Logan 200 Back Gear Lubrication - How To?

[Nogoingback]

The back gear assembly for my 200 is cleaned up and ready to install in the headstock. I'm concerned
about lubricating the bushings once it's back together and working. Unlike the cone pulley, which has
a removable set screw, there is no "fill port" in the back gear shaft. The only way to lube the bushings
would be to dribble a little oil at the ends of the shaft, or remove it. Are other Logans like this?, and
what do you guys that have been using these machines do about lubing the back gear bushings. I was
thinking about drilling and tapping a through hole through the shaft similar to what the cone pulley, (and
my Atlas) has.

Ideas anyone?

 

[Terrywerm]

Logan 200 models are all like that. I just dribble a little oil down there at the ends of the shaft.

These old lathes were not meant to be clean and pristine. When properly lubricated they will drip a little, but when I am done using mine I wipe the machine down and clean up any drips. This also is a perfect opportunity to inspect the entire machine for any problems that might creep up.

 

[wa5cab]

The Logan 200 manual says that the oil impregnated (AKA Oilite) bushings provide adequate lubrication. I assume that you did replace both bushings with equivalent new ones? However, the engineer who designed this part of the 200 probably did not expect any of them to still be in service 69 years on. Referring to the Logan 200 Series manual (copy in DOWNLOADS) which shows an exploded view of the LA-108-2 and section view of LA-108-1 headstock assemblies, the only way to replenish the oil in the four Oilite bushings associated with the back gears is by squirting a little SAE 10 oil in three places and hoping some of it gets to the bushings. The somewhat similar Atlas 12" headstock re-designed in 1957 has an oil port. Using the Logan part numbers as reference, a hole is drilled down the axis of the LA-125 Eccentric shaft. The shaft is cross-drilled from the bottom near the center of its length to intersect this hole. The LA-128 bushing is drilled through the center and counterbored to take a spring-loaded ball type oiler. Use an Eagle 66 oil can with the special conical tip to inject oil through the oiler. This takes care of the two back gear bushings and the front eccentric bushing. To take care of the rear eccentric bushing would require extending the longitudinal hole through the full length of the shaft, cross-drilling the bottom of the rear eccentric, and plugging the left end of the longitudinal hole with say a set screw. Whether you want to do all of this is up to you.

 

[Nogoingback]

Logan 200 models are all like that. I just dribble a little oil down there at the ends of the shaft.

These old lathes were not meant to be clean and pristine. When properly lubricated they will drip a little, but when I am done using mine I wipe the machine down and clean up any drips. This also is a perfect opportunity to inspect the entire machine for any problems that might creep up.

I know what you mean Terry: I try to keep my Atlas clean but oily all the time. I just thought that since I have the lathe apart I'd consider improving
the lubrication of those bushings. Since the cone pulley has a provision for adding oil, it seemed a good idea to do the same thing on the back gears.

 

[Nogoingback]

The Logan 200 manual says that the oil impregnated (AKA Oilite) bushings provide adequate lubrication. I assume that you did replace both bushings with equivalent new ones? However, the engineer who designed this part of the 200 probably did not expect any of them to still be in service 69 years on. Referring to the Logan 200 Series manual (copy in DOWNLOADS) which shows an exploded view of the LA-108-2 and section view of LA-108-1 headstock assemblies, the only way to replenish the oil in the four Oilite bushings associated with the back gears is by squirting a little SAE 10 oil in three places and hoping some of it gets to the bushings. The somewhat similar Atlas 12" headstock re-designed in 1957 has an oil port. Using the Logan part numbers as reference, a hole is drilled down the axis of the LA-125 Eccentric shaft. The shaft is cross-drilled from the bottom near the center of its length to intersect this hole. The LA-128 bushing is drilled through the center and counterbored to take a spring-loaded ball type oiler. Use an Eagle 66 oil can with the special conical tip to inject oil through the oiler. This takes care of the two back gear bushings and the front eccentric bushing. To take care of the rear eccentric bushing would require extending the longitudinal hole through the full length of the shaft, cross-drilling the bottom of the rear eccentric, and plugging the left end of the longitudinal hole with say a set screw. Whether you want to do all of this is up to you.

I decided not to replace the bushings since they don't seem badly worn to me. As you can see, the back gears look pretty good as well: they may not have used back gear much on this
machine. Drilling the shaft may be going a bit further than I have in mind, and I can't imagine the eccentric bushings get much in the way of wear anyway. If I cross drill and tap a hole in
the shaft I could squirt a bit of oil in there whenever I lube the cone pulley bushings. Maybe I'm over thinking this, but it seems like an easy mod to do while I've got it apart and I can't see
any downside to doing it.

 

[wa5cab]

Well, new bushings would also have a full supply of new oil.

 

[Nogoingback]

True. I'll consider that as well.

 

[wa5cab]

Also, unless you mostly only do threading, back gear isn't used that much. If the original bushings still look good and you don't foresee turning the machine into a screw machine, You might replace the original bushings with new ones and not worry about it for a few more decades.

 

[Nogoingback]

I assume that Logan sells bushings. Are they just pressed in, or do they have to be reamed?

 

[wa5cab]

I would think that they should be just pressed in. A reamer, unless very sharp, will tend to smear the ID and interfere with the oil flow. I'm sure that if you get them from Logan, they will tell you.

Removing the eccentric bushings will be a little tricky as they are in blind holes. Normally it takes a special puller which used to be called a starter bushing remover or puller. You don't want to have to buy one. If you can't rent or borrow one, there's also a trick that will work in this case where you machine the end a piece of scrap round stock down to the same diameter as the ends of the shaft and about 2-1/2 x the depth of the hole that the Olite bushing is in. Bevel the sharp end slightly. Set the steel bushing on a sturdy bench or the shop floor. Fill it about half way up with SAE 90 gear oil, stick the remover into the Oilite bushing down against the oil and hit the end of the remover smartly with a shop hammer. After you clean the gear oil off of your clothes and glasses, drape a shop rag over the remover and bushing and repeat until the Oilite bushing is backed out.