Le Blonde Lathe 1940 ish

Hi Guys,

I have a lathe, which used to belong to my grand farther it's about the size of a Colchester student. It's got a domestic powered motor fitted to it, however I think originally the lathe was powered by a 3 - phase motor. It's not in bad condition for its year comes with a

3-jaw chuck and I think may be a steady/ faceplate. It's got slight damage the lead screw support at the tail stock end but it's an easy job to make a new one. Any ideas what it could be worth in its current state or fully buffed up and restored and how I could sell it?

I have used it myself a few times it's a good machine even by today's standards lots of work left in it I would say, after the small repair job.

I think it would be nice to restore.

Rich.

Reply to
Rich
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Reply to
Dave

It depends on the model and condition of course..but LaBlonds tend to start at $1800 and go upwards, on the used market. YMMV of course.

Gunner

Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry

Reply to
Gunner

Hello Rich; I'm a big vintage LeBlond fan, and I currently own several old LeBlonds, including a 1945-era 15 x 45 Regal Toolroom lathe. I watch ebay all the time, drooling over machines.

Sadly (or wonderfully, depending on your point of view) old LeBlond lathes go for virtually scrap metal value these days. In the last several years, almost every '40's LeBlond lathe that has sold in the Los Angeles area on ebay has been in the range of $400 to $1200. It's a shame (and a great opportunity!) because most of them are good useable machines with some work. The big problem is parts. Many of these machines were heavily worn during WWII factory use, and if there are worn castings or chipped gears, it may not be worth the trouble to most guys to repair.

Newer LeBlonds from the '60's and '70's are a different story. There's a good supply of parts for them, and they're generally in better shape. A decent '70's Regal will go for $3000 to $10,000.

So, it's probably not worth your labor to restore it if you intend to sell it. The selling price wouldn't go up that much to cover your work, UNLESS you already have a specific customer lined up, who's willing to pay you to do the restoration.

Old machines like this are a labor of love. The hours I've put into restoring my machines are because I intend to keep and enjoy them for the rest of my life.

Bruce Johnson

Reply to
xstrange

Thanks for your comments Bruce. I understand that the labour of love is probably the only profit you would get out of it, just a shame I don't have the time or room to do it right now. I must say though I'm surprised this lathe is here in the UK its come along way and I would of thought that the original user would of bought a Colchester, not that there better or worse than the Le Blonde but the Le Blonde would of been quite expensive to import I would of thought, especially during WWII.

Cheers Rich.

Reply to
Rich

Yes the measure of value is sometimes not the price of what the item is.

Reply to
Rich

It is funny where machines end up. I just saw some pics of a 50's Kerry Mark3 lathe at a machine tool dealer in Pennsylvania- it looked in great shape except was missing the quadrant & gears for the train down to the gearbox. I was tempted but he was asking $200 and fabbing up a quadrant (and reversing gears) would have involved a moderate amount of work- on top of all the work & money going into my 1912 American lathe....

Regards,

Greg

Reply to
Greg Menke

Hmm...WW-II timeframe. Lend-lease, maybe?

Reply to
Edward Greeley

I was recently aboard a WW-II vintage museum ship (SS Red Oak Victory) and the machine shop had a big Le Blonde in what appeared to be virtually new condition. Ship board machines didn't get a whole lot of use and the machine in quesiton may have come from a scrapped ship.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Foster

Hello Rich;

I suspect that a lot of American machinery like LeBlonds ended up in England during WWII. It always amazes me to read about the incredible growth of manufacturing capability during those years in America and England, and of course also in Germany and Japan. The quantity of trucks, ships, aircraft, weapons, and all the associated components that were turned out was phenominal. It's hard to imagine how many lathes must have been running around the clock turning out parts. And how many lathes were just making parts to build other lathes. I'm sure that England's own machine tool companies were swamped, and any American machines that were available were being shipped over.

Reply to
xstrange

Hello Jerry;

Yes, in many of their old catalogs, LeBlond boasts about all the lathes it sells to the US and HMS Navies for shipboard use. In a 1916 catalog that I recently aquired, they have pictures of a portable 17" lathe which is made to be easily moved around. It has big 3 foot diameter cast iron wheels under the headstock end and a swiveling trolley under the tailstock. They describe it as being designed for use in railroad yard shops and in shipboard machine shops. Personally, the thought of a

8000 lb lathe on wheels in a tight room on a pitching ship is rather scary!!!
Reply to
xstrange

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