My name is Dustin and I have an old iron addiction

[averagef250]

Didn't have any war ordinance boards plaques on it, but there were quite a few old hammer rivet heads where plaques used to be so it's difficult to say. "oil the worm"- That's a good one.

I picked up the parts from hot tanking this morning and they really look great. When this lathe was new the top surfaces of the carraige were precision ground or planed and flaked. I'm going to see what a big local grinding out fit will charge to precision grind these flats again. I've done it to mill tables in the past and it made it look like a new machine. I'm also looking for someone who can plate the graduated dials satin chrome. I'm writing a program ordering material and building a fixture to hold some 1X2 bronze stock in my Mazak and cut new nuts for the cross slide. I'll make a few extras as well. Wonder if needing to turn the crossfeed nuts is a good enough reason to legitimately defend owning two medium weight production lathes?

[Ranchero50]

Hey Dustin, not to highjack but thought I'd share a common thread. I have an old iron addiction too... I picked up a '52 Logan 925 last night for the princly sum of $375. The poor thing looks like the arse end of the moon but when checked with a dial I couldn't find any wear on the ways or spindle. Even the tailstock didn't droop when run out. Of course the 'Bureau of Standards' tag on the bed makes sense that since the govt. had it that it wouldn't have any wear marks... It still has the original toolpost and even the original 1952 motor and controls. Looks like it was stored in a drafty govt. warehouse for 50 years and sold at auction. It weighs somewhere North of 850lbs, engine crane and a lift gate pickup brought it home two miles last night with the crane hanging off the back of the raised gate. I'll try to get some pictures today as I unload and clean it up.

Did you get any paper with yours? I found Logan Actuators still supports parts for mine and I downloaded the op manual for $25 yesterday.

The black filler was a tar like really thick paint substance if I remember right.

I agree, the flame stamp is a really good sign.

Jamie

[averagef250]

Hey Dustin, not to highjack but thought I'd share a common thread. I have an old iron addiction too... I picked up a '52 Logan 925 last night for the princly sum of $375. The poor thing looks like the arse end of the moon but when checked with a dial I couldn't find any wear on the ways or spindle. Even the tailstock didn't droop when run out. Of course the 'Bureau of Standards' tag on the bed makes sense that since the govt. had it that it wouldn't have any wear marks... It still has the original toolpost and even the original 1952 motor and controls. Looks like it was stored in a drafty govt. warehouse for 50 years and sold at auction. It weighs somewhere North of 850lbs, engine crane and a lift gate pickup brought it home two miles last night with the crane hanging off the back of the raised gate. I'll try to get some pictures today as I unload and clean it up.

Did you get any paper with yours? I found Logan Actuators still supports parts for mine and I downloaded the op manual for $25 yesterday.

The black filler was a tar like really thick paint substance if I remember right.

I agree, the flame stamp is a really good sign.

Jamie

I ran a Logan around that vintage in my high school shop class. It was around a 12X36 and had a flat belt drive with the motor under the headstock. It was well worn, but fun to operate. Put up some pictures when you get a chance.

I didn't get any paperwork with this Reed, but part of the reason I bought it is a good friend has owned several RP's and knows them pretty well. When I told him I was buying this 16X80 he showed me to his office where he pulled an original RP manual for my machine from his filing cabinet. I've got the manual on loan until I get the lathe back together.

I should also mention I found a large US Navy anchor stamp on the front of the carraige once the parts came back from tanking cleaned up.

Right now I'm trying to get room in the shop to spray the ways so the project is at a standstill. I'm trying to find any information on setting up the spindle bearings as I'm removing the spindle for cleaning. I'm also trying to locate an L-1 spindle spanner wrench to remove and install the chucks. I've found someone to make one for a great price, but I'd really like to find the right size fixed hook spanner for the job.

[averagef250]

I finally got the ways and main leg castings of the lathe primed and painted today. It's been sitting stripped to bare iron in the shop for a few weeks now while I was working on another paying project. I had a few days break while I'm waiting a few parts to show up for the other project so I had the time to prep and paint the RP.

I have this lathe completely torn down except for the headstock. Overall I've been happy to find everything is in good shape except for the base of the tailstock which does have about .020" of wear on it's flat way surfaces. I will evaluate what do do with the tailstock when I reassemble the machine. When I get the apron, carraige and feedboxes painted and reassembled on the machine the last step will be to tackle the headstock. I've done some serious research regarding dealing with the class zero precision Timkens on the spindle and against the advice of everyone with an opinion on the matter I will be completely disassembling and reassembling the headstock including removal, cleaning and reassembly of the spindle. I plan to painstakingly document the headstock disassembly and reassembly process since information on this subject is very hard to come up with.

In addition to the restoration of this lathe I'm also planning to update the spindle drive. The spindle is currently powered by a 5 HP 1160 RPM AC motor that's 1943 vintage. Works fine and I'm sure it'll go another 50 years with some grease every decade. However, I would like the ability to run more than 475 RPM on occasion. Everything I've seen says this lathe's spindle headstock will handle 2000 rpm and twice it's current 5 HP without any issue. I'm going to watch for a 80's or 90's cnc lathe being scrapped and try to get a deal on a 7-10 HP DC spindle motor and drive to adapt for this RP. I've come to love change on the fly DC variable speed, especially a big HP DC drive that'll power through a heavy cut at low RPM without a sweat.

[papabug71]

Dustin, you should see the machine shop on the ammo plant I work for. It was built it 1942 as a Navy ammunition depot. All of the old machines have been sitting in the same place since '42. They are some old school machines & they are in mint condition. They get used every day, but they are totally pampered. The shop itself is massive. Its every bit of 200k square feet. Its just a massive building FULL of old machines like the ones in your pics.

I would get pictures, but if I get caught with a camera on base Im automatically out the gate & the CIA/FBI will be beating down my door.

[averagef250]

I'd love to see a shop like that. It doesn't seam there are places like that out west. I forgot to post the progress pictures the other day so here they are. I used Cloverdale Clovaprime 21 and Cloverdale Clovathane Epoxy Urathane light Ford Gray equipment enamel. The color is dead nuts on for what I wanted, it looks real sharp in person.

forsale2009 003.jpg

[averagef250]

and one more

[papabug71]

Looks good to me. I bet the old machine is glad to have a 2nd lease on life.

[averagef250]

Looks good to me. I bet the old machine is glad to have a 2nd lease on life.

Thanks for the kind words. If the Reed's happy, I'm happy.

[Bumpside Collector]

Man that is pretty cool. I like anything old like that. I bet when you get it finished it will be a joy to turn stuff on it.

[averagef250]

Progress has been slow, but still moving forward with this old machine.

The headstock has been a major project inside itself. An immediate hurdle once getting into it was removing the spindle. The large bull gear is a keyed taper fit onto the spindle. I had to build some fixtures and use the hydraulic powerhead from my 35 ton puller to seperate the bull gear loose from the spindle. I had the entire headstock casting hot tanked to remove all traces of 70 years of crap build up.

It was unbelievable how much junk was in that headstock. If I had given a better look inside the headstock before buying this machine I'd have passed it by. I've questioned my sanity at points working on this machine over why I'm putting so much time and effort into it's resurrection. All the bearings in the headstock were trash. To add insult to injury the work end spindle bearings, the big $$$$ class zeros, were destroyed at some point and replaced with regular tapered bearings. The main forward thrust Timken cone actually spun on the spindle. My heart dropped when I disassembled the spindle to find loctite holding the main thrust bearing onto the spindle.

Around the same time the spindles dirty secret was discovered a friend did something way above and beyond my wildest expectations by locating a 16X54 reed prentice that has the parts this lathe needs. At this point the lathe is around 60% complete. 75% of the paintwork is done, all the components are cleaned, I've crossed all the old open face bearings and leather seals over to modern sealed bearings and rubber seals and purchased replacements along with 5 gallons of Mobil DTE ISO 96 heavy medium machine oil for the headstock and feed gear sumps and 5 gallons of Mobil Vactra #2 way oil for the apron and oil cups.

I hope to pick up the seond 16" parts reed prentice next week for the parts to finish this fine old machine. Here's some pictures of how it sits now. I did re-install the damaged spindle for both some practice and to use the lathe for indicating in some long parts.

[Ranchero50]

Wow, locktight...

I feel pretty good that my spindle bearings are just a plain old 6110 with a snap ring and a 6109. Trying to get C1 or C2 bearings for it now since the old grease loosened in the bath and now they feel horrible.

Jamie

[papabug71]

Sounds like its had a hard life. Im sure it will last you a lifetime when you get done with it tho.

Keep up the good work.

[thebannister8]

this is awesome stuff ...it's looking great

[averagef250]

Sounds like its had a hard life. Im sure it will last you a lifetime when you get done with it tho.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the encouragement.

I hope it will last me a lifetime. At the most I will use it a few hours every day. I figure this lathe was used 24/7 for it's first 2 years of life and then neglected for the next 65 years. Actually, I don't think this machine was intentionally abused. I can see signs of things that weren't oiled enough (like the tailstock ways), but overall most of the machines major problems appear to be caused by poor workmanship on behalf of whomever was maintaining/repairing the machine. I think the headstock was run on 90wt gear oil instead of machine oil, all the oil seals and fittings below the oil sump level in the headstock leaked badly, the cause for running low on oil and wiping the spindle bearings. The most damage to the machine was caused by using steel drifts to remove and install the dozen or more spanner nuts inside the headstock and I believe the reason why so much foreign junk was in the headstock was due to someone leaving the lid off the headstock for an extended period in a dirty shop while trying to fix it. There was also a lot of rust in the headstock from condensation, I blame some of the rust on the owner before me who pressure washed the machine when he got it then let it sit for a couple years with water in it's oil sumps.