LEBLOND lathes any good

Much better than a 10EE. The question is its condition. Steve

Aren't those fighting words?

Ive a Leblond royal, 15/30. Made in 1942 All gear head, taper preloaded bearing main shaft. Turns to 1/1000.in Limitation is the chuck accuracy. Mentioned it some yrs ago on this group. Came as lease lend from the USofA to the UK. Many thanks still going strong. My son will inherit it one day. Expect it to go on for another 60 to 100 yrs at least,hopefulloy for his son.

I thought Leblonde was french made?

LeBlond (my old client) was made in Cincinnati. It's one of the real old-time US machine-tool builders, dating from the 1870s, I think. They ran into financial trouble when the Japanese muscled their way into the US market and Makino bought in, somewhere around 1980. They then became LeBlond-Makino. Then they moved north out of Cincinnati, but still in Ohio, into a brand-new plant. Then Makino bought out the rest and it's just part of Makino now.

The later model LeBlond Regals were made in Singapore. The plant was run by LeBlond, so the quality was about as good as the Ohio-built machines. A good one is a great find; they were excellent machines.

I used to know Dan LeBlond when he still ran the company.

We had a couple of 1950 lebonds at school. They were in the best condition, a testament to their quality.

My dad owned a large machine shop in Richmond, CA. I remember the LeBlonds as good lathes. He did not own any crap. When you make your living via machine tools, go for the upper tier.