# Logan Tailstock Turret question



## T. J. (Apr 18, 2018)

There is a tailstock turret off of an 11" Logan lathe for sale locally for a decent price.  Does anyone know if it would be possible to adapt this turret to a 10" lathe?  I'm thinking it might be possible to machine some off of the top of the base to account for the difference in center height.  I may be making this sound simpler than it really is though...


----------



## dlane (Apr 18, 2018)

I got a turret tailstock from a guy that had it on a 10” Logan, it was made for a 11” and he machined the bottom off to fit the 10”.  I made it fit a 12” craftsman with an aluminum plate bolted to it , I used a 5/8”dowel in the turret and a 5/8” er40 collet for alignment, I no longer have the lathe but kept the turret.


Dose it resemble this one 
Here is the base as I got it , just happened to have some aluminum thick enough to raise it .


----------



## Jimsehr (Apr 18, 2018)

I have seen guys plug the holes in the turret then drill and rebore them on the new lathe. When supplied from Logan I think they wanted them to be bored on lathe that they would be used on.


----------



## wa5cab (Apr 18, 2018)

I'm not personally familiar with Logan equipment but there are generically two types of turrets, tailstock turrets and bed turrets.  I haven't checked vintage Logan catalogs to see whether or not they made both types, but basically a tailstock turret looks like a typical tailstock except that the ram is replaced by a tool-holding turret.  The typical tailstock turret has the same back-set adjustment feature as a normal tailstock does.  A bed turret does not look like a tailstock, and usually has no means of adjustment for backset.  You said that you were looking at a tailstock turret, but the photos that dlane (Derrick) posted are of a bed turret.  

On the Atlas or Craftsman tailstock turrets for 10" or 12", the upper primary part was the same and the base or shoe was either 1.000" or 2.000" tall. And it was fairly simple to make a riser that would also convert the 10" to a 12",  But on their bed turrets, although many parts interchange, it would have been much more time consuming and ticklish to make a spacer to convert the 10" to a 12".  And converting the 12" to a 10" would have taken a fair amount of accurate machining on the base, and the conversion would have been permanent.

So the answer to your question depends upon whether what you are looking at is actually a tailstock turret or not.  Best thing to do is to post some photos.


----------



## T. J. (Apr 18, 2018)

Thanks.  I haven't gone to look at the turret yet, but I am assuming that it's a bed turret.


----------



## wa5cab (Apr 19, 2018)

I suspect that you are right,  Although I didn't pay any particular attention to them, I know that I have seen bed turrets in Logan catalogs.  But I don't actually recall ever seeing a tailstock turret in one.


----------



## eeler1 (Apr 20, 2018)

Agree with Jim, figure out how to plug the holes and then bore for the size of your tooling.


----------



## Richard White (richardsrelics) (May 1, 2018)

The more I think about this the more I would agree with someone else's post. I have a turret tail stock, seen in my avatar photo... but the bore is not aligned properly. I do drilling only at this time but it would be wonderful to have it aligned properly. It currently holds 1 inch shank but I could easily modify it to hold something different and it would be lovely for it to be actually true to the bore of my lathe. I guess it is time to get to work huh...LOL


----------



## T Bredehoft (May 1, 2018)

FYI -- Unless you make multiples of  pieces, a turret is nice but not practical. Set up for one piece may take two or three to get it right. I have an Ames turret lathe, wouldn't be without it for what I do, but you can't face with it, can't thread.  I've adapted mine for cut off and chamfer, but that requires a saddle in addition to the turret. You could thread if  you had the  proper tooling but that may only be available for larger lathes.


----------



## Richard White (richardsrelics) (May 1, 2018)

I use mine to drill 9/16 to 3/4 inch holes thru nearly 2 inches of aluminum bar stock. The turret gives me much better force to get thru quickly vs the small hand wheel of the stock tail stock, with much much less effort.


----------



## wa5cab (May 3, 2018)

Richard White (richardsrelics) said:


> The more I think about this the more I would agree with someone else's post. I have a turret tail stock, seen in my avatar photo...



Richard,

Minor point but you also have a bed turret.  A turret tailstock looks like a lever-operated tailstock with a turret on the left end of the ram and stop screws on the right end.  Atlas made both types.  Logan may not have and may have called their bed turret a turret tailstock but shouldn't have.


----------



## Richard White (richardsrelics) (May 4, 2018)

Mine has "1043 FOR LOGAN LATHE" stamped on it. So it is called a bed turret?  Not heard that term, I have always refereed to them as turret tail stocks... Now I know...Thanks


----------



## Jimsehr (May 4, 2018)

I looked in catalog and saw Logan sold both bed turrets and tailstock turrets. Also saw they would sell bed turrets with holes bored if you bought them from Logan or they would sell bed turrets where they were blank holes so you could drill and bore them on the machine they were used on. I don’t think Logan made the tailstock turrets.


----------



## wa5cab (May 7, 2018)

Yes, the turrets that have been discussed here are in their catalogs also called bed turrets.  Logan also sold a tailstock turret but as Jim opined, probably didn't make it.  Atlas sold a similar one but also probably didn't make it (could have, judging by the photograph, been the same one).  It is a lighter turret mounted to a 2MT arbor, and could be mounted in the standard tailstock ram.  I have one, and it takes 5/8" shank diameter tooling.  But Atlas also sold a dedicated tailstock turret that was heavier and was lever operated, with six adjustable stop screws on the back end.  It takes either 3/4" or 1" tooling.

Back to the bed turrets, they are advanced by a long handled wheel (capstan wheel??) that drives a gear that engages the carriage drive rack.  A 1953 Logan catalog says that the same turret model number was used on the 10", 11" and 12" lathes.  I assume that you had to specify which lathe when you ordered it, as the turret height would have had to change to match the lathes.  If the 10" bed turret is still being considered, I would figure out what model it is and call Logan and find out what part has to change in order to convert it to 11".  Atlas, if they no longer supply a part but still have the drawing, will email you a copy if you ask nicely.  I haven't heard that Logan would do the same.  But it wouldn't hurt to ask.


----------

