A little logan buying advice?

Well, the deal on the 200 never happened, they just ignored my emails and never called me back (damn flakes)! But I found this 400 And figured that I'd better jump on it while I can. It appears to be well neglected. Somebody painted it, all of it, as you can see by the pictures. The ways look ok, a few nicks in them, but nothing major. All of the gears are in good shape, no teeth missing etc.... It has a 3 jaw chuck ans a 4 jaw chuck...somewhere...he said he'd send it to me when he finds it (holding breath now). It also has what looks to be all of the change gears, and a steady rest, and the tail stock. He has a bunch of stuff that he gave me; lots of measuring tools, gear pullers, little I-beam looking things with holes in them and various things, doodads, and whatchamacallits. I especially like the Brown & Sharp stainless steel square. What do y'all think? Opinions?

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It looks like that 400 is one of those with the plain apron, in other words, no power crossfeed, but it does have thread cutting capability. It does indeed appear that it comes with a complete set of change gears, and the steady rest is a welcome addition as well as the dial test indicators, machinist square, inside micrometer set, faceplate, and other odds and ends. Sadly I do not see any drive dogs, dead centers, or a live center, but you can purchase those as you go for relatively little money. It is a bit smaller than the 200, as it only has a 9" swing, but it looks as though this one may have the longer bed, offering 28" between centers. The shorter version only offered 17" between centers.

I am no expert on the model 400, but Scott Logan still offers some parts for them, and also maintains the Logan lathe user group on Yahoo Groups. You can get to the Logan website here: http://www.lathe.com/ and the Yahoo group is here: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/lathe-list/

Hope you find this useful!
 
Thanks Terry for all your info. on the logan 200. I also have had a logan 200 for approx 23 -25 yrs and really enjoy it. I'm still learning a lot more about it since I never had any machining training other than self training. I do have a couple of elderly friends who were machinists. You seemed to be right on with all your help on 200 buying advice. too bad he missed out on the 200. I would never give mine up. Dave
Bellwether--thanks for including pictures of your new lathe--now I know what a model 400 looks like, and from Terrys brief stats on it I know it is a 9" swing without power crossfeed. Dave
 
Thanks, guys! This one is the short bed model, 17" between centers. Nope, no centers of any kind, live or dead. I was digging through a little box of stuff that came with it and found a couple of drive dogs. Can some one explain to me what they do. I know that they attach to the work next to the chuck, but I'm not sure what function they serve, why are they needed? Thanks in advance.
 
Drive dogs?? Why, they drive you down to the local beer joint so you can live it up for a while, then drive you home again!!! Just kidding, obviously!!

Drive dogs are used when you are turning a piece between centers, so the set up would be as follows:
1. Center drill both ends of shaft to be turned.
2. Install faceplate on spindle
3. Install #3 morse taper dead center in spindle (or you could put in a #3 to #2 sleeve first, then place a #2 morse taper dead center inside of the sleeve). (Since this center is powered, it is sometimes called a "live center").
4. Install a #2 morse taper dead center or ball bearing dead center in the tailstock.
5. Place drive dog onto shaft to be turned, with bent leg pointing toward headstock. Dog can be left loose for now.
6. Place shaft between centers on the lathe, tighten the tailstock up to properly support the shaft
7. Position drive dog on shaft so that bent leg is sticking into slot in faceplate, then tighten the set screw so that dog is locked in place. Optionally, you can place a piece of leather or even brass sheet stock between the setscrew and the work piece.

I was going to set up a piece in my lathe for a quick photo, but realized that its faster just to go to Google images and do a quick search on "lathe drive dog" - you'll get plenty of examples.

ON EDIT: I have seen pics of setups where the work was mounted in a chuck, but a drive dog was also used with the bent leg resting against one of the chuck jaws. I have never done such a setup, and fail to see the need to ever use a drive dog with a chuck, but it is possible that I missed something long ago and someone else could enlighten us all. The only reason I can think of is to be sure that the work piece does not slip in the chuck jaws. My thought on that is simple: if you are taking a cut so heavy that the work can slip in the chuck, you are taking too heavy a cut!!
 
Theres no way my little dachshunds could even touch the pedals let alone see over the steering wheel....

Your explanation of the drive dogs makes all the sense in the world. I mentioned the drive dog/chuck working together because I searched on YouTube for it and it came up with someone using a drive dog up against the jaw of a chuck. Could it be for indexing purposes? If there was a need take the work out of the chuck it could be put in the exact same place as it was previously? Anyway, the way you explained it clears it up completely. Thanks for that!

I'm taking next week off from work, so I'll be able to clean my grimy little 400 up and start painting it to bring it back to its former glory.
 
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