Well I got good deal on a Le Blond!

it looks so good I thought it was a repaint, until I supersized everything. If it is a repaint..they were good.

Interesting the very light surface rust on everything. Looks like it sat for a very long time without any use.

I think you did VERY well.

Oh..dump the tool holder

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

Hey Paul,

From here, looks like you got a good deal there. Make sure you ask where the chip-tray is, and if they have any manuals for the machine. And tooling they may have for it? I've paid nearly that much for a 13 X 40 from Taiwan! And mine didn't have a chip/coolant tray either. (I had one made up for 75 bucks. Write me back if you have to do that and I'll tell you what I did).

Marty Escarcega in Mesa, AZ had a 7.5Hp rotary phase convertor for sale a while back. Maybe drop him a line at . Price was reasonable. His was 220VAC, and hopefully that is what your new lathe is.

A word of warning. This seller suggests that they don't know much, so be aware of what is happening to lift this. I think it weighs more than the 1200 pounds suggested, but that will be apparent anyway. More to watch out for is where and how it is lifted. The standard method is to drop a decent length loop sling between the ways and put a wood block (4 X 4) into the loop under the bed, so the sling is close to or even trapped by the back of the chuck, so that there is absolutely no chance that the lifting sling can get around the outside of the bed and bend anything. Balance is then set with the tailstock, and fine adjustment with the carriage back and forth. Lock the tailstock and carriage when you find that balance point. Oh... first off, dump the suds from the coolant tank in the tail cabinet, so you don't have that sloshing around either.

Have fun. Drive easy. Let us all know how you make out.

Take care.

Brian Laws>Hey RCM I'm still shivering from winning the bid! I just got a

Paul:

Let me the first one to say YOU SUCK, congrats on the lathe. You will have a lot of fun with this one. What kind of stuff do you plan on doing with it, inquiring minds want to know.

Jack Fisher

Congrads, looks like a LeBlond Regal 15x30, 1960's vintage, looks like in pretty good shape. Book weight on the later years is 2500 lbs, yours maybe more as it appears to have cast iron in places where the later ones have sheet steel. Top heavy, be careful.

Probably a 5 hp motor and as it has no clutch it will take at least a 5 hp rotary phase converter preferably larger.

Bob

Let me second that: YOU SUCK! That's about half of what I paid for my Regal and I had to rebuild the headstock. But I did get the chip pan. The standard chip pan is a substantial piece of metal, but you ought to be able to fabricate something.

You'll need at least a 7.5hp phase converter or, preferably a 10hp, to get it to spin up on the top speeds. There is no clutch. A 5hp will work for the lower gears. This lathe is not a good candidate for a VFD, you would have to rewire the entire machine, but it is possible, I suppose.

There's an electric brake on the spindle to slow it down quickly when you turn off the motor.

That lathe weighs more like 3000 pounds. I can look up an exact weight in my manual if you need it. Parts are available from LeBlond USA. The spindle is an L0. Not too common new these days, but you can find a lot on ebay. You'll need a hook spanner to be able to unscrew the chuck retaining ring. Do NOT try to use an improvised tool. The retaining ring is hardened, but if it gets munged, you'll have to pull the spindle to replace it. I generally use a rubber dead blow hammer on the hook spanner to tighten and loosen that ring.

Change the oil in the headstock and the QC box. Make sure no coolant got in there. I had to rebuild my QC box since coolant had gotten in and corroded the oil pump spring (and generally made a mess of it). I also had to replace the bearings (except for the spindle, which I believe are precision). I still need to replace one of the mainshafts which has a (not very well) repaired gear. I can hear it go tick...tick...tick whenever I use that speed. Anyone parting out a Regal? Drop me e-mail.

Add oil to the carriage. There's a manual oil pump that squirts oil on the ways. You should pump out oil until it shows up at the back of the carriage before using it. That's the same oil that's in the headstock. You should be able to buy that oil at any reasonable lube dealer. If you need it, let me know and I'll look up what my pail says.

The ways are replaceable and hardened. LeBlond said they should outlast the life of the lathe. I think they were a bit optimistic, but probably not by much. My lathe is well worn and has about .004 wear at the worst. Because of the tool geometry, that works out to about .001 error or less at the tool bit. If I ever get my Monarch rebuilt, I'll get new ways and send the LeBlond out to get ground.

The crossslide reads in diameter and the machine is rigid enough that you can take a .001 finishing cut as easily as hogging off .125 fast enough to make the chips blue.

There are 4 spindle speeds where the spindle is driven soley by a timing belt. This avoids the vibration that can be introduced by direct gear drive and results in better surface finish.

Because of the L0 spindle, you can run it in reverse as easily as forward. Get a threading tool, mount it upside down and you can thread away from a shoulder with the machine in reverse. Lots easier on the nerves. I finally got around to doing this a couple of months ago.

Congratulations, it's a wonderful machine. It's probably not quite at the same level as a Hardinge or Monarch, but it's close and it was one of the best American made lathes. There are a couple guys with Regals around. Welcome to a select club! :-)

Oh yeah, you'll need to find an Aloris tool post (BXA works, but is a bit small, I think a CXA would be the right size). Nothing less is appropriate for that lathe :-)

BTW, the legs are attached to the ways. The proper way to lift that lathe is to run a couple of slings under the ways using boards on the bottom and to protect the leadscrew, just pick it up and then move the carraige until it is balanced. If you try to pick it up from the bottom of the legs, you run a very high risk of tipping it over. In other words, you could use a forklift to pick it up if you picked up the slings with the forks. You should not use a pallet jack to move this lathe. Don't say you weren't warned. This is not an Atlas lathe; if it starts to tip there's nothing you can do to stop it (even getting squished wouldn't help, probably wouldn't even stop the handles from getting broke)

If you're in a bind to get it on your trailer, call a wrecker service and have them lift it onto your trailer for $50. Given the cost of replacement parts, that's really cheap insurance.

Paul

Why Thank you!

VFD? Variable frequency drive?

Please let me know what kind of oil I need.

Can you really take off .125 per pass with this thing? And can you tell me what the actual swing is on this? and the distance between centers? Some one earlier said it was a 15 x 30 does that sound right?

What is the top RPM on this ?

Thank you! Be aware that you've identified yourself as a target of Le blond questions. So Le Blond was an american company?

Well you are going to have to explain the difference to me on this one. I'm so new to this that you can still smell the sap and see the green on my arms.

No issues on the loading part. Looks like from all words of wisdom on unloading I'm going to have to get the fork lift company out here. I really really really don't want to drop this thing and that would just ruin my "deal" that I got. Plus getting hurt isn't on my list of things I want to do. Thanks for all the information!

Reno, Paul

Chuckle..with a good tool, you can easily take .500 off per pass. I use a similar LeBlond on occasion. It does NOT lack for guts.

Put that puppy in one of the granny gears, feed at .003 per rev and bury the tool.

Its not an Atlas.

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

snipped-for-privacy@auroragrp.com (Paul Amaranth) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Paul have you every had the apron pump apart? Mine doesn't work on my old Dual Drive....I just squirt oil on the ways....

I Love my Mechanical Non-Hydraulic Dual Drive! :-)

Marty

Yeah. You can use a 5hp VFD to run the lathe, but you won't be able to instant reverse it (i.e. when the tool is about to run into the chuck and you want to reverse it NOW). The VFD could trip out letting the lathe coast into a crash. Then the spindle brake wouldn't work, although you could use the DC braking function found in most VFDs. I used one for a while, but I went back to a rotary phase converter. It just seems to work better with this lathe. Build a rotary and don't try to mess with a static converter.

Citgo Pacemaker 68 meets the spec. If you can't find Citgo, you should be able to cross reference it to something.

Easily. This was a serious lathe and time is money. With a good carbide insert, I'll take a .250 roughing pass if I'm in a hurry. No sweat. The down side of this is unlike a hobby lathe where the belt might slip if you goof, a crash can be VERY serious, both to you and your machine. If this is your first lathe, be VERY careful and pay full attention to what you're doing. I wouldn't recommend this as a first lathe only because the costs of the inevitable mistakes can be quite high.

Actual swing over bed is 15 1/2, 9 1/2 over the crossslide. 15x30 is right for that lathe. 30" between centers. 48 feeds .002 - .120, 48 threads 4 to 224. Tailstock takes a #3 morse taper, the spindle takes a #5 Morse. There's a 1 17/32 hole through the spindle. The front spindle bearing is a Timken precision, the center bearing is a roller bearing and the rear spindle is a ball bearing. The net weight is

2425 pounds.

Do you have a thread dial? If not, let me know. I have drawings for one. I made my own rather than pay $500 for one.

1800

The LeBlond Machine Tool company was based in Cincinnati and made machine tools from the late 1800s (1887). In 1964 they billed themselves as being the world's larger builder of a complete line of lathes. In the great machine tool meltdown of the late 70s they were bought by Makino (or, as Chrysler would say, did a joint venture). They split off the LeBlond parts as a separate division. Here's a link to a history page:

They also bought out the South Bend parts operation.

Aloris tool posts have quick change holders. You set the tool up in a holder and you can change tools in 5 seconds with excellent repeatability. I don't know the spec offhand, but the tool gets repositioned within a couple thou, repeatedly. If you can't afford Aloris, Phase II is pretty good. Get the wedge rather than the piston holder. It might actually make a difference with this lathe. A is for small lathes, B is for 12-15 swing, C is larger, but overlaps the

15" range. Get a tool catalog from MSC, KBC, Production Tool or similar and have fun. You can generally get the tool post and 4 or 5 holders for a deal. Sometimes they come up on Ebay as well.

Make sure they use a sling under the ways. I got a good deal on my Monarch because somebody tipped it over with a forklift (just because they have a forklift doesn't mean they know how to move a lathe - if it's a rigging company then they probably know what they're doing). We actually dropped my LeBlond a couple of inches when the strap slipped. Fortunately it was on soft asphalt and didn't hurt the lathe (but I do have a crack in the driveway).

Paul

snipped-for-privacy@auroragrp.com (Paul Amaranth) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Yup, I echo Paul's comments about nasty things happening if something goes wrong! That's how I got my Dual Drive. Someone crashed the carriage into the headstock and twisted the intermediate shaft in the headstock. Lucky for me they decided not to fix the machine (quoted $2000 to repair) they sold the machine for scrap price ($500) and LeBlond USA Still had the shaft on the shelf for $499. I got a 4 jaw chuck, taper attachment and a nearly new Royal Lever collet closer to boot. BEAUTIFUL machines.....

Dual Drive runs the same RPM.....

Yup, those folks are helpful and with the serial number, they can tell you who, and when it was sold and even for how much.

My Dual Drive was sold to North American Aviation in February of 1950. Sold for $5499!

I'm saying it again, HIRE A RIGGER TO PICKUP and Deliver your new toy.....watch closely and you will realize why. If you spent $300 on riggers, you are still money ahead on your new toy.

Oh, take pictures along the way (moving it and its new home, and anything else you want to share for that matter) and post them to the RCM Drop Box

Hey Paul, and Paul.

Just an excellent reply to the newbie. Thank you.

My advice for a first time mover of this machine is "DON'T!! " Get some professional help at least for the loading and tie-down. Things tend to get rushed along the lines of "get-home-itus" at the load-up end of the trip, where all the seller wants to do is get rid of it, and everybody else wants to go home for supper, etc etc etc. Once you get home, you've got lots of time to get it off, or get another pro to take it off, 'cause it is much easier to unload than to load. If it costs $500 to get it loaded, it won't cost $100 to get it off, unless it's going into a tight spot.

And at the expense of sounding repetitious, you just won't believe how such a nice solid machine sitting on the shop floor can be such a top-heavy monster once it is 1/4" off the same floor, never mind on a tippy driveway.

Take care. Seriously

Brian Laws>> > get it to spin up on the top speeds. There is no clutch. A 5hp will

Done all I have to do is strap this thing to my rented flat bed truck everything else will be done via forklift and people that have moved lathes before many many times.

Pictures I thought this would come up. That's my plan! I'll take pictures and put them in the Drop box for sure.

Reno, Paul

Hey Marty,

Never had the carraige apart. I only rebuilt what I had to so I could have a working lathe. Maybe when the Monarch's together (at least another year, sigh ...)

I have a parts diagram if you need it.

Paul

snipped-for-privacy@auroragrp.com (Paul Amaranth) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

That's ok, I'll keep wiping down the ways with way oil. Just wondering. It probably won't pump way oil anyway!

Hey other Paul, I will probably need those diagrams for my lathe if I can get them from you. I'd love to see the manual oilier work....which it may already. But nonetheless it would be nice to have them. We are still talking le blond not the Monarch right?

Reno, Paul

Sure, if you need a specific diagram. That's probably allowed as fair use under copyright law, wholesale copying is another matter. However, the manual is available from LeBlond USA and you should buy one so you have all the appropriate part numbers if you ever need to order something. It also has some operation and adjustment procedures that are useful as well as the parts diagrams so you can get an idea how things come apart. It's not cheap (get used to it; nothing about this lathe is cheap) but it's a necessary expense.

Just call them with a credit card handy and it'll show up in a couple days.

Paul