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Steadyrest for older Leblond regal 15 manual lathe

kremlin

Plastic
Joined
Nov 28, 2019
Hi,

I have an older (2C) Leblond regal 15 lathe, mfg 1969. Leblond has since been bought by another large company, however, they still sell parts for my lathe. They are asking for more than I am willing to pay (5x what I paid for the lathe!) for a steadyrest, which has got me wondering -- are steady rests "generic" in any sense? It is unlikely I will find one manufactured specifically for my model, but if manual lathe bed geometries are consistent across brands I might be able to find a compatible one.

Basically, I am asking if it is feasible to find a steadyrest that fits my specific lathe model on the second-hand market.

Thanks!
 
I have seen quite a few that have been modified to fit various lathes, done it myself on one. This is not a hard job. Some get jacked up, some get lowered etc. One I did I had to make a riser block to bring it up to where it should be. The block had to fit a set of prismatic ways and was very easy to make. This is not terribly precise work. I would try to find something that was about right and modify the base.
 
For my former Clausing 5914 I found a (very old, 1/2-12 thds) steady guessing intended for about a 13 to 14 inch swing lathe, with enough meat on the base that I was able to mill off stock and still have a solid base. For my new to me Summit 1440, a heavy lathe, the typical 1440 steady drops between the ways on my lathe. I have acquired a generic 1440 steady and I will be making a bridge to mount the generic steady. Precision with respect to mating with the lathe ways is not overly critical since one adjusts the steady fingers as needed.
 
Here is a maybe north central Houston near the Veterans Cemetery - as can be seen, its not quite 7" flat way up to C/L. You can have it for the $275 I have in it

Its fairly hefty, so maybe from one of the smaller Dual Drives - which are between Regals and Heavy Dutys

100_1058.jpg100_1060.jpg

I'll get you a width vee way c/l to c/l flat way this AM so you will have a clue if its going to fit - and on edit, that is pretty close to 6"



Hi,

I have an older (2C) Leblond regal 15 lathe, mfg 1969. Leblond has since been bought by another large company, however, they still sell parts for my lathe. They are asking for more than I am willing to pay (5x what I paid for the lathe!) for a steadyrest, which has got me wondering -- are steady rests "generic" in any sense? It is unlikely I will find one manufactured specifically for my model, but if manual lathe bed geometries are consistent across brands I might be able to find a compatible one.

Basically, I am asking if it is feasible to find a steadyrest that fits my specific lathe model on the second-hand market.

Thanks!
 
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