New Compound Dials For Logan 200

[Mork]

I just made a couple of new dials for my Logan lathe. The difference this made is amazing... the original are almost unusable (at least for old eyes). Tubalcain on Youtube has a video on how to do this although I did mine slightly different. I kept the old dial and made the new dial slip over the old one. Tubalcain's version replaced the dial. I was a little worried about the aluminum dial taking the thrust of the compound when you make adjustments. Leaving the steel dials in place seemed to be a good option. A piece of nylon under the set screw makes setting the dial to zero very easy. One other thing I did different was I made my dials smaller than Tuabalcain. While the larger dial would be better it would also limits the travel of my cross slide. 1-3/8" is still WAY better than 7/8"

The process involved threading and arbor (threading was a new adventure), mounting it to the outboard side of my lathe spindle. The saw blade was for indexing and I mounted a lathe tool sideways to scribe the lines.

 

[coffmajt]

Nice work

 

[JR49]

mounting it to the outboard side of my lathe spindle

Nice work, Mork ! So, how did you mount it, to be sure that the saw blade spun accurately with the spindle, without slipping? Thanks, JR49

 

[Terrywerm]

Very nice work. They look just like mine! I also made a new dial for my crossfeed while I was at it. Well worth the time and effort. The difference between the old and new is truly amazing, isn't it?

 

[Mork]

Yes, I also did both the compound and cross-feed. I added the picture without one of the dials as a comparison. I turned the mandrel for a slip fit into the lathe spindle and threaded the end. I then used a piece of all thread and secured it with a nut inside the check. There isn't much stress on the saw while scribing the marks but it would have been difficult to move the saw anyway.

As Terry said, the difference is amazing. It's a very worthwhile project if you have a lathe with small dials.

 

[middle.road]

Those are great. I need to do that to mine someday. I little magnifier lens that I have mag mounted over it is always getting grimey.

 

[MBfrontier]

Nice work, Mork.

I am going to be making larger dials for my Logan 200 as well. I like your idea of leaving the steel dials in place to handle the side thrust of the slide. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mork]

You're welcome. In hind sight I think I would have made a couple of steel collars to replace the original dials. I'd keep the same diameter but the surface of the original dial is not extremely accurate or smooth. I took a little emery cloth to mine and it worked out but a smooth surface for your new outer ring dial would be a little better.

 

[Fairbanks]

Excellent!

 

[Mister Ed]

Very nice. I really need to get mine finished up. It is a bolt on Stelling type, direct read with an index able ring for the graduations and thrust bearings. I just need to make the graduated dial. Problem is, its been that way for a year now.