wax off Master Bob! :) I guess you could call me Paulson but that might get a little weird. 8)
I think you can read and understand well everything up to and including the lathe section, which is the first machine section, and you will have the gist of it. Throughout the book there are AHA! moments that apply to the other machines as well, so I also suggest a slow and pensive read of the entire book. I must be a real geek, but I use stuff like Machinery's Handbook(s), Machine Tool Reconditioning, and other machining tomes as bathroom reading. A little at a time, sometimes need to go back a page or two and get back up to speed, gives me time to ponder each paragraph until it clicks and sinks in. The best time to learn is when we are not in a hurry...
 
I find an 8" is very handy for leveling across the bed and for leveling along the bed length.
For checking the ways on the compound and cross slide a 6" and 4" are nice.

It's best to use the shortest level that will "reach" across the support points.
If possible use precision parallels or V-blocks at the support points rather than having the entire length
of the level sitting on the ways.

Some will say that a Sarrett 98 level isn't accurate enough but with proper use they will put you
within a couple of tenths/foot or better.
Having been a millwright I've long had a lot of the tools that most people have to go out and buy.
 
It's obvious I need a machinist level for this and to level this and the Bridgeport. What do I look for and what length?
I'm sure this will have to sit for a while to reform with my floors the way they are..and the frame it's mounted on seems to stay with all 4 wheels down...

I'm working on the patience thing. Lucky you guys that I have the mill to fix otherwise I'd be even more of a mess on this topic!
It is pretty easy to get the wrong level. Just because it says Starrett or Pratt and Whitney on it does not mean it will work for you. Length is important, get it wrong and you will have issues. For general use on a lathe, I would recommend a level long enough to bridge the width of the bed, or a little longer. You will be able to do what you need to with it. If it is too long, it will not fit where it needs to on other jobs, if too short, it will not bridge some gaps. There are workarounds, but blocking levels up unnecessarily leads to tolerance stacking, and is to be avoided as much as reasonably possible. My precision level is .0005" per 10" resolution, is 8" long, and is a Chinese import. It works fine, a bit fussy to calibrate. The accuracy is perhaps too high for leveling a lathe, because it gets quite fussy, but I also use it for other jobs where I require the better resolution. Many people use levels with .005" per 10" resolution (count the zeros!), and I think that borders on not accurate enough for some work, but likely OK for leveling a lathe, as I understand leveling a lathe. I do not like cheap electronic levels at all, make sure you clearly understand accuracy, resolution, and repeatability before reading the specs, if they actually give the specs. High end electronic levels are great, but very expen$ive, and can be fussy. Choosing a level is not a place for penis envy, we need to carefully consider what we need and how close we need to be, and then get to it with the correct tools. Otherwise it is possible to fuss around all day and only get frustrated, or get it done quickly and easily, but not getting the results you think you need. Working once with an old pro can be enlightening...
 
So they don't rate levels on 12" of resolution? Or is resolution dependent on manufacture? I don't need an electronic level. I think with a level that was in the 1/2 tenths I could get done in a day leveling the lathe. LOL I think the fuss factor would be really high for me! Oh I don't have envy with something like this. I don't know where to start other than one idea by brand you shot down for me ;) So you both are saying possibly a level that is in the .005 resolution per 10-12" at some length past the width of the bed? An 8" is wider than the bed is. Would that level be good enough to level the mill when I get to that? Where I stand today I am not sure where I could even begin to use a level that is in the tenths.

Today's reading test bars for spindle testing.
 
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Well, mine says ".0005" in 10" resolution" on it. That is probably a conversion from a metric value, the level is made in China. Any level that will fit across the ways should be a good level for leveling the lathe, and will certainly work on your milling machine as well. Machines do not need to be level for use, just geometrically correct, but being level helps with setups, often helps the coolant flow to the drain, and round stuff does not roll off onto the floor as readily... ;) I think .005" in 12" or thereabouts would be fine for leveling your Logan, but others may well disagree...

Edit: I forgot that you are thinking about scraping it in! In that case, perfection is your friend. .005" in one foot would be .020" over a four foot bed. Fine for dialing in a running lathe, but I don't think you want to scrape that much off of your lathe! In reality, you won't, of course. But a good leveling job will be the start of mapping out what needs to be done to the lathe overall. Don't skimp on that part of the process!
 
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