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Leblond Regal 13

RobbyWeeds

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 4, 2017
Hello everyone. Thank you gusy for the help over the years. As stated back when i first started posting here, was that i would get addicted to old cast iron. 4 lathes, 3 milling machines later and I think that was a correct prediction.

Just picked up this Leblond Regal 13. I have to clean it to access the serial numbers but I will update when i do find the number. I pulled the top off the headstock and all the gears are intact and looked good. The bed isnt in great shape as it sat unused for many many years but I am happier that the gears are good and didnt get much use and without them the lathe would be next to useless.

It has a motor control bar which i dont see on many other leblond regals of that era. I dont know why that is. I am guessing this is a 1930-1940 machine. It has threaded spindle and a tiny through hole but im ok with that.

I am super happy it came with the taper attachment, missing the bed clamp but other than that fully intact. I also have the steady rest that i am very happy the seller found on my way to pick it up. leadscrew and half nuts are in good shape. I am very impressed with everything except the bed which I will see in due time how bad it really is.

It has a single phase motor right now. 1.5 hp for 220v. It is actually wired for 110 but it says it would pull 17amps wired that way so I am changing it back to 220v.

Looking for any info that anyone wants to throw out there. I am going to start by pulling off the apron and cleaning oil passages and move my way to the gear box.
 

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Why change back to 220VAC? 17amps isn't bad and amp. listing on a motor is what it will draw if at the HP rating so you would have to be cutting heavy to be at 1.5HP and draw 17amps. Thought 1.5HP seems small for 13" lathe. If you think half the amperage at 220VAC will use less electric and save you money, it will not! You will not save a penny!
 
My 13" Roundhead Regal has a 1.5 HP single phase motor on it. That was what was on the lathe when I got it. While 1.5 HP may sound a bit light for a 13" lathe, bear in mind that a Roundhead Regal lathe is- in my opinion- a light duty engine lathe. From my own experience, 1.5 HP is plenty for a 13" Roundhead Regal lathe. Aside from the lathe being light duty in its design & construction, the other factor is that the highest spindle speed is around 500 rpm. With that highest spindle speed, there is still gear reduction & mechanical advantage at work.

The motor on my Regal is a single phase motor, and was wired thru the factory installed revering switch, for 220 volts. As Froneck notes, there is no real advantage in terms of your electric bill with a single phase motor on the matter of 220 volts vs 110 volts. About the only advantage I could see is getting away with a bit lighter wiring to supply power to the lathe if using 220 volts. From your photo, it appears the lathe has a heavy lead cord and what looks like a 60 amp male plug on it. That would be normally used for 220 volt single phase power. I'd check the motor connections closely to be sure it is really wired for 110 volts with that type of plug on the lead cord.

You have a lathe with the mechanical clutch/brake unit on the driveshaft pulley. I think these are less common, as most of this series of 13" Regal lathes seems to have been ordered with just a pulley on the driveshaft and a handwheel outside the belt guard. "Running a Regal" will have a parts diagram for this clutch/brake. I think it is an advantage to have it. My own 13" Roundhead Regal has the basic belt drive, no clutch. When I switch on the motor, I sometimes hear the backlash being taken out of the gearing and dog clutches in the headstock. I think the clutch you have on your lathe will give a softer start.

I find my own Roundhead Regal to be an ideal light duty geared head lathe for a home/semi-commercial machine shop. I "came up" using high speed steel tools, so have no problem with the lower spindle speeds of this series of lathe. I get a surprising amount of work out on it, but am mindful of the lighter gearing in the headstock, particularly on interuppted cuts. On the other hand, even with the 1.5 HP motor, the lathe will hog off 0.150" at a rip from 2"-2.5" diameter alloy steel using a HSS tool bit.

Nearly all old lathes (unless they were very well taken care of and lightly used, or were real toolroom machines and/or had hardened beds ) will have some bed wear. It is inevitable. I get some fine work out on my own Regal which has the usual bed wear for a 1943 machine, such that if I snug the carriage binder screw finger tight near the headstock, the saddle will bind on the bed in about 12". I have gotten some fine work out on lathes with bedways ridged enough to catch by thumbnail. Not instrument or gauge work by any means, but within a thousandth or two in maybe 10". I once played with the trigonometry to determine what the drop of the tool due to worn bedways would do to the diameter of the work. A surprising large amount of bedwear (hypothetically) on a 10" or 13" swing lathe, would have an equally surprisingly small effect on the taper of the work turned. For short jobs turned up close to the chuck, bedwear for most jobs is hardly an issue from what I've found.
 
It may be an illusion but the swing looks bigger than 13". I realize lathe manufacturers were a bit more generous years ago. But it looks like it could swing close to 16"
 
LeBlond built the Roundhead Regal lathes in 13", 15", 19" and larger swings. There were two styles or versions of the Roundhead lathes- if the swing was cast on the headstock (a number such as "13", "15", etc), the lathe was designated as a "trainer" model. These supposedly had beds that were not quite so deep as the "standard" roundhead lathes- which did not have the swing capacity cast on the headstock. The lathe in this thread is a "standard" model. The bed will be a bit deeper than the "trainer" lathes of the same swing.

As I wrote, these roundhead Regal lathes are on the lighter end of geared head engine lathe designs. The heavier engine lathes such as Hendey, Reed & Prentice, Lodge & Shipley, Monarch, Sidney and a few others had a kind of unwritten agreement as to nominal vs actual swings on the engine lathes they were building. In actuality, the swing on those traditional US engine lathes was always a bit more than the nominal, or specified, swing. It might amount to an extra 2-4" of actual swing over the bedways.

I never gave this a thought as far as the roundhead Regal lathes went since they are so much lighter duty machines. Swing of a lathe is the diameter of work a lathe will swing over the bedways. What it swings over the cross slide is always a good bit less. I know from experience that the old traditional or classic heavy US built engine lathes always were quite generous with that extra few inches of swing over the bedways. The heavy chuck in the OP's photo might give the impression of the lathe being heavier than 13". It is difficult to guess what the swing of the lathe is just from the photos. However, from the OP's photos, the apron is correct for either a 13" or 15" roundhead Regal lathe.
 
Running the machine on 220V may not save on the utility bill, but as mentioned it does allow smaller gauge wiring to be used. The maximum long term draw on a 20 amp circuit is 18 amps and 12 gauge wire is only rated for 20 amps. Since the motor is rated at 17 amps when wired110/120 volts it probably pulls considerably more at startup.

Switching to 220 volts halves the amps being drawn at startup and while running. I have several machines in the shop capable of running on either 110 or 220. I run all of them on 220 just to minimize the amperage draw and be able to use 12 gauge wire without fear of overheating. 12 gauge wire is considerably easier to fit into standard outlet boxes and connect to outlets and breakers than 10 gauge.
 
Thanks everyone for chipping in. I read through 'running a regal' also. That's interesting about the 2 different models trainer vs standard. That was not in the pamphlet. Or that I saw in it. I've got it cleaned up a little and got a few things oiled. A long way to go to clean this. I still need to pull the apron.

Since you all are the experts, ide like to gauge what you are saying. I started on a small hobby 10 inch that shou not be named, now I have a decently restored sb heavy 10 and this regal. When you all say 'light duty' would you say it is similar in light duty to the heavy 10? I understand belt vs engine drive but I was hoping this would be considerably more stout than the heavy 10. Just would like some feedback.


The 50amp plug and large cable are not what is wired to it. It was what I was going to wire to it. I will turn it on tomorrow and if it works at 110v then I will leave it as you all have convinced me.

Thanks again. I'll post more pics when it's a little more clean.

Rob
 
I have one of the short bed 13” Regal trainer models. It is my 3rd lathe. I have a 9” SB that I consider to be very light duty and a 20” Flather that is heavy duty. The Regal may be considered light duty but it does everything I want it to do. It isn’t like you need to baby it. It works just fine for normal machining. If I need to “hog” something, I use the Flather. Sometimes the SB 9” is too small and the 20” Flather is too big. Then the Regal 13 is just right. I like mine. LeBlond makes a nice machine.
 

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Robby:

The 13" Roundhead Regal will do quite a bit more work than a SB Heavy 10" lathe. I also have a SB Heavy 10" lathe in my shop. The SB Heavy 10" lathe handles collet jobs mainly. The 13" Roundhead Regal is up to anything I need it to do. I have hogged off 0.125-=0.150" of alloy steel from 2'- 2 1/2" diameter work using the 13" Regal lathe with no problem. I machine work that has been fabricated by stick welding using E 7018, as well as some jobs where buildup welding was done. On these jobs, I take a bit lighter cut for the first cuts, since the weld beads create something of an interuppted cut. I have never had a problem with the 13" Regal lathe, but I would not get crazy and treat it as if it were a geared head Hendey or Reed & Prentice or similar lathe.

BTW: The term "engine lathe" was developed at least 250 years ago, and was used to describe any lathe large enough to require power supplied by an engine. Smaller lathes were operated by human power (foot treadle, or hand crank). An engine lathe can have a "cone head" (step cone pulley instead of gearing), or be a "geared head". The SB Heavy 10" lathe is classed as an engine lathe.

The capacity and overall performance of a 13" Roundhead Regal lathe is a quantum leap up from what the SB Heavy 10" lathe is. Each lathe, as Billygoat correctly states, has its place in the shop and will find good use. A simple analogy would be to consider hammers: you might have an 8 ounce claw hammer that you nail up moldings and trim with, and a 24 ounce claw hammer that you drive nails for framing with, and a ball pein hammer that you use for driving punches and chisels as well as shaping metals.

As an example of what a heavier duty engine lathe will do, I was once running a 16" Reed and Prentice geared head lathe. I was machining a job out of a piece of 6" diameter alloy steel- probably 4140 or 4340. HSS tool bit, lantern tool post. I had plenty of meat to hog off, so began taking heavier cuts under heavier feeds. I got to where that old R & P was taking off over 1/4" per cut under a fairly coarse feed. What finally established the limit of how much that old lathe would hog off was when the lantern toolpost started turning in the compound rest's tee slot. This is why lathes for heavier work usually had a different and more massive style of toolpost.

LeBlond built a wide range of lathes, and built good lathes. I've been at both ends of LeBlond's range of lathes. The biggest of them that I dealt with will swing 60" over the cross slide and handle work about 20 feet long. We bought it used for running one job at my employer, the NY Power Authority. We set that lathe up to run that one job, remachining parts of hydro turbines- and when it was done with, we sold that lathe. It continues to give good service at Cardish Machine Works in Watervliet, NY. That was a wide bed/big swing lathe. I also bought a 25" x 96" LeBlond lathe for the powerplant I worked at, and that was also a wide bed/heavy duty machine. Lastly, for the powerplant shop, I bought a LeBlond Regal servo shift lathe, 15" x maybe 36". All of those lathes at one point or another were either used by US government contractors, or, in the case of the 15" Regal, was ex USAF. I retired from the NY Power Authority in 2013, and the two LeBlond lathes in the powerplant machine shop continue to give excellent service.

I call my own 13" x 42" Roundhead Regal my "baby LeBlond". For what I do, it is an ideal machine. I have the taper attachment on my Regal lathe and it does come in handy. I've made tapered mandrels for machining certain jobs, and I've cut tapered pipe threads on other jobs.

Call this a word to the wise: mounting and dismounting chucks on a lathe any much larger than your SB Heavy 10" lathe will be a bit of a job and require good strength in your hands and forearms. To make life easier on yourself and avoid dropping a chuck onto the bedways of the lathe, make a set of "cradle blocks". These are cut from hardwood (preferably). A cradle block is cut on a concave radius to approximate the chuck body, and the bottom of the cradle block is cut to approximate the ways of the lathe. The cradle block will support the chuck for mounting and dismounting from the spindle, and will put the chuck at approximately the right elevation to go onto or off the spindle. I lay a piece of scrap 3/4" plywood on the bedways when I heft a chuck on or off the lathe, and then use the cradle blocks.
It is all too easy to have a chuck get away from yourself and wind up with some pinched or smashed fingers or some pulled muscles. No sense being a hero.

I also made a board with cleats that fits on the bed of the lathe out beyond the tailstock. It is where I lay things like extra tool holders, tool bits, drills, wrenches, etc. The old timers I came up under would yell murder and cuff a kid (as I was back then) for daring to lay tools on a lathe bed or milling machine table.

When you go to change speeds in the headstock of your Roundhead lathe, pull the chuck over by hand- since your lathe does not appear to have a handwheel on the driveshaft. Make sure the gears are fully engaged and the levers (which have spring-ball detents) are locked in correct positions. If one of the levers is even slightly out of position (detent not seated), the lathe will hop out of gear under load and make a horrific racket as well as starting to chew the corners off the gear teeth. We learned to pull geared head lathes over by hand when I was in HS. The gearing is fairly coarse, and there are jaw or "dog" clutches, and to get things to line up and go into gear, you sometimes have to pull the lathe over by hand until you feel the teeth or clutch jaws go into mesh. Doing that every time you change spindle speeds can save the gearing in your lathe.

Another good habit is to bring the carriage as close to the chuck or faceplate as you need it to be once you have a job setup in the lathe. Pull the lathe over by hand to be sure the chuck jaws or lathe dog, or setup on the faceplate will clear the compound, tool bit, carriage wings, or other parts of the lathe. Most old lathes have the LH front corner of the compound (aka top slide) chewed up from "crashes" into the chuck jaws or lathe dogs. A geared head lathe will keep right on running with little chance of anything slipping, and will chew up whatever is in its path or tear up gearing in the headstock. The SB lathes, being flat belt driven for the majority of them, were somewhat forgiving in that the flat belt would slip in cases of severe crashes. Other than a spring-ball safety clutch on the drive to the feed shaft & lead screw, there is no other safety feature to get you out of trouble if you crash your geared-head Regal lathe. A little checking before putting the lathe under power if you are running a job up close to the chuck can save you a lot of grief or worse.
 
Thanks everyone, especially Joe. I appreciate the feedback and help. I still feel really good about the machine and am super excited to start cutting chips when its finally cleaned up.

Crazy enough. Both these lathes are in a tiny garage in a very urban area. Very tough to bring equipment in and out. I couldn't imagine bringing anything larger to my garage. But I guess where there's s will, there's a way. I'm almost positive, still haven't found a serial number, this is a 13''. I wish it was 15''. I was thinking a clausing before I got this regal would be there perfect fit but I think the SB and regal are a good combo..

Rob
 
I have the 15" version of that machine.. I had one before and now this one.. They both came from Louisiana State University and had consecutive serial numbers.. The first machine was a bit rough so I scrapped most of it and kept the best parts..

Basically, I love mine but it has limitations... The spindle speed does not lend itself too well to carbide inserts of the negative nature... I have the old rocker tool post and also Aloris tooling that I use on my machine... I find that hi speed steel cutters properly ground will work wonders with my machine...A word to the wise: There is a safety clutch on the feed shaft which is designed to ratchet if there is a jamb up while feeding.. Not so on the lead screw.. My first machine lunched some of the feed gears while I was boring an internal thread that was not blind.. The feed gears in the head are somewhat delicate and I think were fractured from a previous crash before I acquired the machine.. I know I didn't jamb anything and the gears let go.. I cut some new ones and was off and running again....The second machine was in much better shape but the motor was full of grease because some trunk monkeys over the years applied grease without knowing how to properly grease an electric motor with purge plugs...My machine and the one prior both use threaded spindles, that is 2 1/8 -5 thread.. You have to make every back plate used on chucks, collet chucks, or what ever as you will not find any new and very few used...If you have any attachments such as steady rest or follow rest, that is a plus as they are scarce as hen's teeth unless you have a keen eye and find one in a scrap pile as I did.. Cheers.. Ramsay 1:)
 
Thanks ramsay. Do you remember the pitch and angle of the internal gears or know the change gear pitch and angle? I'm still a beginner and dont push either my machines hard but I could definitely make a mistake somehow. My chuck is damn near welded on. I've tried almost everything when I searched removing chucks on this forum and still nothing. I'm pretty freaked out I'm going to blow out a gear. Maybe I just keep the 4 jaw on this? I don't have the outside jaws for this chuck so it would be a bummer never changing it. No idea what to do as of now.
 
Thanks ramsay. Do you remember the pitch and angle of the internal gears or know the change gear pitch and angle? I'm still a beginner and dont push either my machines hard but I could definitely make a mistake somehow. My chuck is damn near welded on. I've tried almost everything when I searched removing chucks on this forum and still nothing. I'm pretty freaked out I'm going to blow out a gear. Maybe I just keep the 4 jaw on this? I don't have the outside jaws for this chuck so it would be a bummer never changing it. No idea what to do as of now.

4 jaw chucks don't have 2 sets of Jaws like 1 piece 3 jaw chucks have. Simply unscrew the jaw, flip it over and screw it back in! If you check the manuals on the site John posted toward the bottom there is one 1935 (I think but it's in that range) Look through it and you'll find information on removing "Stuck Chuck" on threaded spindle.
 
Robby:

A 4 jaw "independent" chuck- that is, a 4 jaw chuck with each jaw independently adjustable with its own screw- does not have "inside" or "outside" jaws. The jaws are reversible. Just don't mix them up. There will be numbers stamped on the chuck body (1,2, 3, 4), and there may be the same numbers on the jaws. While it might not matter if the jaws are mixed up, I like to keep them in their original tee slots. They may have worn in, even if they were made to a close tolerance when the chuck was new.


When you remove the jaws from a 4 jaw independent chuck, the jaw screws often want to fall out of the chuck body as they are running in thrust blocks that only engage 180 degrees of the circumference of the shouldered area on each screw. No harm done if the screws fall out, it is an opportunity to clean them.

As for removing the chuck: As Ramsay notes, LeBlond used a very coarse spindle thread ( 2 1/8"-5). I do not know what methods you have tried to break loose the chuck thus far. With that coarse spindle nose thread, it has been my experience the chucks and faceplates break loose of the spindle thread fairly easily. When I was buying my 13" Roundhead Regal lathe, it had sat un-used in an unheated building for about 12 years. The previous owner/user had died 12 years prior and his son, while knowing machine tools, did not know the finer points or history of the LeBlond lathe in his late father's shop. Since there was no power turned on, I rolled the lathe by hand in each gear to be sure no gears were damaged in the headstock. After that, I wanted to be sure I was not getting a lathe with a chuck locked onto the spindle threads. I took a short mechanic's pinch bar, perhaps 18" long, and put it across the chuck jaws as a lever. I put the lathe in its lowest speed, and gave a good sharp yank on the bar. The chuck broke loose so easily I was surprised.

Here is a thought for you: if the chuck does not break loose of the spindle threads by "reasonable means of persuasion", I'd suggest trying the following:

1. dismount the chuck from the back plate. This will leave the backplate screwed onto the spindle, but the end of the threads will be more accessable than if the chuck were still mounted.

2. Make up a steel bar to use as a lever. This bar should be made from something like 3/8" x 2" wide A36 (basic hot rolled structural steel) flat bar. Drill the bar so you can bolt it to the backplate. The bar does not need to be too long, maybe 18" beyond the outer circumference of the back plate.

3.Bolt your "cheater" to the backplate and make sure the bolts are made up solidly. You can drill two sets of bolt holes: one set will allow you to mount the bar so it spans the back plate diametrally, the other set should span two adjacent holes, forming a "chord" (remember your HS geometry ?).

4. Start with the cheater bar bolted to form a chord, since this will give access to the end of the threads. Cut a piece of sheet steel so it has a "mouse hole" to drop over the hub of the backplate between the backplate and the headstock. Make this sheet steel plate large enough to protect the headstock. It is going to be a heat and flame shield. With the heat shield in place, apply heat to the backplate, putting some of the heat on the hub. A smaller and concentrated torch flame helps here. Using a torch such as a "Mapp" torch or "B tank plumber's torch" or a brazing tip on an oxyacetylene torch, apply heat to the backplate, putting heat on the hub, and some on the face of the backplate, staying back from the hole with the spindle threads.

5. Get the backplate "too hot to touch", but not any much more. Take a dead blow hammer and strike a few blows on the "cheater bar" to try to break the backplate loose.

6. If the backplate does not break loose, warm it back up and spray on some penetrating oil. "Kroil", if you can get some, is my preferred penetrating oil. Another trick that old timers used on "frozen" threads, particularly on steam locomotive and marine steam plant work, was to get the entire area with the frozen threads hot, then apply beeswax. The beeswax, when melted, forms a thin oil and this "wicks" into the threads. As the parts cool, a partial vacuum (at least in theory) is formed in any clearance spaces in the mating threads, and either the penetrating oil or the beeswax is likely to be drawn in. As this is happening, take about a 2 lb steel hammer and start striking LIGHT blows on the cheater bar. The impact and the expansion due to the heating, along with (hopefully) some lubrication may do the trick.

7. If this method fails, see if you can get some dry ice pellets. Some welding supply stores will sell dry ice pellets. This is a convenient way to handle dry ice.
If your local supply sells dry ice pellets, bring a cooler and get a few pounds of them. Put a wad of rags in the spindle bore, pushed in a bit further than the length of the spindle nose threads and shoulder. Pack the spindle tapered bore and a few inches beyond into the straight bore of the spindle, with the dry ice pellets. Plug the open end of the spindle taper with a loosely wadded rag to keep the dry ice pellets from falling out. The loosely wadded rag will let any CO 2 gas given off as the dry ice "thaws" escape freely.

8. After you get the dry ice in place in the spindle, repeat the heating on the backplate. The idea here is to create enough of a temperature differential, as well as enough "movement" due to expansion/contraction, to break the bind in the threads.

We used the dry ice trick many time with certain frozen parts in powerplant work. It has been my experience that sharp blows, as from a bronze or steel hammer, often will break things loose even when what seemed like heavy torque applied via wrenches or similar means would not.

9. Another trick is to combine torque + impact. To do this, you may be able to pull it off it you are strong and reasonably coordinated. If not, get a helper. Put a pipe cheater on your "cheater bar" that you bolted to the backplate. A piece of pipe that adds perhaps 24" is about all the long I'd go to avoid building too much torque thru the gearing. Hold a good strain on the cheater pipe with one hand. Using a 2 or 3 lb steel hammer while strain is held in the cheater pipe, hit a series of "Light to Middling" blows with the hammer on the flatbar bolted to the backplate. Hitting on the pipe will do little, if any, good. Holding strain on the pipe takes the "bounce" out of things and puts a torque into the spindle nose threads. Adding a bit of impact often does the trick. Again, unless you have a good "feel" for this kind of work, it is all too easy to wreck the gearing. Light snappy blows with a 2 lb steel hammer combined with what I call a "good strain" on the cheater pipe should do the trick. Add heat to the backplate and dry ice in the spindle bore if this last method does not do the trick by itself.

As an aside: If I had only ONE chuck to have on my lathe, it would be the 4 jaw independent chuck. This type of chuck lets you chuck odd shaped jobs, turn eccentric work, and lets you adjust each jaw so a job runs dead true. A 3 jaw "universal" or "scroll" chuck is a convenience, but it is never something you want to rely upon to get a job running dead true with an existing diameter (such as turning a journal on an existing shaft or boring a part so the bore is concentric with the existing outer diameter). Damned near anyone can set up a job in a 3 jaw chuck so long as it is round, or so long as the number of sides (such as a hexagon) is divisible by 3. If you had to chuck a piece of square or rectangular stock to turn a cylindrical section, you'd be SOL with a 3 jaw chuck. I keep the 4 jaw chucks on my lathes and only put the 3 jaw chucks on for occasional jobs. Get the hang of "bucking in" work in a 4 jaw chuck so it is reasonably true within about 0.015" total indicated runout- which you will develop the ability to see by eye without using a dial indicator, you then use the dial indicator to get the work running dead true or as close to it as you can get it (as you will discover, what looks round and is supposed to be round, in actuality may be out of round by a few thousandths). As you develop some experience using the 4 jaw chuck, your speed and ability to center up a job in it will increase as will your confidence. The 4 jaw chuck has the advantage also of being able to tighten each jaw individually with a jaw screw. This puts more clamping force into the work than the 3 jaw scroll chuck develops. This is a good thing when you get into heavier jobs- who needs a job slipping in the chuck jaws and getting chewed up by them ? Another advantage to the 4 jaw chuck is that you can put pieces of soft copper between the jaws and finished work (such as a shaft journal), then buck the job into true, copper shims and all.

I have often said that if I were aboard a ship with only one chuck for the lathe, or in some isolated place with only once chuck for the lathe, it would be a 4 jaw independent chuck.

I am guessing that someone may have run the chuck onto the spindle of your lathe and not entirely "bottomed" the backplate hub against the shoulder of the spindle. They then proceeded to start the lathe at a fairly high speed and nailed into a cut. This "wound up the chuck" on the spindle under power and with some impact. Some persuasion of a like nature, helped along with some heat (or cold) and penetrating oil should do the trick. When you dismount the chuck from the backplate, make some "match marks" so you can put it back in the same position relative to the backplate. I use light prick punch marks, since Sharpy or paint stick marks tend to wear off during the kind of work you will be doing to get that backplate broke loose.
 
Thanks ramsay. Do you remember the pitch and angle of the internal gears or know the change gear pitch and angle? I'm still a beginner and dont push either my machines hard but I could definitely make a mistake somehow. My chuck is damn near welded on. I've tried almost everything when I searched removing chucks on this forum and still nothing. I'm pretty freaked out I'm going to blow out a gear. Maybe I just keep the 4 jaw on this? I don't have the outside jaws for this chuck so it would be a bummer never changing it. No idea what to do as of now.

I do not remember the pitch of the gears but they are smaller than 14 I think.. I know the pa is 14.5 involute as I had cutters in house to do the job as I recall....I have the old broken gears and when I get a chance I will check the pitch for you.

Be sure to NEVER forget that there is no safety clutch on the lead screw so if you crash the machine while threading, It ain't gonna be pretty!

On the chuck, some trunk monkey spun the chuck on probably and did not bother to clean and oil the threads so the chuck is stuck tightly in place... I have heard where chuck backs had to be turned away to get the free but usually a lead hammer will break them loose if you strike one of the extended jaws in the proper direction....I have gotten my chucks off after heavy cuts in this manner with the head stock in low gear.. Be sure to keep the slack in the gears taken up so the gears do not hammer when the chuck jaws are struck with a lead hammer....The thread on the spindle should be 2 1/8 - 5 which is quite coarse and usually let go pretty well.. Ramsay 1:)
 
Getting stuck seemed to be a problem with the chucks on that period of Regals since in the manual extracted from the list John posted they had a means to "un-stick" and prevent it. Nothing more that putting a paper spacer similar to that use on Grinding wheels.
Having a few lathes from that period and now mostly 50" vintage lathes, most use 16 DP on about 15" lathes and as I have found most lathes have 20 degree not the standard 14.5 degree.
 
I've had a Regal 13 roundhead for many years, and I would never part with it. Just an incredibly handy little lathe, and smooth to operate.
Every backplate I have has a 3/8 hole drilled into the circumference so I can stick a loosely fitting pin into it. This pin protrudes out radially about 1/2". To remove the chuck I insert the pin, place a big block of wood in such a position as to catch that pin when the chuck rotates, then run the lathe in reverse at the SLOWEST speed, giving the pin nearly a full rotation before it hits the wooden block. Not sure if this would be putting the gears at risk for a chuck stuck on as tightly as yours, but for a chuck spun on by hand it works very well.
 








 
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