Leadwell machines?

Can anyone provide any insight on Leadwell machines from the mid 90's - 2000 time period. Heard about a machine for sale that is 40" travel and 15k lbs. Seems like decent weight how are they for rigidty, how do they hold up over time and any other pertinent info is appreciated.

I had a '86 Leadwell MCV-0 with a Fanuc OM control, 16 tool carousel. We sold everything off in '95, and the machine was still running pretty good, the iron was fine, still a very accurate machine.... just had some issues with the tool changer... needed to replace some air cylinders and cushions, guess they wore to the point of being unreliable timing wise and we'd get faults during tool changes.

The original steel way covers on the X axis were crap too.... they fell apart within a month or two. I drew up and had Gortite make a couple sets of rubber accordion way covers and we never wore out the first set.

I actually like that little machine better than the Fadal 4020 we had. I have no idea what the current situation of getting parts would be, but everything was pretty much off the shelf components.... not sure what you'd have to worry about.

My personal experience with Leadwell goes back to 1985. Over the years I have trained many shops around the country on about every Leadwell model there is, lathes, vertical and horizontal mills, with Fanuc and Mitubishi controls.
All of them, even the used ones, were quite good.
I understand there is a new importer that has good backup service.
Check it out, see it run if you can, but most likely it will be fine.
Heinz.
www.doccnc.com

Leadwell used to be our nearest supplier of cnc machine tools before the dealer went tits up a decade ago. As a result (of both) there are scads of them around here. I have run half a dozen lathes of various sizes, and still have a working 1985 vert. in our shop. The lathes are spot on and rigid as hell when maintained properly, and our mill will still interpolate a circle within .001". However the other side of this is that parts are increacingly hard to find and (most are outdated) bloody expensive. As a result there are several shops around here that are beating these machines into the ground as roughing hogs and doing SFA to repair them. I have been to a friends shop where you can hear the turret of his LTC lathe index from across the street. Take a good look at the functionality and accuracy before you buy.

p.s. I haven't seen a single Leadwell with a good condition paint job since I started machining in '99. Even the ones at the trade schools look like they were born in a vat of acid, so look WAY deeper than asthetics on these machines.

What is the machine model? Is it an MCV-1000ap/ar/cr or is it a V-40? What is the control? I service them in the Detroit area and there is a difference in models.

Brian said:

I had a '86 Leadwell MCV-0 with a Fanuc OM control, 16 tool carousel. We sold everything off in '95, and the machine was still running pretty good, the iron was fine, still a very accurate machine.... just had some issues with the tool changer... needed to replace some air cylinders and cushions, guess they wore to the point of being unreliable timing wise and we'd get faults during tool changes.

The original steel way covers on the X axis were crap too.... they fell apart within a month or two. I drew up and had Gortite make a couple sets of rubber accordion way covers and we never wore out the first set.

I actually like that little machine better than the Fadal 4020 we had. I have no idea what the current situation of getting parts would be, but everything was pretty much off the shelf components.... not sure what you'd have to worry about.

Click to expand...

Hi Brian
I got this machine in 1996 from near St Louis
It did have a tool changing problems..

It is still running did many repairs over the years.
The Way covers bellows are getting old, the one on the right side a little damage due
to heat from hot chips, but left side still good for its age.


Gave it a paint job a it needed a cleaning as it was not cleaned very much since I got it..

Is this the same machine? Sold by Ramco.


I also changed out the 2 door for a 3 door Lexan for more elbow room, but still
hit me head on the top cross bar!..

The oil limiters had to be replace most where totally plugged etc.
And the plug-in all need to be cleaned (the Honda ones)
Still doing that..

machinationus said:

Hi Brian
I got this machine in 1996 from near St Louis
It did have a tool changing problems..

Click to expand...

You're replying to a 10 year old thread fyi.

Mtndew said:

You're replying to a 10 year old thread fyi.

Click to expand...

Yeah but that is pretty cool. I would love to know what happened to some of the old machines I sold over the years... would be nice to know they are still kicking and making someone money!

I'll be damned... that's the one if the serial number is 0001, which it looks like in the slightly fuzzy picture. It was actually the first one of that model sold in the USA. I didn't have the shields on either side of the table, but those are the Gortite way covers we had made.

The tool changer started taking too long in certain movements, and the programming would fault it out if it didn't get the next proximity sensor in the chain in time. Back in those days I was an even worse electrician than I am now, so it was beyond my capabilities to fix. We shut the shop down in '95 and auctioned off all the machines.

Brings back a lot of memories... was the first CNC we bought after I purchased the shop from my dad... we were nervous as billy goats over getting a $25k loan (purchase price was $32k with 16 tool holders). Wasn't sure if we could handle the payment... but that little sucker pushed out so much work that we paid off the complete loan in six months.

Thanks for posting this, really fun to see that it's still doing it's job!

That's pretty awesome.

Hi. Maybe somebody still have leadwell v-25 machine with fanuc 21-m controller? Any info, manuals, programing, etc. would be great. Also I saw it comes with rs232c port? What software, hardware use to run nc codes from pc if possible? Also what cam software is good right now? Thanks.

My Dyna is a rebadged MCV 720.
One pocket has worn out, replaced wipers, otherwise its fine.