I own a 1943 LeBlond Regal lathe, 13" x 42". I agree with everything Ramsay1 has to say. We've had a number of posts about these lathes on this 'board, but the first two posts here touched on the key points.
I run ISO 46 oil in the headstock. LeBlond, in the 40's or 50's, spec'd 20 weight automotive engine oil. This was in the days of straight-weight non detergent oil with few additives. I run the ISO 46 oil in the form of "Tractor Hydraulic Oil". This can be bought in 2 gallon jugs at places like Tractor Supply. It is what is still known as a "DTE" oil- Dynamo, Turbine, Engine- a designation which predates the automobile and is still used for powerplant oils. The tractor hydraulic oil is a DTE Medium oil and has only anti-foam and anti-corrosion additives. I've run it for years in my machine tools.
Flush the headstock with some kerosene or diesel fuel by draining the old oil first. There are two (2) drain plugs on the underside of the headstock in between the bedways. You will likely need to rig up a piece of sheet metal as a kind of 'chute to head the oil out from under the headstock and into a jug or catch pan.
Run the lathe for a minute or so with no load on it with the kerosene or diesel fuel in the headstock and drain again. Then, refill with the ISO 46 oil.
There are oil hole "covers" (Gits type hinged covers) on the headstock bearings, input/drive shaft bearing, and these get oiled with the ISO 46 before you start the lathe under power. The quick change box will have a notation on the selector chart as to which position the tumbler lever must be in to oil the quick change gear box.
The apron has its own oil pump worked by a plunger rod. There is a drain plug at the bottom of the apron. I'd suggest flushing the apron by draining whatever oil is in it and filling with kerosene or diesel fuel and some Marvel Mystery Oil (gum cutter). Let it stand for a few hours, cranking the carriage up and back a few times to work the kerosene or diesel fuel around the gears. Do not work the plunger pump. Drain the apron- this may dump some sludge out from the bottom of it. Refill with another round of the kerosene or diesel fuel and the Marvel Mystery Oil. Work the plunger pump until you see the oil or diesel fuel emerging at the ends of the saddle "wings" along the bedways. Crank the carriage up and back a few inches to verify that the oil is being pumped up to the "wings" and onto the bedways. If not, then you have a dismantling and cleaning job ahead.
There are felt wipers at the ends of the saddle wings and on the tailstock base. These should be at least removed from the lathe and washed in solvent. A better idea is to get some 1/8" thick felt from McMaster and cut some new wipers.
Unless your Regal lathe is fitted with a clutch on the drive pulley, there should be a handwheel sticking out of the belt guard. LeBlond put this handwheel there for use in changing gears. It is there to allow the lathe operator to roll the input shaft a bit to get the gears to line up and mesh when shifting them. Always make sure the gears in the headstock are in full engagement before starting the lathe under power. There are spring loaded balls in each shifter selector lever and small dimples drilled into the headstock casting to catch these detent balls. These can have a fairly light contact, and it is easy enough to have the levers not quite solidly in position. Make sure the shifter levers are solidly in position and roll the headstock over by hand when you change spindle speeds to verify full engagement.
I use almost exclusively high speed steel tool bits in my Regal lathe. It is what I grew up using and what was in common use when I came into the industry. For most work, HSS tools are fine and the spindle speeds of the old roundhead Regal lathe are a good match for HSS. You can buy a heck of a lot of high speed steel tool bit blanks and grind two toolbits (one on each end of each toolbit blank). You can also grind form tools and all sorts of specialized toolbits from the HSS using a bench grinder if that is all that you have at hand. Some careful grinding of the HSS toolbits followed by finishing the cutting edges with a fine oil stone and the result will be a finish on the work that looks like it was ground or polished with emery cloth on some of the more machineable materials.
Another habit I was taught when I was a kid was to never start a lathe under power without "pulling it over by hand" first. This is to make sure, particularly when setting up jobs on a faceplate, or when working with the toolbit up close to the chuck (or lathe dog), that the chuck jaws or work-holding hardware won't "crash" into the tooling, compound, or similar. It's been over 50 years and it is a habit I still have. Another habit drummed into me at that same point in my young life was NEVER to leave a key in a chuck for an instant longer than it needed to be there. Some people will leave the key in a lathe chuck with it at about 12:00, thinking they are smart in doing so and it will prevent any chance of losing the key or some other similar reasoning. A key left in a lathe chuck can be sent flying with great force if the lathe were started. Find a safe place for the chuck keys and return them there after use. Could be a set of hooks or a piece of scrap pipe on a bracket fastened to the chip pan or similar.
If you do find reason to open the headstock for inspection or cleaning, it is only a matter of four (4) socket head screws. However, LeBlond put the headstock covers down on a cork gasket (same material as automotive rocker cover gaskets were made of), doped with gasket shellac. Over time, this gasketing gets petrified and will stick to the metal surfaces. When you go to opening the headstock, make sure to disconnect the power to the lathe. A lot of these LeBlond roundhead lathes had only a drum type reversing switch on top of the headstock, particularly if single phase motors were used. If you have power up to the drum switch and go to opening the headstock, it is easy enough to bump that switch and have the lathe start rolling. In the least case, you get a bath of oil, in the worst case, injury and damage to the machinery can result. If you do open the headstock, be prepared to drain it fully and check for not only chunks of the gasketing by metal particles. Sweeping around with a mechanic's magnet will get into the odd corners. It will give you an opportunity to check the headstock internals and condition of the gearing.
You can re-seal the headstock using RTV "gasket eliminator" applied to the sealing surfaces in a thin bead so it does not slop down into the headstock.
As Ramsay notes, these are great little lathes. I love using mine as well and for a light-duty engine lathe, it does a surprising amount of work. The trick is not to get too confident in the power or capacity of the lathe and wind up overloading that light gearing in the headstock. I have no problem taking a cut of 0.100"-0.125" off 2" diameter steel under lighter feed with HSS, but for interuppted cuts, I go a good bit lighter to lessen the impact loading on the gearing. I run tapered shank twist drills in the tailstock, but pilot drill and "step drill" my way up to the larger diameter bit sizes to avoid heavy loading on the headstock. When running tapered shank drills in the tailstock, I make sure to put a lathe dog on the drill shank and rest the "tail" of the dog on the compound or tool holder. This takes the "reaction" to the torque developed in the bit rather than asking the Morse tapered fit to do it. It avoids spinning a drill in the tailstock quill. Little things like taking a few extra minutes to step drill rather than try to push a larger drill thru the work, or taking a few extra turning cuts rather than a massive hogging cut are what I do to make life easier on the lighter gearing in the headstock. If you remember this is a light duty lathe and work accordingly, you will be quite pleased with it.
