# My first retirement project - Logan 820 clean up and put back together.



## HarryJM (Nov 17, 2018)

I had purchased a basket case Logan 200 lathe about 2 years ago as part of my new metal working hobby, and planned on putting it back together and up and running once I retired. Well last Thursday, November 8, was my last working day and on Saturday morning I was looking at CL's and noticed a 820 Logan for sale about 3 hours east of me. I excitedly told my wife about it and the first thing she said “why aren't you calling him up about it”? Which I immediately did and 7 hours latter, and $875 less money, I was unloading and moving it to my 10'x14' wood shed workshop.

It had a decent amount of tooling (way more than my 200) and I just couldn't pass it up. So now the 820 is my first retirement project and I will document the cleanup/fixing/getting running process. I will not paint as I kind of like the patina of old arn and this lathe is really not in bad shape.

I still plan on getting the 200 put together/up and running and then CL's for some happy new lathe owner.

This is the CL's posting and lathe in back of my wife's CRV.



Heading home.









Unloaded.















While not related to the 820, I purchased these hammers for $55 on Sunday. There is a solid brass and copper which I really wanted.


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## tmenyc (Nov 17, 2018)

Harry, 
This is great, and funny.  I also brought my new Logan 820 home a week ago in our CRV!  It is now assembled and working, although not turning yet....I need to make some bits. 

Tim


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## eeler1 (Nov 17, 2018)

The 820 is a sweet machine.  Congratulations to both of you.  And now I know that I’ll need a CRV to move a lathe.


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## Z2V (Nov 18, 2018)

Harry
First, congrats on the retirement.
Second, what a great first project, looks like you have got yourself a nice, clean machine to start with.
Keep us posted with pics as you progress.


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## HarryJM (Nov 18, 2018)

Day 1

Yesterday I cleaned off my work bench, put together my engine hoist and managed to get the bed on top of my work bench in order to start the cleaning up process. I stored the rest of the lathe in my yard cart which will be my staging area for this process.

At my stage of life (72 next May, 5'10” and 160 lbs) I'm not up to any heavy lifting so I rely on maneuvering my engine hoist around a very cramped work space. My motto for moving heaving pieces of equipment is that I just need to be smarted than the piece of equipment I am moving and I always plan on where I am (never under it unless it has a sold support under it) in relationship to the piece of equipment and where I will move if it starts to fall.

My plan is to clean up the legs, pan and bed, put those together and then start cleaning up/repairing as necessary the rest of the lathe.


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## HarryJM (Nov 18, 2018)

tmenyc said:


> Harry,
> This is great, and funny.  I also brought my new Logan 820 home a week ago in our CRV!  It is now assembled and working, although not turning yet....I need to make some bits.
> 
> Tim


Pictures?


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## tmenyc (Nov 18, 2018)

Sadly, I didn't take pics of the loaded car.  It was late night, that car was fully loaded with the 820, the 100+lbs of stuff that came with it, and three guys, driving down through NYC to lower Manhattan.  An adventure for the ages.  Here it is a few days ago, reassembled in my apartment shop.  Getting there...I've cleaned all the gunk off everything but the gear box and motor.  Paint will not be restored; I like it as is and much like the US Army paint underneath the top coat. Also there is now a set of vintage heavy wooden drawers underneath.  

Tim


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## HarryJM (Nov 18, 2018)

tmenyc said:


> Sadly, I didn't take pics of the loaded car.  It was late night, that car was fully loaded with the 820, the 100+lbs of stuff that came with it, and three guys, driving down through NYC to lower Manhattan.  An adventure for the ages.  Here it is a few days ago, reassembled in my apartment shop.  Getting there...I've cleaned all the gunk off everything but the gear box and motor.  Paint will not be restored; I like it as is and much like the US Army paint underneath the top coat. Also there is now a set of vintage heavy wooden drawers underneath.
> 
> Tim
> View attachment 280119


Looks to be in really good shape!

This is my first purchase where I was not unloading the car after sunset so taking pics was easy.


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## tmenyc (Nov 18, 2018)

Looking forward to your restoration pictures! 
Tim


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## Nogoingback (Nov 18, 2018)

Congrats on the new lathe.  If you have the serial number (edge of bed, right hand side) the year it was built can be looked up
on Logan's website.  My model 200 has the same OD green paint and it was built during WWII.  I would suggest buying the parts
list and operating instructions from Logan: they'll be a huge help and if you need to buy parts from Logan, you'll need the part
numbers.  http://www.lathe.com

Keep those posts coming.  It looks like you're off to a good start.


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## HarryJM (Nov 19, 2018)

Day 2

Well it looks like some of the grease residue is probably as old as the lathe. Serial number is 59563 which would make 1952 as the year of manufacture, if I am reading the chart correctly (which I did not do last week). Well, we have all heard of the “measure twice cut once” rule and part of my coping with my aging process is I now “read several times” to make sure I understand what I am reading. That along with spell check help keep my mild dyslexia in check.

For non-critical work such as cleaning I like to listen to music so I listened to the “Paul Butterfield Blues Band” via Spotify on my new vintage Boston Acoustics HD-8 speakers, which really sound good in a small 10'x14' shed. Nothing like getting lost in some music while cleaning up old gunked up grease off a lathe bed. Need to buy another gallon of WD-40 as I like to use that for cleaning up stuff and hope to have the bed cleaned up by tomorrow.

Buy the way it is great fall weather around here for this cleaning up as I like good ventilation when working with WD-40.


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## Cadillac STS (Nov 19, 2018)

Could consider bringing all those large parts to a manual car wash.  Blast all that grease and crud off with high pressure soap water, rinse with clear water, bring home then cover with WD 40 to keep away rust.


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## rambin (Nov 19, 2018)

that's how I got the gunk and some of the paint off mine, I used a portable power washwer the ones at the spray booth dont have the pressure required for good paint removal ;p (they need the tips changed)  but the el cheapos you can buy for personal use do well.  I worked from different angles until the majority of the goo and paint was gone then wire wheeled the rest off, wiped of the water droplets and taped off the machined surfaces then hit it with a primer spray bomb.  was easy back when it was warm out this time of year could be a bit of a handful


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## HarryJM (Nov 19, 2018)

Cadillac STS said:


> Could consider bringing all those large parts to a manual car wash.  Blast all that grease and crud off with high pressure soap water, rinse with clear water, bring home then cover with WD 40 to keep away rust.


Since I work by my self the effort it would take to load/etc is not worth it to me and I have plenty of time and enjoy getting lost in tedious tasks such as this cleaning entails. Not really worried about rust as my shed has good ventilation and I keep my metal equipment covered with used cotton sheets and leave a small fan running 24/7.


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## HarryJM (Nov 20, 2018)

*Day 3&4*

Well I finished cleaning up the legs, pan and bed and while not as pretty as painted I think they are looking good. Next chore was removing the 200 from its mobile support and setting up the 820 in its place. Sure do wish I had my 20 year old back as 7 hours of working today sure made things a little sore. I like the height with the rollers (waist and elbow high at pan level) and will figure out a way to raise it up once I take the rollers off as I just have them on for keeping it mobile until I insulate and panel the shed.

Will start on cleaning up the quick change gear box next and my cursory glance the other day spotted a stripped out gear and it looks like it may be the gear next to the lowest one.

One thing I noticed about the legs is that the 820 has a raised letter casting on the top inside of each leg - LOGAN LA-820-1.











200





820



Beautiful fall day for doing this as temp in the 40's-50's and my buddies visited me for their treats every once in a while.


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## HarryJM (Nov 30, 2018)

Well along with a 2 stripped gears and one not looking so good I also have a gear (#1) binding on the drive shaft (#15). The gear is keyed to the shaft.

The gear will turn freely until I start sliding it down past the shaft keyway and then it starts binding up independent of the location of the gear keyway to the shaft keyway and without the woodruff key installed.

I covered both sides of the shaft keyway with a magic marker and wrapped a cloth around the gear and tried rotating it around the shaft in order to see where it is binding, which turns out is only on one side of the shaft keyway.

Looking at the inside of the gear keyway I see two small rough right triangle areas (A,B,C) only on one side of the gear keyway and on both ends of that side.

I miked the shaft at the edge of the binding keyway and it is a little over .002 bigger than the other side that does not bind.

This gear box has seen some rough times as there looks to be some jerry-rigging fixes that I will write about later on.

So what do you think of my solution of getting some valve grinding compound and using that to smooth out the binding areas on the shaft and gear by rotating the gear around the shaft?

The shaft probably needs replacing and this would be just another jerry-rigging fix until I can get this lathe up and running and then make a new shaft.


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## Nogoingback (Nov 30, 2018)

If you just have a few spots that need clean up, I'd consider using a diamond lap or similar  for those parts.  Grinding 
compound will remove metal where you don't want it removed as well as where you do.


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## HarryJM (Nov 30, 2018)

Nogoingback said:


> If you just have a few spots that need clean up, I'd consider using a diamond lap or similar  for those parts.  Grinding
> compound will remove metal where you don't want it removed as well as where you do.


Well that was too easy and I just remember that I have a small set of HF diamond files with 600 the smallest grit and will give that a try tomorrow, and thanks!


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## HarryJM (Apr 10, 2020)

After a little side project of converting my shed to a shop I finally got back to my cleaning up and putting things back together.

I decided to replace the headstock bearings with ones from Logan and they arrived yesterday and I used the heat and freeze method to install the new chuck side bearing. I placed the spindle in the freezer last night and this afternoon placed the chuck side bearing in the oven at 450 degrees and left it in there for about 15 minutes including heating up time. I screwed a face plate to the spindle (for a stand) and the bearing slide on without any effort on my part as this is a very easy technique for installing a bearing.


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## HarryJM (Apr 11, 2020)

Got the head stock back together and I remembered reading "Redlineman's Logan 200 Rescue" post where he slotted the change gear end of the back gear eccentric shaft LA-125 shaft to make it easier to align and sure did work for me.


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## Dhal22 (Apr 11, 2020)

Looking good.


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## HarryJM (May 2, 2020)

Well I finished cleaning everything and now on to finding my list of missing/broken parts. I disassembled each component and scrubbed down with Simple Green as that was a lot cheaper than WD-40 and less toxic in a confined space. The apron assembly was coated with dried oil that I scraped off with a flat blade screw driver and then scrubbed with Simple Green, hosed down, blow dried and then sprayed with WD-40. I guess if you love old iron then you also enjoy (well maybe not) the scraping of old dried up oil/grease/etc.

I like to put things back in the same orientation as dissembled and along with drawing sketches or taking pictures noting wear patterns I also will mark similar components that do not have any distinguishing marks. I did this with the automatic apron assembly worm gear and bushings. I marked the left bushing and worm gear with a small punch mark on a surface (where it does not matter) and noted its orientation to the casing.


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## Nogoingback (May 2, 2020)

Looks as though it's coming along nicely!


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## bhusted (May 7, 2020)

Looks good.  It's amazing how many parts there are and how quickly they can be spread out over every horizontal surface.


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## zayd (Sep 12, 2020)

Harry, would love to see where this is now.  I just finished putting together the same lathe minus the QCGB.  I thought it to be a remarkably well designed machine for such a small capacity.


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## HarryJM (Sep 20, 2020)

zayd said:


> Harry, would love to see where this is now.  I just finished putting together the same lathe minus the QCGB.  I thought it to be a remarkably well designed machine for such a small capacity.


 
Yes they are a great hobby size lathe plus I like old arn.

I have completed the clean it up and put everything back together except for the motor and belt. My QCGB needs several new gears which I plan on making after I get my Burke #4 and Logan 200 up and running, which includes another list of missing parts. I plan on new motors for my 820 and Burke along with a KBG VFD for each and still researching that.


This November 9th will be my second retirement anniversary and I'm really enjoy life at a slower pace and just plan old enjoying the days as they unfolds.

Current bench top projects - 820 and Burke.


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## NC Rick (Sep 20, 2020)

HarryJM said:


> Yes they are a great hobby size lathe plus I like old arn.
> 
> I have completed the clean it up and put everything back together except for the motor and belt. My QCGB needs several new gears which I plan on making after I get my Burke #4 and Logan 200 up and running, which includes another list of missing parts. I plan on new motors for my 820 and Burke along with a KBG VFD for each and still researching that.
> View attachment 337674
> ...


That just looks like dreams coming true!  Congratulations,.  It makes me happy just to see what you are doing.


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## HarryJM (Sep 20, 2020)

NC Rick said:


> That just looks like dreams coming true!  Congratulations,.  It makes me happy just to see what you are doing.


Thanks Rick and I hope you are either ahead of me or soon to be retired as it sure is a good life for me and my wife.
Harry


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## NC Rick (Sep 20, 2020)

HarryJM said:


> Thanks Rick and I hope you are either ahead of me or soon to be retired as it sure is a good life for me and my wife.
> Harry


Still working for me but not in a "real job". Been there, done that


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## HarryJM (Sep 25, 2020)

Does anyone have a source for the two headstock rubber bumpers part # 0634 1/4” diameter and 1/4” deep?


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## Nogoingback (Sep 25, 2020)

If you mean the rubber parts that cushion the headstock cover when it closes, I got mine from Logan.


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## zayd (Oct 6, 2020)

HarryJM said:


> Yes they are a great hobby size lathe plus I like old arn.
> 
> I have completed the clean it up and put everything back together except for the motor and belt. My QCGB needs several new gears which I plan on making after I get my Burke #4 and Logan 200 up and running, which includes another list of missing parts. I plan on new motors for my 820 and Burke along with a KBG VFD for each and still researching that.



Looking great, Harry.  My Logan is back together and my VFD should arrive this week.  I have a Clausing 8520 apart at the same time, so I'm trying to get it back together before getting back to the lathe.  Full teardown but no repainting; just inspecting, cleaning, lubing, and adjusting.  So far, it seems to have seen little use (except for the ham-handed gorilla machinist that dinged up the table all over).


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## HarryJM (Oct 6, 2020)

zayd said:


> My Logan is back together and my VFD should arrive this week.


So what brand VFD and motor did you use?
Mine is on hold now due to other stuff that I need to get done before winter.


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