My Best Reloading Accessory

[Char-Gar]

Santa came though and now I have a decent camera. My first pic is of my favorite reloading tool/acessory. My 1947 Logan lathe, original paint, and ready to run. Any reloading room or home gun shop with a lathe is elevated to a whole different level. In many regards, it sets the owner free from bondage to have only what others sell. Anyway...here she is!

[BudRow]

Chargar, your text borders on poetry. I too have a lathe for my hobby / gun work. It is a 9" South Bend floor model with a taper attachment. Like an aceytlene torch and vise grips, I find it indispensable. It compiments my Bridgeport mill and surface grinder.
Best Wishes, Bud

[1hole]

"Any reloading room or home gun shop with a lathe is elevated to a whole different level. "

Very true. Mine is a South Bend 9" Mod. A (quick change gear box for thread cutting) with a full set of 3C collets in 1/64ths, all from about 1955 (I think!), love it. But mine's not as pristine as yours!

[Doc Highwall]

I have a old Wade lathe and a Bridgeport with a "J" head, cut off saw and a compressor, along with a complete wood shop.

[deltaenterprizes]

I would be lost without my lathe and mill. I started with a little Southbend similar in size to your Logan and have had a couple a little larger a P&W 12x30 Model "B", Southbend 12x36 G-26T and now a 14x40 Victor to rebarrel Remington 700s and have done a couple of 98 Mausers too.
What is nice is looking at things and saying "I can make hat in about an hour" and then go make it from parts in the scrap bin!

[Sprue]

I too am an aspiring hobbyist with an old vintage 1945 Logan. It not only compliments the reload bench but also the many various other interests 'round here. A QC tool post is in the works.

Nice pic, nice machine.

[timkelley]

I'd be pleased to know how to work mills and lathes.

[Char-Gar]

noclue.... It isn't rocket science. There are books, videos and plenty of help from folks on this and other boards. In 1969 I took a basic machine shop course at night from a local community college. I still draw from that class today. In that class I learned the basics of:

measuring
lay out
drilling and taping
using the drill press
using the lathe
using the milling machine

There are three different colleges within 30 miles of where I live now that offer the same course. Such courses are time and money well spent for the hobby gunsmith.

[mike in co]

while i have a lathe, power band saw, two drill presses, two air compressors....

the BEST relaoding tool

resides

BETWEEN MY EARS........

THINKING...much better than following

mike in co

[cheese1566]

I want one!

and a mini-mill too!

[Bret4207]

Buncha braggers is what youse guys is!!! But, I agree completely.

[elk hunter]

Chargar;

Nice lathe. I had one like it that my mother-in-law gave me back in the early 70's. Used it until a few years ago when I gave it to my youngest, needed the bench space. You're right about having one in the shop, I made and repaired a ton of things with it. Once you have had a lathe it would be hard to get by without one.

[StarMetal]

Charger,

If I had gotten a good lathe and milling machine in my younger days I'm sure I'd be in a federal prison. [smilie=1:

Joe

[Philngruvy]

Charger,

If I had gotten a good lathe and milling machine in my younger days I'm sure I'd be in a federal prison. [smilie=1:

Joe

I can relate, Joe. Living on the edge is where it is happpening!
Ron

[John Guedry]

Ilike all the notes and reminders on the front of the bench!

[Doc Highwall]

I second what joe said.

[Char-Gar]

John... For some reason my head won't hold numbers, so I wrote all of the various speeds with the different belt positions on the pulleys (spindle, motor) and with the back gears out and on the front of the bench. Saves me hunting them up in the manual every time I need to know.

It is a change gear lathe and I have the full set of gears. Logan, like other makers put a nice little chart on the inside of the gear cover. It take a few minutes, but I can change the gear train to cut any number of threads per inch I am likely to need. A change gear box would be nice, but I can live without it.

The lathe came with both 4 jaw independent and 3 jaw scroll chucks, face plate and dogs, tail stock chuck, milling attatchment and a bunch of other stuff. I have bought a 5C collet chuck and backplate along with the collets. Those cost more than I paid for the lathe. I now need a quick change tool post, but that will come in time as the money becomes available.

[Char-Gar]

Joe... I thought you WERE doing all of your posting from the prison library! :-)

[MT Gianni]

It looks like retirement is agreeing with you. Enjoy it well.

[deltaenterprizes]

Chargar, what is the swing of your lathe? I have a used quick change tool post.

[jlchucker]

Nice looking little lathe. Now you need a nice little mill to match, and a nice little surface grinder as well. To do some precision work and be able to check it out to really close tolerances, a little bench-mounted optical comparator along the lines of a J&L TC 14 would complete your setup.

[Char-Gar]

Delta... is a 9" swing lathe.

[Tazman1602]

That's a nice piece man. I've got a Grizzly 9 x 20 and it isn't big enough through the headstock to thread Mauser barrels. Price was right but I had to do about 40 hours worth of machining to straighten it up and make it right. Real nice though. Once I run into an extra 10 grand or so I'm gonna buy one of these:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/16-x-40-3-Phase-Gunsmith-Metal-Lathe/G0509G

[deltaenterprizes]

That's a nice piece man. I've got a Grizzly 9 x 20 and it isn't big enough through the headstock to thread Mauser barrels. Price was right but I had to do about 40 hours worth of machining to straighten it up and make it right. Real nice though. Once I run into an extra 10 grand or so I'm gonna buy one of these:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/16-x-40-3-Phase-Gunsmith-Metal-Lathe/G0509G

I got my Victor 14 x 40 tool room lathe for $2800. The extra swing is not worth $4000 and you can make your own out board spider.

I bought a new Grizzly for $4000 it is ok but a used Bridgeport would as good and maybe less. Look around, you will be surprised at what is out there.
Try checking out The Practical Machinist Forum for used metal working machines.

[Tazman1602]

I appreciate that one Delta..............Thanks

Art

[rickster]

Good looking lathe. And a very handy size too.

Cant believe the condition. Did the previous owner spend all his lathe time time just admiring it?

Mine is a Jet 13x40 belt drive bought new about 20 years ago with overtime money. Gets used at least once a week on general principle. Been hooked on lathes since running a 9" South Bend 30 some years ago while in college. Those years without one were pure hell.

[Char-Gar]

Rickster.. My lathe belonged to some guy in Long Island New York who bought it new and had it is his basement workshop. He died some years ago and it just set there for another 20 years until some guy bought it and sold it on Ebay in 2002.

I took a chance and bought it. The seller broke it down and shipped it to me in four or five boxes. I knew nothing about lathes but my son and I put it together. We removed layers of old oil and grease. I moved and it remained on my desk in the den until I moved to my retirement home in june of 08. At last I had a shop, and built the bench in the pic. Early this year (2009) I got it all together, wired up and threw the switch.

It took a little adjustment here and there, but it has all the accuracy it left the factory with. Needless to say, I lucked out and am very happy with the purchase. I enjoy it very much and learn something new every week about how to use it. Best money I ever spent.

My first experience with a lathe was in the late 50's with a Sheldon that belonged to our local gunsmieth. Later I learned to run a 13 X 40 South Bend at South Plains College in Levelland Texas. I have wanted a lathe for over 50 years and now I have one. I am very pleased. It isn't big enough to do rifle barrels, but it will do just about anything else. It's small size means I have to take things slow, but I am in no hurry and have no place to go. My time no longer has any value to it. It is mine to do with as I like.

[Echo]

chargar, we had a quick-change Logan in our garage when I was growing up. It was just like yours, but it was the toolroom model, with it's own cabinet it stood on. So much fun - made a gear shift knob out of plastic for our '51 Kaiser, a custom mouthpiece for my trombone, and so on. Wish I had one now...

[Buckshot]

...........There is the old saying out there that "If you have a good lathe, you can make another lathe", or another way "The lathe is the only machine that can duplicate itself". Another nifty one that I believe is, "They should give anyone a lathe who wants one as they'll make plenty of money on tooling". It's interesting too that a lot of new lathe owners will spend considerable time with their new machines making accessories for it ;) The very first thing I made on my lathe was a new larger thread chasing dial:

http://www.fototime.com/358E1CBF55A374B/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/E96B6C4230D9156/standard.jpg

I promised myself I'd change out that welded on washer, but it's been there 5 years now and don't even notice it anymore! It's very neat to be reloading and decide you need a different "M" type casemouth expander and just turn around to your lathe, and make one. Or to have an idea pop into your head because it works for one type case, why not another: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=70583

The thing is, it does not take formal schooling to turn the desire for a lathe into aquiring one and using it. Nor does it require any special genes in anyone's makeup to use one. Like any power tool they're totally ruthless with unsafe practices, so care should be used and most basic "How To" type lathe books list the no-no's. Also reading such books will prove that most all lathe operations are simple, straightforward, and are basically very sensible. You do not have to be mechanically inclined either.

There are things to learn about how to do operations correctly (or the 'Best' way), and the use of tools, but these also are straightforward and without any voo-doo. You do not need a big lathe to do lots of stuff. The small 7" machines are very capable and there is a TON of accessories for them to enhance thier abilities. Plus they don't weigh much and they don't cost an arm and a leg either. If you want to see what people have done with them just do a web search for 7x10 and you'll see. One of the best is: http://www.varmintal.com/alath.htm

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

[StarMetal]

The first time I ran a lathe was when I was about 18-19 in the Navy. It was in our Destroyer's machine shop. The machinist was a nice guy and showed me some basics. Fast forward many many years and I got a desire I wanted a 30 Luger barrel for my 1911 Colt. Not to be found anywhere and prohibitively expensive to have made. I bought a lathe and made the barrel and am having fun shooting it. You may ask how did I rifle it? I used the liner method. My donor barrel liner was a Rem 30-06 barrel. Not only did I amaze myself I amazed Buckshot...ask him.

Joe

[Char-Gar]

Buckshot... I am glad you made that thread chasing dial, because your old one is on my lathe in the picture. I need to paint it to match. I filled in the marks and numbers with red enamel and it works just fine. Thanks again!