Logan or step up to the Clausing

[Chopper1]

Looking for a bit of advice on a lathe purchase. I currently have an opportunity to buy a old, but in really good shape, little used Logan 820 10x24 which comes with a full selection of tooling. There's also a one owner Clausing 5914 12x36 that was used in a job shop by a machinist that is in fair shape, but will need repairs to the VSD, probably a master/slave rebuild. The Clausing comes with minimal tooling. Is the Clausing worth the extra $600? Given the repairs needed I may be able to negotiate a bit. Thanks

 

[epanzella]

IMO Clausing. Not even close.

 

[P. Waller]

I owned a Clausing 13 X 48 lathe for about 20 years, excellent light machine, probably the one that you are looking at has a far higher spindle speed then the Logan which will be very useful down the road. The Reeves drive is a bit difficult or expensive to repair but if you have a second working lathe you can make most of the parts required, the brake/clutch plates are more difficult to fix.
If it is under power have the seller wick up the speed to maximum which could be every bit of 3000 RPMs.
If it vibrates enough to walk out of the building then the drive is most likely shot, if is is smooth at maximum speed buy it.

 

[Dhector]

From what I understand, the 5914 and the 6913 are relatively close machines in some aspects. But take this into consideration, I know very little about this machining stuff. My reeves drive was toast when I got mine. Original owner stuck a VFD on it and it worked. Vibrated pretty bad, but none the less it worked ok. Here is a thread to check out my roller coaster ride learning and fixing the machine, form all the great help from this forum. I don't know if they are exact in every aspect(guessing they are not, but I thought they were somewhat similar) If anythings helps you in the thread, cool. Mine is running very smooth now.

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/new-clausing-6913-gear-box-engagement-lever-fixed.58490/