I bought a Lagun! Now I have questions.

[jimmcw]

I have been mill-shopping for several months, keeping my eyes open on Craigslist and FB Marketplace, when this deal popped up near me. Lagun FT-2. I went to check it out - the mill looked nice, larger and older than I was planning for, but the thing that made me think "I can't pass this up" was the tooling that the guy was including as part of the deal. Photo shows just a fraction of it. Dividing head, rotary table, sine plate, on and on. Collets, gear cutting tooling (new skill to learn!), two tool boxes full of end-mills, taps, reamers, slot cutters, on and on. Mill seemed in good condition I am a hobbyist and not an expert evaluator of condition, so some qualms. The seller was a tool and die maker and he set up a home shop after retiring and did piece work to stay busy, mostly making dies for injection molding, and now he was retiring "for real". He said a few years prior a tool re-builder come to re-work his South Bend Lathe, and ge had him inspect the Lagun mill and see what needed to be done, and after doing so he was told it was in good shape and really didn't need a rebuild. Taking that for granted and given the price was $5,000 for all plus moving at $635 (which seller agreed to split with me), deal! Several thousand dollars worth of tooling, easily.

Two pictures from the sellers shop.


Some of the tooling included.


I had to remove the table to get it through the door into my shop (was suprisingly easy after watching a YouTube by H&W Machine Repair). This gave me the opportunity to check the wear on the ways and the lead screw - looks really good to me.

I do have some questions:

1. I'm looking for a VFD. This is an older motor, so I figure if I stick to a small range of RPMs (say 40-80Hz) it should be ok, and I will have some range of speeds for every pulley step. I've read a ton but happ to hear any comments/suggestions. Seller was running it with a static converter, said he didn't notice the loss of power.

2. I'd like a manual for the Lagun FT-2. I found a site where I can buy one for $65, but hope I can find someone willing to share theirs or point me to one.

3. After removing the table, I found one of the lubrication lines disconnected. It looks like it was rubbing and probably needs replaced.
- I can't tell where this line was supposed to go!?
- I assume it is metric-sized tubing. If anyone knows dimensions for this I'd appreciate. I will remove and measure as best I can.


Here it is in my shop - still on rollers, waiting for me to pull electrical, finish cleaning it up and re-install the table. And repair that lubrication line.

I have benefited so much from this forum during my search for both this mill and my lathe (PM 1236T). I hope I can repay by supplying input of my own in the future, now that I've nearly got my hobby shop setup.

 

[jimmcw]

And ... ten minutes after posting that, I went back out and looked at that lubrication line. If you flip it upright, it seems pretty clear that it wraps around the lead screw and lubricates that. If anyone thinks I'm wrong correct me.

 

[pontiac428]

Looks like you got the line figured out. For the manual, you're kinda stuck with the $70 cost whether you find an original or buy the Ozark repop. I pulled a .PDF off the web a few years ago, but it was missing the foldout pages (there are a bunch) and had some corrupted graphics and OCR where it mattered most. I did scan all the A4 size pages, but couldn't do the 11x17 important parts at the time. The price is a gouge in my opinion, but you'll want that manual for working on the machine. Consider it a tooling cost. Nice looking mill, you will enjoy it. Laguns are nice tools and the European "Fahrvergnügen" effect comes through in operation.

 

[mmcmdl]

I would say you made out GREAT !

 

[Gaffer]

Very nice! I bought the manual from Lagun. They are in LA. As I recall, their price was the same as other folks offered. It's a reprint with a cheap plastic binder where the fingers are flimsy, and the pages come out. IDK if the others are the same.

 

[PNW_Guy]

That's how you buy a mill. Congrats!
I recommend taking photos of everything, and logging the make/model, description and serial number. Make sure your insurance knows the replacement value is probably $30-$40,000 for the mill and all the goodies.

I bought a similar deal, and realized there was $10k of metrology gear with it (at replacement cost)

 

[NCjeeper]

Nice. Looks like you made out well.

 

[akjeff]

I'd say you did well, and it looks like that guy took good care of his tools. When you service the oil system, do yourself a favor and relocate the distribution manifold out where you can access it without having to remove the table again. I'll look and see if I can find photos of when I did this to mine. I'd also watch the H&W YouTube on drilling your X-Y nut so the oil line feeds it directly, instead of just dribbling it on the lead screw. Good snag! The old motor will run just fine with a VFD. I used a Lenze on mine. Worked great.

Here's what I did with my oil system.

FTV-1 Oil Distribution

Got started on re-doing the oil distribution on my FTV-1. It's a circa 1978 machine, and has the old style pump that's built right into the right side of the saddle. I really like this feature, and intend to keep it, and run it till it fails. For now, the pump works great. However, the meters...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[jimmcw]

I'd say you did well, and it looks like that guy took good care of his tools. When you service the oil system, do yourself a favor and relocate the distribution manifold out where you can access it without having to remove the table again. I'll look and see if I can find photos of when I did this to mine. I'd also watch the H&W YouTube on drilling your X-Y nut so the oil line feeds it directly, instead of just dribbling it on the lead screw. Good snag! The old motor will run just fine with a VFD. I used a Lenze on mine. Worked great.

Here's what I did with my oil system.

FTV-1 Oil Distribution

Got started on re-doing the oil distribution on my FTV-1. It's a circa 1978 machine, and has the old style pump that's built right into the right side of the saddle. I really like this feature, and intend to keep it, and run it till it fails. For now, the pump works great. However, the meters...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Thanks. I’m trying to make sense of the lubrication system - hope to have a manual soon. I looked at your thread and I understand what you did there to re-plumb the x-axis lubrication, and the relocation of the manifold. I still have it disassembled and will give that consideration. From my measurements, the tubing (at least the solid, not flexible, piece I measured) is 4mm. Does that match your experience?


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[akjeff]

Corect. I used 4mm Bijur lines.