# "New" to me Logan 820



## GarageGuy (May 12, 2014)

About 3 weeks ago I bought a Logan 820 off Craigslist.  It had been sitting in the guy's garage unused for 11 years, but was in decent enough shape with only minor surface rust.  There was a stripped gear in the QCGB, the bull gear was missing 3 teeth (in a row), and the reverse gear handle casting and shaft had eaten each other due to lack of lubrication.  The main spindle shaft bearing was "cogging" because of the old dried out grease, and the 3/4 HP, 220v, 3 phase motor had the wires cut off.  The taper in the tailstock quill felt like it was rusty, so I figured that would clean up.

First, I bought a Baldor 115v 1 HP motor, built mounting adapters so it would fit properly, turned a bushing so the 3/4" bore pulley would fit the new 5/8" shaft, and lined everything up.  Mr Halligan was kind enough to help me get the drum switch wired properly so both forward and reverse worked.  (Thanks again!)

Fortunately, I kept my other Logan lathe until this one was rebuilt so I could make parts.  I turned down the shaft on the reverse gear lever, and bored out the casting so I could fit it with a new bushing made out of bearing bronze.  One of the retaining screws for the reverse gear selector was sheared off in the headstock, but fortunately it was easily backed out with a sharp punch.




Next, I pulled the spindle shaft to fix the bull gear and main bearing.  I pre-heated the bull gear for 3 hours in front of a red-hot electric quartz heater, then MIG welded over the missing teeth.  I peened and cooled very slowly in front of the heater for another 5 hours, and NO cracks!  I cut and profiled teeth out of the weld material with a high speed cut-off tool and needle files.  It's not perfect, but runs quiet and smooth, and saved me $506 over buying a new gear or $200 over buying a used one.  This seems to be a common problem with 820's, and used replacement gears are not cheap.  The flare from the flash kind of covers it up a little.  One tooth isn't perfectly square all the way across because I didn't quite get enough of a weld bead on it.  I was trying hard not to put too much heat into it, and keep the welding time to an absolute minimum (5 seconds).




I pressed the main spindle bearing off the headshaft, and soaked it with kerosene, then Brakleen, and blew it out.  I re-packed it with a cone style bearing packer, and used the green high pressure industrial grease.  It spins smooth, free, and quiet now.  While I had the spindle out, I installed an automotive serpentine belt on the cone pulley.  I like it a lot.

The QCGB was really dirty with compressed dirt, chips, and hard grease in every gear tooth.  The "E" gear range didn't work at all, and it turns out every tooth was stripped clean from it.  Again, a common problem on 820's.  I bought a new one on eBay, cleaned the box with kerosene and Brakleen, and reassembled using Royal Purple synthetic differential gear lube as an assembly lube.  It was surprisingly easy to get all the gears lined up, and for a minute I thought I must have done something wrong.  The shaft for the gear selector levers was also scored and galled, so I made a new one out of .750 O-1 drill rod, and milled the 1/8" keyslot to match the old one.  It all works slicker than snot on a glass door knob!




I changed the oil in the apron, and filled it back up with fresh ND10.  I adjusted the belts and tried it out, and it runs smoooooth and quiet!  The only issue left is a badly scarred tailstick quill.  The MT2 taper is messed up, so I ordered a set of MT2 reamers to see if I can save it.  Initially I didn't think it was very bad, but after cleaning it up it was worse than I thought.  We will see what happens once the reamers get here.

I don't do fancy paint, but the machine will be 100% functional once the quill is repaired or replaced.






GG


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## GarageGuy (May 12, 2014)

Oh, I almost forgot.  The carriage lock bolt had been lost at some point (another common problem on 820's), and someone had used a socket head screw to replace it.  There was no way I was keeping an Allen wrench there all the time, so I bought a square head bolt and milled the head down to 3/8" so the OEM carriage lock wrench would work on it.  I also put new felt wipers on the carriage.

GG


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## burtonbr (May 13, 2014)

Man, that is nice!! 
I've been dreading tearing the head down on mine to at least fix the back gear slop and check the bearings. I need some of your confidence you have in rebuilding yours, you make it sound so simple maybe I will give it a shot.


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## GarageGuy (May 13, 2014)

burtonbr said:


> Man, that is nice!!
> I've been dreading tearing the head down on mine to at least fix the back gear slop and check the bearings. I need some of your confidence you have in rebuilding yours, you make it sound so simple maybe I will give it a shot.



I watched this YT video a couple of times just to see the order and how things come apart.  This guy is a bit of a hack pounding the spindle gear off and letting it fly and hit the floor (lucky he didn't break teeth), but the basic order of parts helped me a lot.  He also says he left off the bearing shields because he "doesn't know why they are needed".  I'm a firm believer that if they were put there, it was for a reason, so I put everything back exactly as it was originally.  

Little tips about lining up the key and key slot on the bearing shield proved to be helpful.  When I put the bearing shield back in, I put the key slot at the top so I could see it easy.  I used Royal Purple synthetic differential oil as an assembly lube, and I think that helped things slide into place instead of me having to fight with them.  The first time I did this, it went back together very quick and easy.  Then I realized I forgot to put the serpentine belt on the shaft, so I took it apart again.  The second time it was harder to get everything lined up.  Maybe I was tired, but it seemed like I needed three hands.  Finally got it together, and found out the belt was the wrong size.  I bought another belt, and the third time was a charm.  After three times (and it being nice and clean now), I can pull it apart and put it together easily.  

The tricky part for me was getting the headshaft key to line up with the bearing protector plate and the bull gear while holding the cone pulley in alignment for the shaft.  LOTS of light, some slippery assembly lube, and patience were all it took.

[video=youtube;Tktjx5IrRng]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tktjx5IrRng[/video]

Hope this helps.  You can do it!

GG


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## burtonbr (May 13, 2014)

Oh yea he's an animal with that hammer, I'd hate to see how he reinstalled the spindle  
Good video though to show how to disassemble.  Thanks


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## GarageGuy (May 18, 2014)

I got my new MT2 taper reamer set in the mail the other day, and reamed the tailstock quill to clean up the damage.  It was worse than I had thought, and the gouges were pretty deep.  By the time I got the bore cleaned up, the tools sit a little deeper than originally.  I notice it more with MT2 taper drill bits.  The taper is flush with the end of the quill.  Dead centers still have plenty sticking out, and so does my drill chuck, so I'll run this way for awhile and see if there are any problems.  If nothing else, it buys me time to look for a used replacement without the machine being down.

Next project is leveling and tailstock alignment.

GG


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## wa5cab (May 20, 2014)

GG,

The only downside I've ever been able to come up with when the taper is cut deeper is that on a tailstock ram that ejects the tool by backing the ram up until the tang or end of the tool's taper hits the ram drive screw, you reduce the available ram (and thus tool) travel.  If that isn't an issue, then no harm done.

Robert D.


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