LeBlond Regal 13" (worth a punt?)

Howdy,
I have an opportunity to buy a regal 13". The guy wants one thousand aussie dollars for it, he doent really knpow anything about it butit does come with a bunch of tooling.

I was wondering if people here could tell me whether this is a servo shift (which id like to avoid if possible) Also, is this the model that will only run up to 500rpm.

I am a newbie when it comes to lathes but I want a machine which I can use to run up cranks and possibly gears, also due to wanting to make cranks ill need to be able to do taper work.

Here are some pics of everything included.

Looks to old to be a servo-shift. Also looks like it has a variable drive by the looks of the dial on top so my guess is it'll go more than 500 rpm.
Around here if the ways are good, I'd have it loaded on my truck already.
Dave

I agree that it is to old to be a servo shift. It looks to be vintage late 40s and these 13" Leblonds were made for teaching purposes---high schools, vocational schools, or technical schools. They are tough old lathes. I have one, almost, identical and wish I had the tooling that is shown with that one. Tooling is very expensive--don't think you can go wrong at the quoted price. Can you operate it or have the owner operate it? If it is not under power, you can "search" this forum for information on "what to look for when buying a lathe?" The motor is probably a 3 phase motor and you can get a VFD converter or change it to a single phase motor--unless you have a 3 phase hook up. Good luck with your decision and I vote--buy it.

the Leblond is a '50 ish era lathe. My 15" looks much the same. Top of the headstock to the left is the reversing drum switch. To the right is their neat little speed calculator. find a diameter/material, twist the dial so parameters agree, cutting speed is indicated or something like that. too cold to go into the garage for more details right now. As I recall, top speed is around 500 rpm. Low end about 25/28 or so. Worth it if condition meets your needs.

13" Leblond roundhead

Nice older machines from the 40's that were often used in training and Vocational settings.

I had occasion to learn of a weak point in this model that you will want to check into when inspecting this machine.

I had one of these I tried to give away a while back with no cross or compound and in doing so the item of greatest interest to all lookers was the range gear in the headsock for the highest speed.

It is a tiny little spur gear and it is frequently damaged at some point by being shifted roughly or with the chuck still turning.

Top speed isn't that fast and it would be a pain to not have it when you wanted it.

Oh well that's my .02 (US) worth

Regards, Doug

I rang the bloke this morning and i've organised to go and have a look at it tomorrow. I asked him if it was a servo shift and he didnt have a clue. I think this guy buys stuff from the various auction houses and sells them off.I have started to go back to school, im doing my tig welding codes (tickets) and autodesk inventor (an awesome software package, a kinda autocad on steroids) I tried to get into a machining class but they were all full of new apprentices (which is a good thing considering the lack of tradesmen in my country at the moment)

I have been mainly looking at hercus "a" models or 260's (both versions of their southbend counterparts) I want a lathe that will be reasonably easy to learn on but will still produce relatively precise work. My main area of interest is vintage italian motorscooters like vespas and lambrettas, there is alot of developement going on and id really like to put my own stuff into the mix.

So what should I do to check for wear on this lathe if it cant be powered up? From what I can gather the bloke who is selling it doesnt have much idea so I will be pretty much flying blind. Also, how much will this thing weigh? Ive got an old isuzu ute (aussie term for pick up truck) but I dunno how much it can carry safely, so I will have to add in the cost of getting it back to my place to the total cost.

Currently it is being powered by a 3 phase crompton parkinson motor (whatever that means) and it has a burnerd 3 jaw chuck and a belco 4 jaw chuck.

I think I will build a rotary 3 phase converter, from what I understand using a static phase converter wont work as there are other motors used in running the powerfeeds (although that may just be forthe servo shift) Plus if I have a decent phase converter it totally opens up a world of cheaper equipment as 3 phase from the company costs a fortune to set up over here.

There is also a hercus model a going for 750 bucks in another state, what would people think would be the better choice?? This leblond or a hercus(southbend clone) ?

I have two that are just like the one you posted. They are good old lathes. Eight speeds, not servo shift but you don't want that anyway. I never understood the craze. Servo shift is just something to make a lathe cost more to buy, have more parts to go fail, and costl more to repair. Go check out the Leblondlathe yahoo group...there is a thread going right now about the pros and cons of these great old machines.

They are great machines but hard to find parts for.

I had one like that for a while, bought on Ebay for $550 or so, with the short bed, taper attachment, 2 chucks, and a Sjogren 1J collet closer with no collets. Sold it for around $1200 with a lot of other stuff. So I think your price is pretty good, considering the goodies that come with it.

Definitely not a servo-shift; that dial thingy on the top right of the headstock is a just a speed/feed calculator, with no mechanical or electrical connection to the machine itself.
I seem to recall the RPM was higher than 500.

Nice machine - if I had the room, I would have kept it.

If you are interested in the Sjogren nose, let me know.

raff35, that 13" is the baby brother to my 17". There is only one motor and no Servo-shift, just good old honest, broad range, hand-shift gearing. The Servo-shift came in with the 'Modern', chunky square look.

The impressive looking 'selector' on the headstock is nothing but a speed/feed advisor. It has no links to anything but the operators hand/brain/eye. I find it quite useful, now that I've gotten over the disappointment of it only being an animated speed chart that is soil resistant.

The several of this family that I've gotten close to, typically show the scars of students but no great wear damage.

Some salient facts; the bearings are all of the 'frictionless' type, IE, needle, ball or roller, that's good. The gears are high quality. The threading range is quite good.

I love mine, I find it to be a lot more hardy, versatile and competent than I expected from a teaching tool, at which it excells and should be perfect for your level of experience and ideally sized for your stated needs.

Grab a moderate trailer and go get that thing with your Isuzu! I advise bringing a couple of light timbers, I used 10' 4X8's for my 17", drilling bolt-down holes, counterboring for the bolt heads, for the legs at each end. The timbers provide positive locators for securing the legs during transport and make unloading and manuvering into it's final resting place, rolling on pipes, an easy job.

WARNING! Lathes are easier to teach to roll-over than a dog is. I successfully moved mine single handed. It was placed on my trailer with a forklift. I then 'tied-off' one side by attaching a come-along, high, on each end of the lathe and to the rails of the trailer, attaching a third on the opposite side and cranking the first two taut with the third.

Then I incrementally released the first 2 as I took up the slack with the third, safely tipping it until there was enough room to slip the first timber, bolts sticking up, under the raised legs on the back, (heavier) side, bolting them solid. Duplicated this for the operators side. Screwed blocks to trailer bed to lock timbers in place. I then secured the lathe with 4 come-alongs, chain binders and rope, yeah, over kill. Bring something like small wooden blocks and grain bags to protect the lathe from any chain or like.

At my shop, I backed the trailer up to the door, attached a come-along, front rail to lathe, heavy slack (anti-roll) ropes on both sides, elevated the trailer tongue, back frame onto concrete, with a tall jack. Then with a bottle jack under the leg cross bars, I raised each end of the lathe to place 1" pipe rollers under timbers. Backing off the come-along and adjusting the side ropes, eased the lathe down onto my shop floor.
The move was a non-event.
...yer gonna' love it!

Bob
I got called away before posting this and others filled in most of the info. I decided not to edit but to confirm what the others had already said.

How not to move a Regal 13, but it will work...

I wish I had pics of the day I took the 13 over to my neighbor's house a few blocks away. He actually "borrowed" the lathe for a year, then liked it enough to buy it.

We put the thing up on a short length of 2x6 under each leg, bolting them on. Then, I fixed a steel swivel caster under each corner, probably lagging it into the wood. Okay, now it rolls around, but the wood wanted to twist off under the weight and the off-center position of the casters. Next step: attach some 2x4 "spreaders" crosswise fore-and-aft to the 2x6's. Too lazy to bolt them thru, I just used some big C-clamps.

Now we can get going! Too heavy to push around, I get the bright idea to tow it with a rope and my truck. Okay, we get it yanked out of the driveway, down the apron to the street, bumpty bumpty bump. Throw the truck in granny gear and take off down the road, the lathe in tow about 20 feet behind. Turn left at the corner, I'm doing fine, but the lathe continues straight, duh !! The new owner and his buddy are walking shotgun behind the lathe, luckily they were able to steer it back on track.

Now I decide it's unsafe for them to be so close to the machine, so I get the equally brilliant idea to attach a tail rope to the other end of the lathe, for the guys to hang onto and steer from a distance. Safe yes, but of course they lose all mechanical advantage over the 15 foot or so of rope.

We get going, the truck is barely idling forward, and the lathe is yawing all over from side to side due to the crown of the road. They guys are really struggling to hold her straight, but managing some control nevertheless.

It gets better: Pete's house is only about 5 blocks away, but it's slightly downhill, and there are stop signs, cross-traffic, expensive cars parked on the side, etc. The lathe is now able to move faster than the truck, so the guys now look like they are running the bulls in Pamploma, in reverse ! The yawing is getting worse, and I'm cringing hoping they wont take out the parked Harley and BMW coming up.

They are laughing like idiots, and I'm seeing lawsuits in my future. Fortunately we made it intact to Pete's place, and got the lathe into his garage, where it stayed up on the casters for at least a year. He's enjoying it, and we're still laughing at the story.

Call Le Blond

The serial # should be stamped in the rear way area, tailstock end.....A call to Le Blond, with the #, will get you date of shipment and all specifications for that machine.....

Don't know if 800 phone #'s work from Oz, but theirs is 888-532-5663.....Standard # is 513-943-0099.....

If this means an expensive call for you, post the serial # here, and I can call them for pennies.....Let me know.....

Jim

Thank you all so much, I have been really touched by the support shown by members of this group. I really hope to stick around and learn as much as i can. I am a little too old to get an apprenticeship but I reckon there is such awealth of knowledge in this place that im not too worried.

I have had to put off looking at this baby until tomorrow but hopefully all being well I will being going home with a new member of the family

I went and took a look at the lathe today, I couldnt power it up but I checked the cross slide and the ways, smooth as butter all the way along. I didnt really have much of an idea of what to look for but I checked the tooling with it and it all seemed to be good. The bloke selling it seemed like a decent guy and he said that it was used in a workshop making cd stands of all things and it wasn't doing any real hard work.

I guess I will just take a chance and if it has some stuff wrong with it I will break it up for parts and sell it off to those that have said they would be keen to get something from it.

I wanted to take the cover off the gearbox but I dont think the guy was too keen on the idea to be honest.

Ferros
Too bad you did not video that move, it would had been a riggers classic on the level with Laurel and Hardy's "Piano Movers" or the Obabma Girl.
That head design is a 30s design, probably made into the late 40s maybe later. Monarch made them that way in early 30s, was ready for a update in 40 or so but WWII demanded to make alot of what they had ready to make, so you still see that design with mid 40s SNs on them.

mine is a '53 model and it still has the same design. I don't know how much longer they made them like that. Probably not long. The serial number on mine is B11688 and I have never seen a serial number any higher than that. It was a good design. It would have been a great design if it would only go faster. I love mine anyway.

On mine my serial number was B2000. I thought it was funny to get one with such an easy number to remember.

I was kinda hoping that I could somehow rig this lathe to run faster than 500rpm, in the manual there is a section describing the specs of all the regals and they say that there is a high rpm setting which will give 750rpm. I have to build myself a rotary 3 phase converter so mebbe I can pump out a few more rpm.

And I totally gree about ferrous filming that job, I once had to get a 3 wheeled vespa ape off the back of my ute and it took some definite lateral thinking lol.

Hi, Raff,

Subject to correction by the folks at LeBlond..........

That headstock can be readily re-speeded to 750-ish top speed, by simply using a larger pulley on the motor, and appropriate size belts. I think, but am not certain, that these little machines can be re-speeded to 1200-ish top speed without serious danger of damage to the gearing, but te fastest to which I've actually seen one re-speeded was 1000-ish top speed. That one was used with a 5C collet closer for light work on small parts. You may need to fabricate a suitable belt guard to accomodate the larger motor pulley.

Many of those older light lathes were originally set up with a 1200 rpm motor.....if its possible to find/adapt a suitable 1750 rpm motor of the same frame size, thats your re-speed right there.

(I say 'subject to correction', as I've seen these older lathes re-speeded, and they seemed to run just fine.....but.....there may be some subtle internal differences in the headstock oiling system or some other difference between the early slow headstocks and the later, faster ones, of which I'm not aware)

Bear in mind, tho........those little Regals have no clutch, so the operator is likely to stop the spindle by 'plugging' the motor.....that may not be very nice for the gearing, should the machine be re-speeded, and then plugged to stop when running on top gear.

All that said.....you can get a lot of turning work done with a 500 rpm lathe, if you're not running production and so having to 'make time' on the work.

If you're indeed a relative 'newbie' to turning work, that slower machine may well 'be your friend' in that respect.

cheers

Carla

Rather than a static or rotary phase converter, put your money into a VFD. Will get you the extra speed when you need it and the adjustable accel / decel will be very forgiving for the gears.

Jim C.