# Will This Taper Attachment Fit My Logan 200?



## Susan_in_SF (Dec 8, 2018)

Some of you guys might have already seen me post this question under the General Discussion section.

I picked up a free Logan 200-1 lathe from an elderly couple who were having an open house to sell their SF home last weekend, and they were desperate to empty their garage, which included this lathe:







Turns out that a machinist acquaintance /seller I know has been fiending for my 5" Wilton Bullet vise.  I am not offering my baby vise though.




 He is offering a Logan taper attachment and quite a few mint screw gears in exchange for my vise.  How would I know that this taper attachment and gears would fit my Logan, other than to just take his word for it?

The gears included are:  64, 56, 52, 48, 40, 36, 32, 32




I guess I just want feedback on how to determine if it is compatible, and if trading for a 5" Bullet vise sounds fair.

Btw, the only reason I would consider trading the vise is because I am supposed to be picking up this restored 5-1/2" Bullet this weekend.  I am bartering with this teenager who collects vintage items and sells them at antique fairs and craigslist.  I gave him a rusty Miller Falls hand crank drill press, an old Niagara bead roller, and a Reed vise as well as a bead blast cabinet.  The Reed vise and blast cabinet were free off craigslist, but I'm not telling him that ;-)   .  He plans on making videos of him restoring the drill press and bead roller.

Here is the 5-1/2" vise I will be getting this weekend.  I took a pic of the vise, but later accidently deleted it, so here is a link the video this 17 year old made restoring the vise. I wouldn't recommend watching the video if you are short on time.  There is no talking, just him restoring the vise in super fast forward speed.






So, this is the only reason why I would consider getting rid of my current 5" vise for the Logan taper attachment and gears.  When I went on Ebay, I noticed they had zero Logan taper attachments.  So, that's another reason why I turned to this guy.  

Are taper attachments universal to lathe size or are they made to fit specific models?

Thanks guys for reading my long posting.

Susan


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## Ulma Doctor (Dec 8, 2018)

IMO, the taper attachment would be equivalent in price to the Wilton
the change gears would be a bonus score 

taper attachments are mostly brand specific, but sometimes folks make their own to fit their lathes too 
not to say they don't exist, but i don't know of any universal taper attachments


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## Ulma Doctor (Dec 8, 2018)

P.S. if you can measure the gear width and the bore ID on your current screw gear, 
you can see if the 2 dimensions jibe with the new gears.


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## chips&more (Dec 8, 2018)

That is an old flat belt drive and does not have a quick change gear box. IMO it’s not worth the effort to keep, sorry. I realize you have 0 into it. That is where I would stop with it. The bullet vise has value even with missing the base and worn jaws, but not the lathe. Sorry, wish I had better news, may three cents…Dave

PS: the lathe legs have value!


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## wa5cab (Dec 9, 2018)

Dave,

I never cared for flat belt drives either, but the current and recent crops of automotive power plants, including the 5.0 liter Jag engine in my current Land Rover, are full of them.  I haven't kept the posts but a number of people have reported success in finding an automotive flat belt that worked fine.  

As far as the lathe being a change gear instead of QCGB type, that might be a deal breaker consideration mainly if you do an awful lot of threading.  Come January, I will have had my 3996 for 38 years and have had to cut threads on it maybe 4 or 5 times.  99.44% of the time, the GB is in one of only 2 or 3 feeds.

Susan,

I know very little in detail about Logan lathes.  But  absent someone piping up who both recognizes the taper attachment and knows for a fact whether or not it will fit you Logan, what I would suggest is to find some Logan catalogs and compare it to what is in them.  There are really only three things to consider.  Those are (1) how it clamps to the bed (will that fit or can it be easily modified to fit?), (2) the height of the part that moves the cross slide, and (3) how it attaches to the cross slide.


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## CluelessNewB (Dec 9, 2018)

Logan used two different "Compound Rest Assemblies" one had a compound base with a separate chip guard the other was one piece.  I believe that taper attachment is designed for the style with a separate chip guard.  Logan did or does sell different attachments for different size lathes but it appears that many of the parts are interchangeable.  

mrpete222 has a youtube video where he makes the part for the type with a separate chip guard, he also shows a picture of the other style:   




I'm jealous, I have been looking for a reasonably priced taper attachment for my Logan 820 for over 5 years...


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## wa5cab (Dec 9, 2018)

But I never heard him say or show the factory version of the two-piece version that he made.  And although it would have been the logical thing to do, I also don't remember ever seeing a two-piece version in a catalog.  And aside from just the edge of what appears to be the right end of the taper attachment in the photo of the gears, there hasn't been a photo of the taper attachment in this thread.  What's been shown would be a part of either version.  Not proof that a two-piece version existed.


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## middle.road (Dec 9, 2018)

chips&more said:


> That is an old flat belt drive and does not have a quick change gear box. IMO it’s not worth the effort to keep, sorry. I realize you have 0 into it. That is where I would stop with it. The bullet vise has value even with missing the base and worn jaws, but not the lathe. Sorry, wish I had better news, may three cents…Dave
> 
> PS: the lathe legs have value!


Bite your tongue! else my 210 might hear you. 
The flat belt is no problem to replace if need be and I have to say that my 210 has (for 20 yrs) and will continue to serve me well. 
The one that Susan scored looks to be in very good condition and has many years of useful service left in it. It is worth a lot more than '0'.
Roller bearings on the spindle, ETC, it's a good solid lathe.


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## CluelessNewB (Dec 9, 2018)

I guess if mrpete222 had the factory 2 piece version he would not have needed to make one!   Below 
is the image that Susan posted in the other thread about the same lathe.  I have also seen other 2 piece 
versions on Ebay in the past but I believe they had a slot rather than the multiple holes.  This may be 
shop made like mrpete's.       



https://www.hobby-machinist.com/attachments/5659864921-jpg.281805/


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## Briney Eye (Dec 10, 2018)

That sure looks like a Logan taper attachment.  They're very rare.  I think my Model 200 had one earlier in its life, since it had the cross slide extension, but the rest went missing somewhere along the way.

You can do a lot with that lathe.  My 200 is a little bit newer, and it's a great little machine.  Nothing was broken when I bought it from a retired machinist, but it had a few age-related issues.  I replaced the motor and re-wired it with a magnetic power switch and mushroom E-stop button.  Pulled the spindle, cleaned and re-packed the main bearing, and replaced the tail bearing.  While I had it apart I put in a new 400K6 belt that works great.  Replaced the rubber bushings that support the drive box (eBay seller). I see yours still has the cast iron fifth leg (those seem to go missing, and I had to make one out of pipe for mine).  Dug the old rock-hard rubber lid bumpers out of the front corners of the drive box and replaced them with soft new ones from McMaster-Carr.  The tailstock spindle key was sheared off, so I made a new one.  I only had to buy one 16-tooth gear to complete the set that came with the lathe.  Then I made a novice mistake and engaged the crossfeed in the wrong direction and discovered why clutches are a _good thing_.  Replaced the miter gears in the apron.

All of that and some cleaning and adjusting and I was up and running.  I put some good leveling feed on it.  I eventually picked up steady and follower rests from eBay.  Then I added Shars digital scales with a TouchDRO setup.  Stuck some small pieces of reflective tape to the tail of the spindle and mounted an IR "collision avoidance" detector to supply the tachometer signal to the TouchDRO board.  I love having the DRO!

Then I had a brainstorm and developed an electronic lead screw.  No more change gears, and metric comes free!  This is the perfect lathe for it, with no gearbox to get in the way.  It even does diametral and module pitches.  No telling what it might do when I eventually get it "finished."

I've even made things with it!  Like airplane parts for my brother-in-law, and it was really handy when I also picked up an old Clausing mill to restore. 

Like I said, you can do a lot.  Have fun!


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## Nogoingback (Dec 10, 2018)

CluelessNewB said:


> I guess if mrpete222 had the factory 2 piece version he would not have needed to make one!   Below
> is the image that Susan posted in the other thread about the same lathe.  I have also seen other 2 piece
> versions on Ebay in the past but I believe they had a slot rather than the multiple holes.  This may be
> shop made like mrpete's.
> ...




I have an older Logan catalog in front of me and though the picture is a bit small, that attachment looks exactly like 
it.  The 10" machines are shown as having two part numbers, depending on the s/n of the lathe.  They are AC-225 
and AC-298.  Susan, are there any part numbers on that attachment?


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## Nogoingback (Dec 10, 2018)

chips&more said:


> That is an old flat belt drive and does not have a quick change gear box. IMO it’s not worth the effort to keep, sorry. I realize you have 0 into it. That is where I would stop with it. The bullet vise has value even with missing the base and worn jaws, but not the lathe. Sorry, wish I had better news, may three cents…Dave
> 
> PS: the lathe legs have value!




Careful, you're messin' with Logan folks on their own sub-forum...  The Logan 200 is a basic lathe for sure, but they were
well made and because Logan still supplies parts, pretty easy to support.  If Susan's lathe isn't worn out, it's still a useful
machine.  And, what's wrong with flat belts?  They're easier and faster to change than a v-belt.


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## Richard White (richardsrelics) (Dec 11, 2018)

As you can see from my pic to the left, the 820 is one nice lathe. In a previous post you can see just how ugly mine looked when I picked it up and just how sweet it was when I completed the restoration.  I have found 3 of the correct 5 parts for an original Logan taper attachment. I have both ends and have just recently found the cross slide cover. It is one solid piece.  I need only the bar and the part that slides across the bar when locked down.

Mine has been converted to use an automotive serpentine belt... I do like that...


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## projectnut (Dec 17, 2018)

I guess ith way I look at it you can either have 2 vises, one of which you'll probably never use.  Or, 1 bullet vise and a taper attachment which you'll probably never use.

For the number of times you'll use the taper attachment you might be better off to put the money into different tooling and use a boring head in the tailstock.  In over 30 years in a machine shop I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to use a taper attachment.  Short tapers can be accomplished using the compound.  Longer tapers can be made by off setting the tailstock or using a boring head in the tailstock.  Neither of my current lathes have a taper attachment, and I can't see investing in one.

As for the flat belt not being desirable, I would disagree. It may not have the monetary value of a gear driven or V belt driven machine, but that doesn't mean it's not capable of making quality parts.  Personally I invest in machines that have the capability of producing the parts I want to make.  I don't invest in them because they are trendy or for their potential future resale value.  One of my lathes is flat belt driven with change gears for threading.  It doesn't even have a thread dial, but I've made hundreds if not thousands of threaded parts without any problems.  If you can read the chart and the numbers on the gears it doesn't take long to make a setup.  Keep in mind this machine is going to be used in a hobby shop, not a production situation where time is money.

I will admit flipping a couple levers to change thread pitch is a bit easier, but in my case the change gear machine and the gear box machine have different thread pitch capabilities.  The change gear one can do some 1/2 tpi threads that the gear box machine is incapable of, and likewise the gear box machine can produce a number of threads the gear change machine is incapable of.  Between the 2 machines they can put out 65 different thread pitches from 3 tpi to 240 tpi.


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