Mark

I have had a Logan 9x17 for a couple years. The reason you don't see
parts on ebay is because fes are parted out - they last. If you need
parts, Scott Logan maintains a parts stock for most models, mostly as a
hobby and a tribute to his ancestry. He also hosts a nice website and
moderates a Yahoo group for Logan enthusiasts. These are nice, durable
machines which are probably at the top end of the hobbiest "old iron".

A bought an Atlas 10x36 last summer, as a basket case. I am almost
finished rebuilding it, using the Logan to make a lot of the parts.
Clausing still offers many of the replacement parts, but some key items
are not available. For example, there is a little pot-metal casting with
two gears in it that connects the carriage handwheel to the rack. About
half of them are broken, but still in use. Makes the handwheel action
very sloppy. If you look at the apron on the headstock side, in the gap
between apron and bed, you can see it. If it moves around when you crank
the handwheel it's broken. They go on ebay for $50 and up.
The Atlas has been a fun project, and it's a nice machine after the
refurbishing, but I will keep the Logan and sell the Atlas.

As for value, if you haven't found a lathe like these under $500, you
aren't looking hard enough. The only way I'd pay $800 for an older lathe
is if it's like new and has QC and tooling. But then I'm a bargain-hunter.

Good luck

Rex B
Fort Worth


J. Mark Wolf wrote:
After many weeks of scouring the universe, I have found 3 lathes that
are available for the taking.

1. One is an old Craftsman/Atlas 12" x 24" that the owner describes as
being in pretty good shape. I haven't yet seen it, but he is sending me
pics. It has what he thinks is the original greenish paint, has the flat
bed, and the stand with heavy cast iron legs, a couple chucks, and
various pieces of tooling.

2. I have also found 2 old Logans with collet type headstock. Both are
in good working order, and seem to be in fair to good condition. I will
examine them a second time this week, and hear them run etc. They both
have the flat belt drive, one of them has the integrated belt tensioner
in the belt cover.

The price is approximately the same for all the lathes, $800 - $900.

The pro's and con's, as I see them, include:

Logans are much older, and I don't know what part availablilty is and
will continue to be.

The Logans have the flat belt drive, the Craftsman has the more modern
V-belt. Being a newbie I'm not sure if one is inherently better/worse
than the other, although continued availability of the flat belt is
certainly questionable.

There seems to be an absolute abundance of parts for the
Craftsman/Atlas series of lathes on Ebay. Logan seems to run a distant
third in this regard, just behind South Bend.

My intended use is a home/hobby lathe, making mostly aluminum parts.

Please provide opinions (be gentle, now) as to which would be the
better advised purchase decision.