# Logan 1815 resto



## Bats1DXC (Jan 1, 2021)

Hey everyone newbie here just picked up a Logan 815 serial # 75305 so I’m thinking 1961and I’m going to restore it  the ways seem good no rust at least as I took it apart I noticed a few things 1-the rear bearing  of the head stock seems to not be set right it’s possible that previous owner did belt conversion to v belt and didn’t set the Bearing properly not sure although it didn’t seem to be a problem ‍ I’ll post a picture with arrows showing what I mean 2-on the main gears of the head stock they slide about a 1/4” back and forth not sure if that is normal I will post pics of that 3-I noticed the clutch needed to be held for it engage if I took my hand off lever carriage wouldn’t move so not sure about that either 4-the reverse plunger lever must have broke and they welded it back but they did almost as bad a job welding that as they did when they tried to repaint it smh any advice on the resto would be greatly appreciated as I am kinda new to this I have restored some vintage tools of my grandfather but never a lathe thanks in advance


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## Nogoingback (Jan 2, 2021)

Welcome to the group!  Your Logan looks like a good project.

First off, if you donate to the forum, you can download the Logan 800 series parts list and operators manual from our downloads section.
( It's also available for purchase directly from Logan.)  This would definitely be worthwhile for you when figuring out the parts situation
on your machine.

In the first pic, what you're referring to as the bearing is a sheet metal dust shield.  The fact that it's mis-aligned isn't surprising:
they're just tapped into place.  By the way, if you decide to take apart the headstock, take good care of those shields because
they're NLA.

The movement in the gear on the spindle isn't normal.  Having a look at the parts list would be a good idea for that one:  you may
be missing a spacer.  If the machine was converted to v-belts from flat belts, that might explain it. 

When you refer to the "clutch", are you talking about the lever for power feed?  If that's giving problems you'll need to inspect the
apron to see what's going on there.

Your lathe looks pretty good overall: like you said no rust and no obvious signs of abuse in the pics anyway.  What it needs is a good
cleaning and a look over, and proper lubrication  I don't know if you plan on painting it or not, but other than a bit of honest wear, it looks good to me. 
(Of course, I would say that: I don't like painting...).   One thing that you want to check is the condition of the spindle bearings.
Hopefully they're in good shape since one of them is a special bearing that's basically available only from Logan.  Expensive,
but available.  Everything else is just checking for wear or damage, and missing or improper parts.

Keep asking those questions: we have a bunch of Logan folks here that can help.


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 2, 2021)

Thank you for the info much appreciated I did not know about the downloads if you donate I have the parts list but I am interested in the owners manual 

well good to know that’s not a bearing and just a shield not sure if I’m gonna take apart the spindle but I would like to clean it all out I’m gonna have to go through parts list and see if there is a spacer or something missing, yes I ment  the power feed I’m gonna take the apron apart to I’m hoping that it’s
The black spacer behind the lever not sure what it’s called but hoping that wore out preventing good contact we’ll see I’m still tossing around if I’m gonna paint it or not I’ll see after I give it a good cleaning I will check that bearing as wellThanks again for the info I’m sure there will be more questions lol


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## Shiseiji (Jan 2, 2021)

FYI by '61 all the Logans were equipped with vee belts, listed as a 1820, but I have no idea if Logan changed the data plate.  The exact date, early 50s ??, is on the Logan Lathe.com site. Both my 820s pre- date the change over. Consider joing the group.io Logan board as an additional information source. Scott Logan, grandson of the lathe maker, moderates the board and will often answer questions not answered elsewhere. 

Ron


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## Shiseiji (Jan 2, 2021)

P.S. that is one sweet chuck!


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 3, 2021)

Thanks Shiseiji on that info good to know about the v belt maybe it wasn’t converted but there was a hand drawn paper in the parts list book that came with lathe so I thought they might of converted it idk but I need to figure out why there was play in the pulley on spindle the only thing I saw was that the bull gear was not In the right position on spindle I couldn’t get my finger to fit in head stock to push the lock on the bull gear it was to close to the headstock and when I did with a screw driver the belt pulley would disengage cause it would just slide over and my parts list shows the flat belt set up  so Idk if I’m possible missing a spacer or something just to eliminate that possibility I’ll keep researching thanks again I’ll check out that Logan group as well and that chuck is SWEEEET it’s a buck chuck  I had no idea when I bought neither did the guy who sold it to me lol  cause it’s worth almost as much as the lathe I was definitely shocked when I looked that up


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## Nogoingback (Jan 3, 2021)

Logan's website places your  s/n in 1960, not '61, though it also says that the change from 800 series
flat belts to 1800 v-belts occurred at s/n 64400 which puts the change in 1953.
Does your lathe have a plate identifying it as an 815 because it looks as though your machine is an 1800 series.




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						Logan/Wards Lathe/Shaper Serial Number listing
					





					www.lathe.com


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## Winegrower (Jan 3, 2021)

The power feed, given that it works when holding the lever it, can probably be just a slipping clutch.   There are a couple of jam nuts holding the lever on...tighten them until the feed works under some load.   That might fix the problem.


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## HarryJM (Jan 3, 2021)

Check out for owner manual/etc.


			Logan Engineering Co. - Publication Reprints | VintageMachinery.org


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 3, 2021)

Nogoingback said:


> Logan's website places your  s/n in 1960, not '61, though it also says that the change from 800 series
> flat belts to 1800 v-belts occurred at s/n 64400 which puts the change in 1953.
> Does your lathe have a plate identifying it as an 815 because it looks as though your machine is an 1800 series.
> 
> ...


Yes you are correct on the manufacture date. Miss read that chart.There is a name plate on the quick change that says 1815


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 3, 2021)

Winegrower said:


> The power feed, given that it works when holding the lever it, can probably be just a slipping clutch.   There are a couple of jam nuts holding the lever on...tighten them until the feed works under some load.   That might fix the problem.


Thanks for the info, I took the whole apron apart mostly to clean ,I found the main bolt was bent a little, I was able to straighten it don’t think that was problem, I think it was what you said, I won’t  know till I put it back together and I can adjust nut. It was dirty as hell inside too!!


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## tmenyc (Jan 4, 2021)

Welcome to the Logan crowd here. I have an 820 from 1943. Logans are great machines. I'll second the suggestion above about joining the Logan forum led by Scott Logan. 
My biggest issue, other than my own perhaps shrinking ignorance as a non-machinist/non-engineer inflicting his naiveté on an old machine that has its own preferred way of doing things, is that there is far too little available real estate upon which to mount an indicator base. The cross-slide cover is attractively sloping (I can't imagine why Logan did that except to look less sharply angled) but that cover is just too variably sloped to mount a Noga. On my lathe, also, the paint everywhere that is not horizontal is chipped and layered and won't hold a Noga. The fact that its top spindle speed is around 1400rpm is not a problem for me most of the time, since most of the work for which I got the lathe is in small diameters and soft materials and turns well with HSS. There are other issues as well, but I'm not yet sufficiently convinced that their roots aren't in operator error to list them here. I've learned from Mikey's incredible work here how to grind my own HSS tools, and they work far better at the 820's lower speeds than carbide. Feel free to let me know if I can be of any help!

Tim


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 4, 2021)

tmenyc said:


> Welcome to the Logan crowd here. I have an 820 from 1943. Logans are great machines. I'll second the suggestion above about joining the Logan forum led by Scott Logan.
> My biggest issue, other than my own perhaps shrinking ignorance as a non-machinist/non-engineer inflicting his naiveté on an old machine that has its own preferred way of doing things, is that there is far too little available real estate upon which to mount an indicator base. The cross-slide cover is attractively sloping (I can't imagine why Logan did that except to look less sharply angled) but that cover is just too variably sloped to mount a Noga. On my lathe, also, the paint everywhere that is not horizontal is chipped and layered and won't hold a Noga. The fact that its top spindle speed is around 1400rpm is not a problem for me most of the time, since most of the work for which I got the lathe is in small diameters and soft materials and turns well with HSS. There are other issues as well, but I'm not yet sufficiently convinced that their roots aren't in operator error to list them here. I've learned from Mikey's incredible work here how to grind my own HSS tools, and they work far better at the 820's lower speeds than carbide. Feel free to let me know if I can be of any help!
> 
> Tim


Hey Tim thanks for taking a look,let me state  I’m new to this I wasn’t sure what a noga was so I looked it up and the first one I clicked on was on Amazon and the picture in ad shows a magnetic one mounted on a curved face of a mill, idk if that would work for you being our cross slide has that  attractive curve. It looks like a nice attachment. I see your from NY so am I, I’m upstate 
      Bill


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## Nogoingback (Jan 5, 2021)

Another way to deal with mounting indicators is to mount them onto the QCTP rather than a Noga.  Quick and easy...


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## RandyM (Jan 6, 2021)

Shiseiji said:


> FYI by '61 all the Logans were equipped with vee belts, listed as a 1820, but I have no idea if Logan changed the data plate.  The exact date, early 50s ??, is on the Logan Lathe.com site. Both my 820s pre- date the change over.* Consider joing the group.io Logan board* as an additional information source. Scott Logan, grandson of the lathe maker, moderates the board and will often answer questions not answered elsewhere.
> 
> Ron



No need to join any more forums to get this info. Scott Logan is a great guy and will respond to all e-mails sent through his website. He has answered all of my technical and machine questions I posed to him. I highly recommend contacting him directly with all your needs.


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 6, 2021)

Thanks Randy I agree I joined the Logan group and Scott did respond to my message turns out I actually have a 1815 which it does say on the name plate. I thought people were just shortening it to 815 or 820 not realizing after they changed to v belt they started the 1800 which mine does have the v belt. I also typed the wrong serial number by accident, Scott was like something isn’t right with your numbers after I got it all right he got back and said it all checked out and gave me the exact manufacture date 6/14/60 which I thought was totally cool!!


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## Shiseiji (Jan 6, 2021)

Bats1DXC said:


> . . . well good to know that’s not a bearing and just a shield not sure if I’m gonna take apart the spindle but I would like to clean it all out I’m gonna have to go through parts list and see if there is a spacer or something missing,  ' ' '
> I’ll see after I give it a good cleaning I will check that bearing as well Thanks again for the info I’m sure there will be more questions lol


10" only. "Most" of the bearings were open on the bed side and shielded on the side by the bull gear. The bed side shield can be hard to remove without damage, my 1st 820 has one beat to absolute crap from someone's ham handed whatever they were doing,  and, I was told, haven't looked, Scott doesn't stock them. I got the one I have set aside off eBay. So research on what others have done. IIRC no spacers. There is a nut and Belleview washers but they aren't used for the traditional "pre-load" on the inner beariong race because on the 10" it's a double-row. The parts diagram is split into two parts and can be confusing! Take pictures at every stage. If you decide to pull the bearings to clean them, I know one tool/"How-to" is posted at the Logan group, I suspect there are here too. Lots of ideas on cleaning, I'm partial to a thrift store crock pot and a minimum of daily checks to be sure it doesn't go dry.


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## tmenyc (Jan 7, 2021)

Bats1DXC said:


> Scott was like something isn’t right with your numbers after I got it all right he got back and said it all checked out and gave me the exact manufacture date 6/14/60 which I thought was totally cool!!


His database is pretty fascinating, and getting more complete all the time. I learned my 820's complete history from him; I'm probably the 4th owner going back to late 1943. 
Tim


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 7, 2021)

Fascinating indeed!!


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 7, 2021)

Hey everyone figured I post some pictures almost done, the usps is killing me still waiting on the oils I ordered, they should be here by the 12th.I decided to not paint it for now, to do a full restore is more then I’m looking to take on right now. I wanna get the spindle back in so I Can Learn how to use this thing lol. I’m dying to start making stuff already!!!


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## Nogoingback (Jan 7, 2021)

How are. the spindle bearings?


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 7, 2021)

Nogoingback said:


> How are. the spindle bearings?


They seem to be spinning smooth to me


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 11, 2021)

Hey everyone got all my proper lubes,put everything back together and everything seems to be running smooth. I still have to make some adjustments with the gibs. So as far as the issues I had I was able to address all of them and everything is working smoothly. I adjusted the power feed clutch and that is working properly, the play in the head stock is gone, idk what the issue was only thing I could see was the v belt pulley set screws weren’t tight not sure but there’s no play now. The headstock cover is sitting right now that everything is leveled, I did have to adjust the rear hinges and the bolt on bottom for motor height as well to get cover to sit right.I had a piece of brass I was able to face it just to play around any suggestions on a first project?
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## Shiseiji (Jan 23, 2021)

Spotted a couple of things you might find interesting. One of them I think all used lathe owners will find interesting and I'm mofing it up to the top of my
I'm a gunna." list
From Laney College, Oakland CA.  Machine Tool Alignment Gauge Plans


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## Bats1DXC (Jan 23, 2021)

Thanks shiseiji, nice find


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