First Lathe Logan 400

An old school cookie sheet makes a good chip pan for this lathe. It's what I used and made it removable for easy cleaning.
 
Get you an aluminum pan. For some ideas this is what I built.
Jay
KIMG1771.jpg
 
Get you an aluminum pan. For some ideas this is what I built.
Jay
View attachment 302389
I was thinking about something very similar to yours, going to buy a wide workbench toolbox in the morning.
I'm not quite sure how thick of a steel plate I should use for the top yet?
The bench it was mounted to had a 2x16, and a 2x4 fir the top.
The lathe bed was mounted with square head lag bolts to the 2x16.
The motor was mounted to the 2x4 behind it.
This was 20190920_082115.jpgcausing the motor to bounce behind the lathe.
 
Not the most dimensionally stable things in the world, but those 2x16’s don’t come around much anymore! I have one (actually 19” ) here as a non-critical bench top as well.

-frank
 
That's some big lumber. The South Bend I picked up in August has a 1-7/8" x 22" plank. It started out 9 ft long, but I cut it down to to about 6 ft. Looks like it was cut with a huge circular saw.

Just yesterday I was cleaning up the cast iron legs. I was thinking of pocketing the top surface of the plank for something like 3/8 x 2" flat bars, maybe one 8 or 9 inch length at each end. Maybe drill and tap holes to bolt the feet down from the top, and extra holes to bolt the bars thru the surface.

Blocking around each side of the motor might be enough to stop the motor from bouncing around.

Nice lathe.

TomKro
 
I agree with Winegrower in concept, but you will learn an awful lot from this 400 that will serve you well if you upgrade in the future. And you can always sell it to finance a newer machine.

The lumber will have a tendency to absorb and then release minute amounts of atmospheric moisture (Oregon City near the coast?), which will move the level around some. But not the end of the world. The short Logan beds are pretty stout and you'll just have to check once in a while to keep the twist out.

If I understand the 'bounce', some woodworking machines rely on motor weight rather than a fixed tension on the motor belt, but most metalworking machines don't. I'd try it for a while, let the motor rev up and get the spindle moving before putting on a load, and see how it performs. Then decide if you need to upgrade the motor mount.
 
I agree with the comment re needing a QCGB; can't imagine being happy with my Logan without one. By the way, nice VW in the driveway of your first picture. 65, 66?

Tim
 
The reason that most woodworking machines can get away with letting the weight of the motor set the motor belt tension is that almost all woodworking cutters are multi-point and almost all metal lathe cutters are single point. You almost never encounter what are known as "interrupted cuts" on woodworking machines. Interrupted cuts will cause the unrestrained drive motor to bounce. Which is decidedly undesirable.
 
I agree with the comment re needing a QCGB; can't imagine being happy with my Logan without one. By the way, nice VW in the driveway of your first picture. 65, 66?

Tim
64 backdated to 63 with roof grafted in.
 
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