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srfallsallot

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Hi all my Heros

I have very limited experience with a lathe so bear with me please. A friend gave me a Logan 820 from 1947. It has been siting for ~20 years. It was used for hobby use its whole life. Dirty but no rust. I am cleaning it up and learning how it is built. It has some minor issues. A few loose screws, missing screws, very small dings on the bed. What worries me most is the play in the Compound hand wheel and the same in the Saddle. Both are about .045". Is that normal? If not what is normal. Everything moves smoothly. No broken anything that I have found yet. Every thing seems to work as near as I can tell.

After cleaning it and oiling I am impressed by how smooth everything moves. No detectable wear on any gears, screws, bearings, or bed. The cross feed was not working. I U tubed for information. When I disassembled the apron the key locking the gear cross feed fell out. It was not in place. I replaced it and tightened up the handle to keep it in place. Reassembled the unit and it works. Not to happy with the way the key is retained.

What oil is used in the apron? How does one oil the quick change gears where the levers are?

The machine is missing the pully cover. I this a big deal? Should I try to get one?

A 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck were included. I disassembled them, cleaned, and greased them. They seem to show no wear that is obvious. I really do not yet know how good they are.

How important is it to obtain a follow rest and steady rest. Where from? I do not seem to get consistent information on which ones will work on my Logan 820.

How important is it to precision level this machine?

It came with KDK Tool post and a few tool holders. Not impressed with them. I am thinking of getting AXA style tool holder and associated tooling kit from PM. PM has a tooling kit that seems very complete. As a beginner I do not know what is really needed so this kit seems to cover all the bases for now. I have a PM932 with all the bells and whistles. I like it very much.

I received my 12" "precision level". The adjusting screw was not accessible because the plastic cover was blocking it. I broke the cover trying to get it off. It was glued on pretty well. I opened up the hole and glued the cover back on. the adjusting screw was so tight that it could not be turned. I took off the side cover and loosened the locking nuts. It can now be adjusted. It took me a lot of time to learn how to get it right. I leveled my lathe. Actually, I adjusted it for twist. I am new to all this so it took me a lot of time. I am wondering if this machine is so stiff that it may not be adjustable? Is that possible?

I have been playing with my 3-jaw chuck. It had runout at the chuck of .005" and at 3" out it was .008" runout. I took the chuck off and recleaned the mating surfaces and stoned it for high spots. I ran my finger into it and found some high spots on the jaws. I cleaned these off with a very fine paper. The runout is now .0015" at both locations. As an inexperienced person I do not know if this is reasonable?



ER32 chuck taper runout .001" at opening and 1" in.

ER32 chuck runout with 1/2" pin at chuck .0015"

ER32 chuck runout with 1/2" pin at 3.25" out .0025"

I am just learning the machine. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
I bought an AXA toolpost and a bunch of toolholders from PM after I got my Logan 210. A couple of the toolholders had mis-threaded adjusting nuts which wobbled. I emailed PM and asked for replacement nuts; they sent complete toolholders at no charge, shipping to Canada. Really excellent customer service; I'd buy again from them. I don't recall exactly but I think the base plate for the AXA needed some work to fit the Logan compound T-slot - not a huge job and high precision isn't needed (which was good as my skill level isn't high. :) )
 
srfallsallot said:
Hi all my Heros

What worries me most is the play in the Compound hand wheel and the same in the Saddle. Both are about .045". Is that normal? If not what is normal. Everything moves smoothly. No broken anything that I have found yet. Every thing seems to work as near as I can tell.
Click to expand...
0.045" is a little high for backlash, but the saddle movement is through a gear train and the rack so that is to be expected; also, there really isn't any way to adjust backlash out of the compound (unlike the cross slide).
srfallsallot said:
The machine is missing the pully cover. I this a big deal? Should I try to get one?
Click to expand...
Yes, dangerous to operate any machine without guards; if you can buy one, great, otherwise you can always fabricate one from sheet metal (doesn't need to be nice and curved, a box is fine).

Welcome to the world of spinning hunks of metal!
 
Not to knock Precision Matthews, but you can get an AXA tool post kit with more holders for less money from other sources. I've put four or five Bostar AXA and BXA tool posts on lathes and they've been every bit as accurate/repeatable as the Aloris tool posts and tool holders I've got on two of my lathes. $155 for a tool post and 10 holders is hard to beat. People pay more for the PM and Phase II setups that are imported from China but I don't see any difference in quality.

www.ebay.com

BOSTAR AXA 250-111 Wedge Type Tool Post, Tool Holder Set 11PC, Lathe 6 - 12" , | eBay

Such As:South Bend 9" & 10",Atlas 6", 10" & 12",Delta 10" &11",Nardini TT1000 &TT1200 and Many Other Similar Size Imported Lathe. It's too big, Not Suitable for 7" x 8", 7' x 12", 7" x 14" or 7" x 16" mini lathe Made in China.
www.ebay.com

I generally don't like the kits of tools and inserts and most are simply overpriced for what they are. Rather than drop $150+ on a kit PM is repackaging, I'd get something like the one below for $30. The common imported tools run $10-15 and packages of inserts are in the same range. Use a set like this a little bit and you'll have an idea if you need to add anything else. The $150 you can save with those two changes would cover other things like a threading tool and inserts, a cutoff tool/holder (I don't like the kind that gets packaged with the QCTP kits), more tool holders, extra inserts, etc.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334515428472
 
I've got an assortment of Chinese BXA QC tool holders. PM, Shares, Ebay... All hold a tool bit fine. Some needed deburring, some needed new dog screws. All were Cheap. For my hobby use more than good enough.
 
srfallsallot said:
Hi all my Heros

I have very limited experience with a lathe so bear with me please. A friend gave me a Logan 820 from 1947. It has been siting for ~20 years. It was used for hobby use its whole life. Dirty but no rust. I am cleaning it up and learning how it is built. It has some minor issues. A few loose screws, missing screws, very small dings on the bed. What worries me most is the play in the Compound hand wheel and the same in the Saddle. Both are about .045". Is that normal? If not what is normal. Everything moves smoothly. No broken anything that I have found yet. Every thing seems to work as near as I can tell.

After cleaning it and oiling I am impressed by how smooth everything moves. No detectable wear on any gears, screws, bearings, or bed. The cross feed was not working. I U tubed for information. When I disassembled the apron the key locking the gear cross feed fell out. It was not in place. I replaced it and tightened up the handle to keep it in place. Reassembled the unit and it works. Not to happy with the way the key is retained.

What oil is used in the apron? How does one oil the quick change gears where the levers are?

The machine is missing the pully cover. I this a big deal? Should I try to get one?

A 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck were included. I disassembled them, cleaned, and greased them. They seem to show no wear that is obvious. I really do not yet know how good they are.

How important is it to obtain a follow rest and steady rest. Where from? I do not seem to get consistent information on which ones will work on my Logan 820.

How important is it to precision level this machine?

It came with KDK Tool post and a few tool holders. Not impressed with them. I am thinking of getting AXA style tool holder and associated tooling kit from PM. PM has a tooling kit that seems very complete. As a beginner I do not know what is really needed so this kit seems to cover all the bases for now. I have a PM932 with all the bells and whistles. I like it very much.

I received my 12" "precision level". The adjusting screw was not accessible because the plastic cover was blocking it. I broke the cover trying to get it off. It was glued on pretty well. I opened up the hole and glued the cover back on. the adjusting screw was so tight that it could not be turned. I took off the side cover and loosened the locking nuts. It can now be adjusted. It took me a lot of time to learn how to get it right. I leveled my lathe. Actually, I adjusted it for twist. I am new to all this so it took me a lot of time. I am wondering if this machine is so stiff that it may not be adjustable? Is that possible?

I have been playing with my 3-jaw chuck. It had runout at the chuck of .005" and at 3" out it was .008" runout. I took the chuck off and recleaned the mating surfaces and stoned it for high spots. I ran my finger into it and found some high spots on the jaws. I cleaned these off with a very fine paper. The runout is now .0015" at both locations. As an inexperienced person I do not know if this is reasonable?



ER32 chuck taper runout .001" at opening and 1" in.

ER32 chuck runout with 1/2" pin at chuck .0015"

ER32 chuck runout with 1/2" pin at 3.25" out .0025"

I am just learning the machine. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
The good news you still buy parts from Logan Lathe.
It is a good lathe. It about same as a South Bend Lathe.

Dave
 
ChazzC said:
0.045" is a little high for backlash, but the saddle movement is through a gear train and the rack so that is to be expected; also, there really isn't any way to adjust backlash out of the compound (unlike the cross slide).
Click to expand...
I think @srfallsallot was referring to the cross-slide when he mentioned 'saddle movement' - without using a dial indicator it is hard to estimate slop in the carriage/apron movement.
If his Logan is like my Model 210, both the compound and cross-slide backlash can be adjusted (to the limit allowed by wear in the leadscrew nuts) with the two nuts at the handle. Patient adjusting can get rid of a lot of slop while still allowing the dials to rotate. I added thin thrust washers between the dials and the fixed part of the bodies, and that seems to help. As a beginner, I had to learn to deal with the backlash - not difficult if you have tuned a guitar in the past.
 
G-ManBart said:
Not to knock Precision Matthews, but you can get an AXA tool post kit with more holders for less money from other sources.
Click to expand...
It definitely pays to check prices. When I bought my AXA setup from PM, they had a very good 'Special' price, and my usual sources at AliExpress were more expensive.
 
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