- Joined
- Jul 27, 2013
- Messages
- 295
Hi All;
I have been in the midst of a Logan 200 resurrection for about a year now. The back story is that my father bought this lathe many years ago, but never really used it that I can recall. For some reason I never really developed any overriding interest in learning to use these machines (we have two lathes and a vertical mill), which puzzles me a bit, frankly. Fear of my ignorance I guess. I don't know. Well, a sudden impulse to start building my own mountain bikes (another hobby of mine) seemed to kindle a very strong desire to learn how to machine properly. I guess it took the need to create the want. I'm hooked!
Although it is by no means a seminal example of this ubiquitous machine, if you can assume they used sequential numbering, at serial #15235, it is still a very early example of the first of these lathes to wear the Logan name (having been sold only by Montgomery Wards as "Powercraft" previously). the serial places it somewhere in 1942 vintage, I believe; about 2 short years after production began. It is amazing to think of fifteen thousand lathes, and even more so to realize that there were some seventy five thousand still to come before Logan stopped production.
It is a simple change gear model, with both power carriage and cross feeds. It has the very early front opening in the case for the power switch, where most 200s had the drum switch mounted on the primary drive belt guard frame. It also has an early version of the Logan nameplate that you will rarely see, with no model number displayed. I fairly suddenly dove into figuring out why the Logan had never been used, and it didn't take long to find out. Here's where we started;
Sharp eyed viewers have already noted some minor problems, and some truly scary ones!
I have been in the midst of a Logan 200 resurrection for about a year now. The back story is that my father bought this lathe many years ago, but never really used it that I can recall. For some reason I never really developed any overriding interest in learning to use these machines (we have two lathes and a vertical mill), which puzzles me a bit, frankly. Fear of my ignorance I guess. I don't know. Well, a sudden impulse to start building my own mountain bikes (another hobby of mine) seemed to kindle a very strong desire to learn how to machine properly. I guess it took the need to create the want. I'm hooked!
Although it is by no means a seminal example of this ubiquitous machine, if you can assume they used sequential numbering, at serial #15235, it is still a very early example of the first of these lathes to wear the Logan name (having been sold only by Montgomery Wards as "Powercraft" previously). the serial places it somewhere in 1942 vintage, I believe; about 2 short years after production began. It is amazing to think of fifteen thousand lathes, and even more so to realize that there were some seventy five thousand still to come before Logan stopped production.
It is a simple change gear model, with both power carriage and cross feeds. It has the very early front opening in the case for the power switch, where most 200s had the drum switch mounted on the primary drive belt guard frame. It also has an early version of the Logan nameplate that you will rarely see, with no model number displayed. I fairly suddenly dove into figuring out why the Logan had never been used, and it didn't take long to find out. Here's where we started;
Sharp eyed viewers have already noted some minor problems, and some truly scary ones!
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