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Need help identifying LeBlond lathe

ptikmclin

Plastic
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Hello all,
I am relatively new to machining and have recently begun the search for a lathe of my very own. I stumbled across a seller offering a LeBlond 13 (I assume it is a regal from the reading I have done on it). I have included a bunch of pictures, if anyone with more experience could give some insight into this machine, and whether it is a good first lathe to bring home? The seller is willing to accept $800 for the machine, along with a 3 jaw chuck, 4 jaw chuck, live center, tooling, drill chuck, and cutting tools in a 4 station tool holder.

Any advice and insight would be awesome, thanks!

I'm not sure how to post pictures yet, so here's the link to the album.
LeBlond - Album on Imgur
 
Imgur:

I am no hand at using modern things like computers, but did open your album. One picture of your lathe's apron and partial view of the cross slide did come through. The rest were pictures of your dogs.

You are in luck. I own the same model of LeBlond lathe that you seem to be interested in. I thought I had the only 13" Roundhead Regal lathe painted white, but you found another one.

The lathe you found is a 13" swing Roundhead Regal lathe. Judging by the apron and lack of a larger brass tag for the functions of the feed lever, I'd say you have a WWII era Roundhead Regal lathe.

To answer your questions: assuming the lathe is in good condition, then 800 bucks is a very fair price. The weak link in these roundhead Regal lathes is the higher speed gearing inside the headstock. It is quite light for the service it sees, and it is not uncommon to find these Roundhead Regal lathes with chipped or broken teeth on that gearing. Before you buy the lathe, ask the seller if you can open the headstock for inspection. There are four (4) socket head capscrews holding the top cover down. Make sure the power is turned off at some point other than at the reversing switch for the motor. Most Roundhead lathes had the drum-type reversing switch for the motor mounted on that top cover, so if you went to remove the top cover, the odds are better than not that you'd turn the motor on. Make sure a disconnect or line breaker is opened if the lathe can't be unplugged.

The headstock top cover is usually seated on a compressed cork gasket, which was shellacked to seal it. Bring a dead blow hammer and a piece of hardwood to coax the cover to break free. Bring a small light like a "Mag Light" or similar and a mechanic's magnet on a wand. Go fishing in the oil inside the headstock with the magnet and see if you bring up any slivers or shrapnel. This is a sign of heavy damage. LeBlond has a handwheel on the driveshaft of the headstock, outside the belt guard. This was put there to encourage lathe operators to carefully roll the gearing by hand to shift it into mesh. Use the handwheel to roll the gearing over with the cover off and inspect every gear tooth. Some chipping at the corners from shifting with things not quite stopped is not a good think, but not a deal breaker. Used gears exist for these lathes, so if you do see a damaged gear, be prepared to offer a lower price.

The ways on these lathes are not hardened, and as old as this lathe is, chances are the greatest wear is up by the headstock. You can get surprisingly accurate work out of a lathe with what appears to be a badly worn bed, but there are limits to how worn is too worn. If you can see and feel a ridge worn on the ways of the lathe such that you can catch it with your thumbnail, the lathe has been hard used. Not a deal breaker, but not a lathe that will be capable of toolroom accuracy.

My own Roundhead Regal has slight ridging on the ways, yet I can turn a diameter with less than 0.001" taper in about 6 inches. I "buck the tailstock in" using a test bar I made and a dial indicator for turning longer jobs.

The Roundhead Regal is a very user friendly lathe and as good a first machine as most and better than many. It will run rings around a Southbend lathe. It has a small spindle bore, and is setup to cut only inch-pitch threads. I lucked out on my own Roundhead Regal and discovered it had the extra change gears for cutting metric threads.

It turns a bit slower than modern lathes of equivalent size, and I use mostly high speed steel toolbits which I grind as needed. I like the Roundhead Regal lathe a lot, and get quite a bit of work out on it. Just this past week, I turned two pistons for a Navy steam launch engine in a friend's boat. I cut the pistons undersized, and we built them up with brazing. I then turned the pistons to the new required diameters and re-cut the ring grooves. I hit the diameters right on the thousandth needed.
The low pressure piston was about 8 1/16" diameter and just squeaked over the cross slide. I've done quite a few interesting jobs on my Roundhead Regal and try to baby it to avoid overloading the gearing in the headstock. Still, it has no problem peeling off 0.100-0.125" at a rip from steels like 4140. I've made tooling from old truck axle steel about 1 1/4" diameter and peeled off 0.100-0.125: on roughing cuts with a HSS toolbit, no problem.

Respect the lathe's limits, respect the fact it is not a high speed modern lathe so may not be the ideal for running indexable carbide tools, and respect the fact it has to be stroked and humored to work around the wear in it, and you will be surprised at the work you turn out.
 
Joe, thanks so much! That was incredibly thorough and really put a lot of worries and thoughts to rest. I'll let you know how it turns out when I go to look at it!
 
I have a 13" LeBlond serial B 9455. According to the original paperwork I have my lathe was ordered in Sept. 1945 and delivered in Feb. of 1946. Yours being B 9505, it should be another immediate post-WW2 machine. They were both probably in the same room together at LeBlond during their birth.

Excellent machine, not exactly svelte, but a great workhorse. You could definitely do far worse for a 1st lathe.

P1000975.jpgP1000977.jpg
 
I just came across this thread and laughed when I saw the photos, I bought this lathe last night. I just joined the site to start learning.

Gewehr's post made me laugh too, my Wife's maiden name is E. A. Kinsey. After seeing that I found a catalogue from 1930 and bought it to have at the house

Ptikmclin, did you ever go look at the lathe?
 
Kinsey like marking their stuff. My lathe was overpainted by them in their signature blue. I have a 1943 dated catalog of theirs, "Blue book of supplies and machine tools".


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If you ever need parts for this machine remember that this is a narrow bed model indicated by a "13" on the headstock. The ones that say "LeBlond" on the headstock are a wide bed. Things like the tailstock, saddle, crossfeed screw, etc are not interchangeable and you should verify before buying. For things like headstock gears, apron, QCGB, etc it will not matter.

Good lathe there. Had I known of it being for sale it would be in my shop.
 
I saw some completed listings on eBay for those placards, I'll have to keep an eye out for one
 
Hi, I'm new here and have a question. I just bought a LeBlond Regal and want to get some idea of date of manufacture. Serial # is: C 8748. I did check under the hood and the gears appear to be in good shape. The ways are difficult to asses immediately but are not nicked and trashed up as is so often the case. The previous user was a model steam RR buff. He also dealt in used machine tools in southern California so I figure his personal machine was pick of the litter. Hope this works, I'm struggling a bit with figuring out how to use this site. Thanks in advance to all, split-nut
 

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I am also new to this site. I just bought a Leblond Regal with a serial number 2B1057. Can anyone give me any info on this lathe?
 
There has been quite a bit of information posted on this 'board about the "Roundhead Regal" lathes. Rather than rehash it, I'd suggest you look it all up.

As an overview, if you get a copy of the manual "Running the Regal"- available as reprints on ebay for 20-25 bucks a copy- you will have the manual for your lathe.

If you contact LeBlond, Ltd. , they will at least tell you the date of manufacture and who the original buyer/owner of your lathe was.

ISO 46 oil in the headstock ( I use tractor hydraulic oil, which is an ISO 46 oil and contains anti-foam and anti-corrosion additives). ISO 46 corresponds to about an SAE 20 weight oil. LeBlond originally called for a straight 30 weight oil. That was in the 1940's. Over time, automotive oils got all kinds of additives and detergent, neither of which are good for an old lathe's headstock. 30 weight was also found to be a little to thick and tended to find its way out of the headstock when the lathe was running at higher speeds. LeBlond changed the spec to 20 weight oil some years ago. No multi-viscosity oils, no automotive crankcase oils, and no gear lube in the headstock.

These lathes are very user friendly. Just make sure the drive to the lathe and the spindle are fully stopped before attempting to change speeds. There is usually a handwheel on the belt guard. This handwheel lets the lathe operator roll the gearing as needed to get things into mesh when changing speeds. Make sure the speed selector lever detents (balls and springs) are completely seated in the indents in the headstock. If these are not quite fully seated, under a heavy cut, the lathe can pop out of gear and possibly damage the headstock gears.
 
Also new and need help

Hi, I am also new to this forum and i am clueless about lathe's so looking to those that do for help.
I reached out to Roger from LeBlond and he is going to get back to me (Serial # D10137). As soon as Roger tells me more about the LeBlond lathe i will post that information.
I am trying to help out a friend that now has this lathe and a Bridgeport vertical mill and i looking to see if maybe someone can give me a rough price as to what each machine could possibly be worth?
I live in Boston and the machines worked up until the gentleman that owned them passed away so i am assuming that they still work.
I am going to try and post a few pictures of the lathe and if i can get that to work then i will post pictures of the Bridgeport.
Thank you in advance for any help.
 

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So i heard back from Roger, he tells me that it is a 17” Swing Regal, 54” Between centers, Date Shipped: 6/27/1950.
I am looking for advise, all and any is very appreciated. I created an album for each machine if any one can give some advice off those pictures.
I think i am going to try and start a new post for the LeBlond Lathe and another for the Bridgeport Mill.
 
All I can do is take the information I know about the 13's and 15's and let you apply it to the 17" in question. I haven't ever owned a 17" before but a lot of similar things apply.

First and foremost you need to open the headstock cover and inspect the gear clusters. Many, many times they have broken teeth and will make certain speeds unusable. LeBlond wants exactly one arm, one leg and one kidney for replacement parts so you need to inspect it carefully.

Check the bed for normal wear. Try to run it in all speeds and feeds if possible. Listen for ticks of broken gears. Make sure everything is fluid and smooth. If they haven't been run for a while put a few drops of oil in the bearing oilers (if it is like a 13/15) before you turn it on.

The 13's and 15's of that era had a top speed of 500 or 750 rpm's, I don't know what the speed of that machine was, but it is likely slow. If you need a fast lathe keep looking.

I like LeBlond's a lot, and I'm not too picky or too cheap, so I'd drop a grand on that just for giggles without blinking, but you'd find a lot of people who wouldn't pay over $500-750, or some would say the price of scrap. Either way, it is probably worth more in parts than it is whole. If everything checks out it will make a great garage lathe as long as you don't need speed.
 
So look down on right end on top in between two front ways. Stamped into machined cast iron will be a serial and for 13" Regal, will be like BXXXX or say B1387 for the end of 1940.

See also Post #15 for related pubs



Any help would be appreciated regarding the history of this LeBlond 13:
 








 
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