Ahahh!
Well, I bought a 12" Logan Lathe on ebay for $1,200.
Sounds good, it works and everything but it was in need of some serious maintenance.
Prices from Logan Actuator Co.
Half nuts: $140
Worm wheel: $280
Worm (gear) $267
These are the parts I can't fix.
There is a bunch of work that I have already done like milling sector shaft holes in the apron for oil light bushings and repairing countless worn-out odds and ends all totaling over 50 hours of labor. Every time I look at another part it seems that it has been seriously neglected but yeah, I know it's been 50 years since it left the factory.
What I have learned is to not mess around with worn out lathes, it's not worth it. By the time you get the half ton machinery transported, you have already invested in keeping it.
Back to my question: Is there anywhere else I can get Logan lathe parts besides Logan Actuator Co., or do they have me by the balls?
Here's the lathe. The second pic is a sample of the oil light bearings I machined into the worn out apron.
I cant help you on the parts but I know what you are talking about with the comitment of investment...
I have found a 3 phase converted to 220 48 inch shear (1/8 capacity) in good working order for only 600 bucks but my hesitation is the issues and costs it will take to transport something like that. And even as big as my shop is it would take a lot of space for something I would not use but every once and a while...
But when you need it, you need it... I would never hesitate on tools. Shit... I'll sacrifice whatever it takes to get good tools for cheap, into a shop. If you ever thought, "hell with it", you would definitely get most of your $$ back... if not more.
All this stuff has been made before and can be made again. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to spend the time and invest in any tooling you need to do the job. If your time is worth more than Logan charges, you have your answer. If it's not, and if you want to learn more about machining - read on.
You can turn the worm on a lathe using a single point tool that matches the profile. It's just a basic threading operation. Make a second worm out of drill rod, turn it into a hob and harden the hob. Use it to hob the worm wheel on your lathe after you rough it out on the mill. I've never done the hobbing part, but this almost makes it seem simple: http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/JSAPP/wormgear/wormgear.html Machinery's handbook has profiles, but I bet there's a part of your worm with no wear that you can use to check a free-hand ground HSS bit against. Or you could use a tap as the hob and make the wheel a 60 degree thread like on the web page in the link above - if you can find a tap with the correct pitch.
I've got to think you can machine the blank for your half nuts on the mill and then bore and thread them on the lathe. If the half nuts run on an acme screw, you can probably get a tap. Either way you have two options - make one blank that is both halves and saw it in half later, or make two blanks with extra material so you are boring and threading a complete hole and machine away what you don't need later.
Of course both of these assume you have half nuts that are worn but still workable if you need to do any threading for either part on your lathe. If yours are totally shot, you can't make any of this on your lathe... unless you can use an acme thread tap on the half nuts.
Honestly, I'd just suck it up buy the parts from logan. Stuff like making half nuts, worm gears and worm wheels is best left to people with extra time on their hands.
the prices on replacement parts for your lathe are pretty reasonable JR.in 1990 i was working at a manufacturing plant in oakland as a maintenance mechanic/machinist/welder.the tool and die makers machine shop had a cincinati 12x42 tray top lathe. they wanted me to repair the cross feed screw and nut it had .100 backlash in it. i was quoted 1400.00 for those 2 parts and the owner refused to pony up the money for the parts-said it was to expensive. this lathe ran every day and it really needed to be fixed. the tool makers asked me what i was going to do now that the replacement parts order had been denied. i told them i was going to make the parts myself which surprised them-at the time they did not know i posessed the necessary machining skills to do the job. i had to take the crossslide assembly apart draw up the blue prints for the parts and then reassemble the lathe-it could not be down for a long time. screw was a 5/8"x8 tpi left handed acme with bearing seats, woodruffkey,snapring grove. hardest part of the job was singlepointing the left handed internal thread in the new bronze nut.the tool makers would come by and check out the job from time to time and then admitted to me they had never single pointed a acme thread before. once the new parts were installed the crossfeed had .005. backlash.they were happy with the job and i was allowed to enter their shop and use any machine i needed to make replacement parts for the plant equipment.( we didn't have a machine shop in the maintenance department shop. )
if you still need those logan lathe parts. drop me a line i have a vlh2557 and had a 2555 wich is the same lathe with a short bed that i parted out. im on the east coast. chasengineering@netzero.net
The decision you need to make is: do you want a machine to use, or do you want to spend the rest of your life making parts for the machine?
Personally, I want machinery to use, not pieces of junk to amuse myself by proving that I know how to do something.
If you want to use the lathe, buy the parts. If you don't want to spend the $, sell the machine to someone and buy a new Chi-Com machine. At least you'll be making chips.
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