Logan 840 10" lathe. Of any use for gunsmithing and general home projects?

[ulav8r]

That would be a nice light gunsmithing lathe once repaired and cleaned up. There is a steady rest in one of the crates, that would be useful for rifle barrel work. May or may not be a 4 jaw chuck inlude, none was visible. Expect to spend 40 to 80 hours repair/cleaning to get it running good. Even if worn, it could still produce good work, would just require more skill from the operator.

If at all possible, get some training in operating, such as community college or vo-tech.

[Scrounge]

That would be a nice light gunsmithing lathe once repaired and cleaned up. There is a steady rest in one of the crates, that would be useful for rifle barrel work. May or may not be a 4 jaw chuck inlude, none was visible. Expect to spend 40 to 80 hours repair/cleaning to get it running good. Even if worn, it could still produce good work, would just require more skill from the operator.

If at all possible, get some training in operating, such as community college or vo-tech.

I'll second the training. I've been going very part time for over 5 years, life and medical issues confusing and interrupting things, and I've still learned a whole bunch of good stuff, and made some pretty cool stuff.



One of the left is a factory .310 Lyman sizing and lubing die. One of the right is a prototype in mild steel of a .316 sizing & lubing die. Pin in O1 steel. I need to bulldoze a bit more path to the reloading bench and try it out to see how well it works, if at all. Then I'll have a better idea of what to do with the stressproof stock I bought. If it works well, I may just caseharden it. This was made on the school machines, but using the tooling and such I have for my Atlas and HF lathes.

Speaking of tooling, you'll need a bunch! I have a number of hobbies, including rebuilding machine tools, for which a lathe is essential! Yeah! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[kens]

Did you get it??

[corbinace]

No, I had a personal limit of $700 and it was beyond that amount. The winning bid was not too far over that though. $741 or 744, I do not remember exactly.

Maybe if I had broken my limit, but who knows. I can rest easy knowing I held my ground and there will be another one another day. I am a bit wiser know, with all of the help and maybe I will be ready with a bit higher limit when the next one shows up.

Thank you one and all for the help, enabling and general good will.

Tim

[bangerjim]

Remember................it only takes 2 people to REEEEEEEEELY want something at an auction. I hate auctions. Never participate at all. Avoid them like the China Virus!

That $750 price range was VERY good, if it was not totally worn out. Lathes DO wear out, you know! Even good ones like that one.

Years ago when I used to bid at live auctions in the Midwest, I would set a price limit like your $700, and always have a couple $100 bills in my sock! You just never know what might come along.

There will be others. Just keep looking.

banger

[country gent]

The auctions get interesting, especially the "in person" ones.Went to an uncles estate auction a few years ago.I was interested in his lathe a very little logan 6x12 or so bench top, change gears for feeds and threading. A dead center full set of gears, a couple lathe dogs and a face plate, the only chuck was a 1" jacobs threaded for the spindle. It was a low use machine and in very good shape. I gave the opening bid and ran to $500.00. Lack of tooling and size this was about what it was worth. The other 2 bidding ran it up to $2300.00. A new Jet 12 X 40 with stock tooling package. I only gave $2000.00 for the clausing style 12 X 40 with all its tooling included. 2 3 jaws a 4 jaw several live centers follower and steady rests. Vollets and lever collet actuator. A full set of 5c collets by 64s. Along with aloris tooling tool holders and cutting tools.

Watch and be patient get word out to people what your interested in and it will turn up

At $750 it wasnt a bad buy if inspected and in good shape. Unknown condition Its on the high side I think.

Ideally the machine is under power and you can hear it run and take a pass or 2 on a piece of stock.

[ulav8r]

Snip I gave the opening bid and ran to $500.00. Lack of tooling and size this was about what it was worth. The other 2 bidding ran it up to $2300.00. Snip

Never place the first bid at a live auction, or the second bid. Wait til the bidding stops and the auctioneer is begging for another bid, then bid if the price is still acceptable.

[Buckshot]

...............If you REALLY want a lathe, let as many of your friends know as possible. Be sure they know what a lathe is! Another thing is that you should be prepared to 'JUMP' if something good comes up. Also be prepared to possibly have to pay a bit more then you want to. I really don't know how many places around anymore even HAVE a lathe. So much today is manufactured in such a way that the only way to get it repaired is to ship it back to the manufacturer.



I was very lucky to have found an 11" Logan Lathe, actually made by Powermatic as they bought Logan. Even better was that it came with a bunch of stuff, such as a bed turret, a 6 jaw Buck adjust tru chuck in addition to face plates and other odds and ends. When looking at a lathe, the most important area to pay attention to is the first 24" in front of the head stock, as that will be the area having the most wear.

I used to practically live on E-Bay and a couple other similar sites. One time there was a school district back east that was getting rid of a bunch of stuff. They had 3 BRAND NEW 11" Logan lathes, still in their original shipping crates sitting in their warehouse. Since they were no longer going to be offering any manual arts classes in their high schools any longer, these 3 new lathes were excess to their needs. I do not recall now what they sold for but it was a good enough deal that had I not already had a used/good enough unit I'd have been on a round trip from California to eastern Pennsylvania in a hot second.

................Buckshot

[john.k]

I used to buy lots of machines,condition from the worst of school training lathes,to lathes from the military ,unused ,but dismantled for some reason known only to the military mind.....A couple of years ago I was given a lathe in pieces that had been bootlegged out of an air force base.....not a tiddler either ,a 13x36 Colchester roundtop.......Yes ,the mysteries of the military mind.(snoozing in the gatehouse?)

[country gent]

Several places to look and watch. 1) local tool shops and s machinist supply shops. they may actually deal i used equipment or they hear about it. 2)The local machine shops in your area. They have what you are looking for and may know of excess machinery. 3) There are several online vendors auctions that deal with machinery Bid Spotter . com is one that is auction sites all over but there is a lot of things showing up. I subscribe to this site and Im getting 4-6 auction notifications a day. 4) As mentioned friends and family. 5) The local gun shops and ranges. Here there is again a lot of chatting and bartering. The original owner of our local gun shop had leads on machines quite often

The more eyes and ears you have out there the better. Watch the estate auctions there a lot of equipment forgotten about in basements, garages and barns.

Also keep in mind lathes are some what regional by maker. Monarch, Sheldon, Logan, Hendi, south bend, Atlas, clausing, Hardringe, Cincinnati, warner and Swasey. Lodge and Shippley were all makers and more popular in some areas than others.

Also buying a new machine offers some advantages over used. 1) You can get just the machine you want. 2) most come with a basic tooling package that gets you started out. 3) delivery cam sometimes be bartered as part of the deal. 4) You know what your getting. Here look at the grizzly machines , jet machines. Also keep in mind the support equipment you need or want a drill press, bench grinders for sharpening tools, bench, along with storage cabinets tool boxes and measuring equipment