Advice on lathe for home shop

[Aaron_W]

Well I’m gonna take a long ride tomorrow and look at the leblond and perhaps look at the Cincinnati on Wednesday. This afternoon while waiting for football to start a Logan 6560H popped up on FB marketplace in the next town over. this lathe looks stupid clean, either someone took great care of it or they just did a restoration on it. The guy is asking $3000 for the Logan which I think is high for a Logan and he’s saying tooling is not included but available for extra. It has a turret tailstock with the monster spoked handle Logan used which I’m not crazy about, not sure if he has a regular tail stock. Does anyone know anything about this model Logan.

The Logan is a 14x40, 6560-H is a regular tailstock model with a 2-1/4"-8 threaded spindle, so I wonder if the turret tailstock was added and if the regular tailstock might be with it. Doesn't look like a threaded spindle either I wonder if he is giving the right model number. 6530 is a turret lathe with an L0 spindle.

The H means flame hardened ways. The variable speed on these is an adjustable pulley (I think Reeves drive is the term) kind of noisy but simple and not much to go wrong with it. I think $3000 if well tooled might be reasonable but seems like a lot for just the lathe.

Parts and manuals are still available and Scott Logan the grandson of the founder runs a couple of Logan message boards and is a knowledgeable source for information.

 

[GSweldmech]

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The Logan is a 14x40, 6560-H is a regular tailstock model with a 2-1/4"-8 threaded spindle, so I wonder if the turret tailstock was added and if the regular tailstock might be with it. Doesn't look like a threaded spindle either I wonder if he is giving the right model number. 6530 is a turret lathe with an L0 spindle.

The H means flame hardened ways. The variable speed on these is an adjustable pulley (I think Reeves drive is the term) kind of noisy but simple and not much to go wrong with it. I think $3000 if well tooled might be reasonable but seems like a lot for just the lathe.

Parts and manuals are still available and Scott Logan the grandson of the founder runs a couple of Logan message boards and is a knowledgeable source for information.

Thanks! That’s the info I was looking for. I’ll get over and take a look at what exactly the seller has. The pictures in his ad show a Bridgeport style mill, a pretty good size sheet metal brake so I’d not be surprised if he has a bunch Of stuff to go with it

 

[Mgdoug3]

I have two lathes, Clausing 4913 which is a 10x36 and recently acquired Leblond Regal 17x54. In my experience finding a lathe is all about timing. The Clausing I bought at an auction in the rain and the Leblond from a friend who bought a farm with left over equipment.

I haven't measured the ways on the Leblond yet but the Clausing is almost none. Try to find a lathe that has a lot of tooling. I spent $250 on the Clausing but probably have 3x that amount on tooling and accessories.

 

[kb58]

...Try to find a lathe that has a lot of tooling. I spent $250 on the Clausing but probably have 3x that amount on tooling and accessories.

Yeah, about that...

Just because there are extras, buyers shouldn't assume that they're in prime condition. The worst is paying a premium price on a lathe because of the stuff it comes with, only to have to pay again to replace it. Been there done that.

 

[Dabbler]

A prudent way to think of a lathe purchase is that to do a wide variety of things on the lathe, you will eventually spend about $2000 to get there. - It is part of the reason I tell people not to run out and buy a QCTP as soon as they buy their first lathe. If they have a 4 way, or even an american rocker, tool up for that, because tooling is a lot cheaper than buying a lot of tool holders and and expensive tool post - it is easy to blow $1000 that way and still not be cutting chips.

My 12X37 has about 2500 in tooling,not including inserts and HSS cutters. That's more than I paid for it new.

Budget at least 500 in the first year, and it won't shock you on the tooling budget...

 

[GSweldmech]

Well another lathe has popped up near me! The listing on this one is very sparse on info, one picture and no info, it just says lathe for sale. Can anyone ID this lathe and tell me something about it?

 

[Mgdoug3]

That looks like a commercial Atlas. I think commercial ones were 12" and had a thicker bed.

 

[GSweldmech]

Well it doesn’t matter what it was, it was gone before I got home from taking a look at the leblond. I came away impressed with the leblond, it runs very nicely and the size is well suited to my space.

 

[GSweldmech]

ive heard back from LeBlonde I had sent them the serial number of the lathe I looked at yesterday and as I suspected it’s older than the seller has told me. This one is from 1965 and LeBlonde says parts are available . I’m sure they’re available for an outrageous price.....
anyway, I found this lathe to be in very nice shape. It’s been in a shop where it sees occasional but regular use. Ways looked great, it runs quietly , shifts fine. The zero speed switch has been replaced with a manual momentary contact switch to initiate the shift. It’s got a 8” three jaw and a phase II CXA size tool post on it. The cross slide scale for the antique anillam DRO is dead . I found the seller to be a pretty likable guy who gave me a good feeling regarding his honesty and the care given to this machine while he’s owned it. He has a larger servo shift that he says he likes less but he needs the extra length. He just bought a plasma table that is sucking up a big foot print so the smaller servoshift has gone on the market. I told him I’m goin to check out the Cincinnati tomorrow and if I find that it’s too big for my needs I’ll be back in touch. All in all I found this to be a rock solid machine in great shape that is side right for my needs, I just wish that the DRO was fully functional. i started a separate thread about options to repair or replace the scale hopefully there’s a cost effective solution.

 

[Dabbler]

The DRO is a minor problem: offshore DROs are quite good for the price.