Adapting a milling attachment to a Logan lathe

I recently acquired a Logan Model 200 lathe to replace an Atlas/Craftsman 12 X 26 lathe. Now I can hold my head up high on this forum, instead of slinking around and having to admit that I have a "lathe-that-must-not-be-named".
I kept some of the accessories when I sold the Atlas. The headstock taper and threads were the same on both lathes, so most accessories would interchange.
One of the accessories I kept was an Atlas milling attachment.However, it won't directly interchange. On the Atlas lathe, the compound is removed, and the milling attachment fits over the dovetail on the cross-slide.It is locked to the cross-slide with two angled pins. The Logan lathe doesn't have the same type dovetail on the cross-slide, so I'm going to have to make some sort of adapter for it.
Has anyone here adapted a Logan lathe to fit an Atlas milling attachment? I have a couple of ideas, but I'd like to hear how someone else has done it, so I don't re-invent the wheel.
Thanks for any advice.
Rick W

Hey Rick;

Probably the same advice over here. Unless someone has done that very thing, it will be down to pics of what you are trying, and someone coming up with a solution. Pics are king. Knowing how the unmentionable brand attachment, um.. attaches... as designed relative to how the Logan is configured is the key. My brain is conjuring up something made with a spare Logan compound, which will be easy to find out there on those famous seller sites.

On the other forum, the advice was to get a Palmgren milling attachment, which attaches to the tool post.That may be a solution, but I'm not sure it would be any more rigid than the Atlas.
One of my ideas is to make a piece to fit in to the base of the Atlas, and then to attach that to a flat plate that can be attached to the compound or the cross-slide of the Logan. However, I can't visualise how the compound attaches to the cross-slide, and the lathe is at my friend's shop 15 miles from me!
Rick W

I got my first metal lathe in 1954, so I have had a long time to learn what works. I owned two of the un-named 12x36 lathes (a used 1945 model and then a brand new 1972 model) and a new factory milling attachment and end mill holder for the spindle. It was nearly useless for milling and demonstrated the need for a real mill and a better lathe, which I still have. In other words, don't modify your milling attachment and don't ruin any of your lathe components. Sell the attachment to an optimist, who may even pay more than you did. Forget the Palmgren, it is no better, even if it is easy to mount. Keep your lathe if it is any good. Don't consider an x-y table for your drill press. Get a mill.

Larry

What L Vanice sais. A milling attachment is no substitute for a real milling machine, even a cheap one. The smaller lathes are just not rigid enough for the task. I had a palmgren milling attachment once and sold it for more than I payed for a Rockwell knee mill.

I knew someone would tell me not to bother with a milling attachment and to buy a real mill. And they're right.
But I haven't found a milling machine yet. Anyone have one for sale, or to trade for an Atlas milling attachment?

See....

That is what I DIDN'T say over there when I gave the same final advice (buy a mill). Being fortunate to have a mill, and knowing how unruly they can be if you use them wrong, I can't IMAGINE milling on a lathe working very well at all. Not any of the small lathes Logan made anyway. Table play on a mill is enough to work around. Carriage + crossfeed + compound play = an exponential amount of chatter. Tool breaking machine wrecking chatter.

Since the best lessons are learned through experience, save the A@%#&$ attachment and buy a Palmgren to try straight up. When you find it is not very satisfactory, at least they are still unmodified and more easily salable to someone else who needs to learn the lesson. For the record, I thought of the same thing, but rejected it based on HAVING a mill, and intuiting what I just foretold.

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Reporting Live from Icy Brockville, Ont.

Until you get the mill you, I would forget the attchment and make a table that bolts to the cross feed to mill on. remove the compound, find a plate/ piece of cast/old small mill table and use the lathe like a horizontal with serious y axis. you can use shims to change the z. its not perfect, but its more rigid than a milling attachment.

Having been down a similar road, I agree with everybody else. Even a small horizontal like my first mill (Burke #4) is so much better and attachments like yours seem to bring good money so it may be attainable. OK, back to your question. If I remember correctly (seldom happens) your attachment has a "hole" in the bottom that mates with a spigot with an angle turned in it and the Logan will have a similar recess in the cross slide. Maybe you could turn a short piece of round stock to suit the diameters of the two recesses and hold it like it would have been on the original machine.
Rick