Disappointed in abilities with 12" Logan

As silverbullet said u can get one slightly smaller and add a base plate to get it up to center.
 
I'm wondering.....rather than ebay, I found that grizzly sells the entire steady rest assembly for their 8, 9, 10 and 11 inch lathes for around 100 bucks. Just wondering if buying one and using an adapter plate on bottom would be a lower cost, but workable option.
 
for the money it sounds like a good place to start, you might need a mill to fit the adapter plate. If you wanted to go forward with your project while you hunt rests and tailstocks, you might consider a design with baffles made one at a time. Assuming of course that the design change is all legal.
 
Maybe a brother in here living nearby can lend you the before a short term use.


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I'm wondering.....rather than ebay, I found that grizzly sells the entire steady rest assembly for their 8, 9, 10 and 11 inch lathes for around 100 bucks. Just wondering if buying one and using an adapter plate on bottom would be a lower cost, but workable option.

You certainly could do that. If I recall correctly, some of the older Logans used the same steady rest for both the 10" and 11" machines, with the steady rest for the 11" having a spacer beneath it. I believe the 12" machines used a different steady rest that was both larger in diameter and built heavier.

There also used to be a seller on eBay that sold generic steady rests in various sizes, I don't know if those are still available or not.
 
A long time ago I made a spider for my lathe for this type of thing. It takes a very large bearing and some cold rolled steel

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The cage around the bearing has set screws in the middle of the bearing pockets to give some adjustment to place the bearing on the center of the spindle axis. I've only had to reset the center once after I took the frame apart to turn the bearing around 180 degrees. The four screws on the aluminum collar take care of centering your project metal.

Here you can see it in use holding material for my form1 can:

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It also works very well for holding long barrels steady at the end for chambering. No friction, excess material strength needed.

Nice, I could only wonder the price of that bearing purchased brand new.
 
Nice, I could only wonder the price of that bearing purchased brand new.

I looked it up once, >$400. I paid $25. I have another large bearing (not near as large) I picked up at a flea market for $5 that I'm going to use to make a spider for my Clausing lathe. The only trick to making these is getting the bearing ID on center with the spindle axis. With the adjustment screws in the frame it's a cinch.
 
I'm very frustrated, somewhat with my machine but mostly with me. The short version is I need a steady rest but cant find one.

My 2537 12" turret lathe has been making chips for a while now. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a machinist, but I have been able to make what I have needed so for. All of my projects have been small. I've made bushings and and a few odd parts here and there. This is just me in my shop at home for fun.
But I have a big project to work on for myself. I have been planning on making a few suppressors for my rifles. I've got all the legalities covered and all is on the up and up.

The issue is I have some 4140 round bar about 14" long to make the baffles out of. Baffles will be 60* cones to fit inside a 1.5"ID tube. The best, as I understand it, way to make them is chuck the bar up, and use a steady rest to support it while I work a baffle at a time on the far end. So that means I need a steady which didn't come with the lathe.

Necessity is a mother, so I make a steady.........The first version was a hexagon shape about 10" diameter. I'm sure you can already see the problem. I made it from .5x.750" bar stock, welded, threaded 120* apart. It looked good, but when I put it on and turned the machine by hand, there was so much flex in the fingers I was afraid to even turn the machine on. So back to the drawing board.

The second steady was made from wood. I used 3 layers of 3/4" birch glued and screwed together. I had a 4" hole in the center and again fingers at 120* apart. The fingers were 1/2-13 bolts which I turned and tipped with brass. Unfortunatly there is too much movement in the wood itself I guess. As I start to take light cuts on the surface, it works loose and starts flexing. I have been watching Ebay and can't find a Logan Steady rest and dont know if anything else will fit.

I'm really disappointed in my self and in the project so far. So much so I had to just leave the shop. As bad as it sounds I am considering selling the Logan and getting a new import lathe that comes with a steady and tail stock, which I also don't have and would like to have. Right now my project is stopped and I can't do anything about it.

I just wanted to try to share the weight on my shoulders, confession being good for the soul and all, and share my tale of woe.

Hi, from your description (no pic provided) I think your first attempt at building a steady rest was on the right track, you just need to use heavier material to get the rigidity, as far as the frame shape it's not really important. Round or hexagonal are the most common, and either will work well.

With the top part hinging open you have to make sure that it clamps down tight without any movement, also the base needs to be very rigid, and a good fit to the lathe bed, no rocking allowed.. The other area of concern is the adjustable fingers need to be well guided, don't just rely on the threads to give rigidity here but set the fingers into square or round guides.

The tips of the fingers are traditionally brass or bronze but there appears to be a newish trend to using small ball races, but they must be of good quality, or they will break down quickly. Some people like them, some don't. Apparantly they can mark soft materials,

I've only ever used brass or bronze tips, and have never had a problem. I have also heard of hardwood tips being used, I imagine you could also use some of the hard engineering plastics, some of them have very low coeff. of friction,and are quite tough.

There are anumber of well documented builds on this site, have a look at them and go for it. BTW I would not be keen to sell the Logan if it's in fair to good condition, any old iron from USA, Australia, UK, Europe, in fair condition is a better machine than most of the asian imports. But they are scarcer than rockinh horse sh*t down here, so I had to go for an import, just had to make sure I got the best I could.

And I will have to make a steady for it, as the one that came with it only takes up to 3.5 inch so I'm going to make one that will take up to 6" which will just clear my cross slide. But that is probably a year away yet, more important things to first.


As for your desire for a tail stock you should be able to use your turret as a tailstock, I've seen that done, you can buy live centres on MT shafts as well as parallel shafts.

Good luck on all fronts.
 
On my 12 inch clausing i bought one for a different lathe off ebay and adapted the mounting to fit and it works good
 
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