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Leblond Makino regal lathe questions

robmc

Cast Iron
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Location
Rhode Island, USA
What was the last year that the Leblond Makino regal style lathes (basically the 1530, 1536, etc. size range) were built? Was there any year or years when the quality changed...... such as production in a different country, etc. or did it remain pretty much unchanged? The servo shift option has received some negative comments over time, yet it seems instead of dropping it, they continued offering it up to the end.... when ever that was. Did they make improvements to it, so that the later ones were better? It seems that the servo shift outnumbered the regular gear head lever machines, just going by what's available in the used market but maybe people hang on to the basic lever machines....... I don't know. Is the servo shift bad enough to be a deal breaker in purchasing one or is it reasonably easy to work on and fix? Any comments or info would be welcome! Thanks!
Rob
 
Servo shift problems are not that common. Yes, they are more complex and the most common problem is an easy fix. I've only had one that required rebuilding the valve body. The rebuild kit was some where in the 500.00 range. Basically a bunch of plastic plates that you replace. The most common problem that I run into is the wire that runs to the magnetic brake. The brake rocks from a ecentric crank through some gears. The wires flex and brake up. Spindle won't rock back and forth so it misses shifts. Easy fix, use a short bit of Igus chainflex cable to repair it. If you find one in good shape, don't be afraid of it. Leblond also offers good tech support.
Bill
 
All the servo shift machines can be converted back to manual shift. They simply have a blank off plate covering where the levers were. The shift mechanism for the levers is still there. Leblond sells a kit with the levers and retaining plate and speed chart.
 
Nothing wrong with a servo shift. I have been running mine daily for 7 years, no issues, shifts fast, I don't ever want to go back to a clunky standard shift lathe. Seems like most people whining about Servo Shift lathes have never even used one.
 
What was the last year that the Leblond Makino regal style lathes (basically the 1530, 1536, etc. size range) were built? Was there any year or years when the quality changed...... such as production in a different country, etc. or did it remain pretty much unchanged?

I talked with an ex-LeBlond acquaintance today and we think the Regal lathe production in Singapore ended in 1998, give or take a few months. The Regal lathe production was started in the then new LeBlond Singapore facility circa 1975. This is not a hard date as the transition to Singapore was phased in over a few years.

As I recall, the cover on the LH end of the headstock changed from an aluminum casting to a sheetmetal fabrication around 1981 when the company became LeBlond Makino. Somewhere in there, the carriage and tailstock handwheels changed from a spoked design to solid center castings due to OSHA and the "pull up to start the spindle" levers disappeared in favor of an OSHA compliant ITO (Intentional Trip Only) knurled knob at the RH side of the carriage.

I expect the Singapore built Regals were of equal quality to the earlier square head Regal lathes that were built in the LeBlond Cincinnati facility.

Mike
 
We have one of these at school and they are getting ready to send another one to the surplus auction. I was talking with my instructor about it and he said he doesn't have many problems with it and it's really not all that complicated to work on so not to be scared of that if I were to win the auction.

I use that machine on a weekly basis and it's SWEET. I feel spoiled whenever I'm on it.
 








 
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