Gunsmithing Lathe Identification and will it work for barrel work

[RugerSlinger]

Got a phone call yesterday from my brother-in-law, the company he works for is getting rid of a lathe cheap, like scrap metal prices. I don't know much about it yet but I have one picture of it right now with more to come. I know very little about lathes, I did run one a little bit while I was in High School but that was a 10 years ago. I attached the picture of the machine, I will post more when I get them.

From what I can read in the picture it is a LeBlond Regal Servo Shift, I think it is a 15x30 but I am not positive. Would this be good for barrel work with the right tooling? Also, is a decent machine and a possible weight, I am trying to figure out how I am going to transport it. The company has a front end loader to load it onto my trailer but I am trying to figure out what type of equipment I need at my house to unload it.

Any input would be very helpful as I know many of you know way more about this than I do.

Thanks

 

[LRI]

Having just bought a bunch of new equipment this is what I'll share:

Inspect the ways carefully. If hamburgers ran it and did a bunch of polishing/sanding on the machine make sure the ways were covered up as they did the work. Failure to do so will result in abrasive media mixing with way oil and forming lapping compound under the carriage right where you don't want it: next to the chuck.

Listen to it run. Bring a big screw driver and stick the handle in your ear as you touch the outer spindle cases or a stethoscope and listen to the spindle bearings. It should be a smooth sounding hum. If it sounds like a washer on spin cycle with a pair of boots avoid.

Bring a piece of 1" chromoly steel bar and take a light clean up pass for a few inches. Measure for taper. It should be less than .001"

Backlash in the cross slide/compound can be dealt with provided its not excessive.

If you move it yourself consider calling your insurance and getting a writer for the move.

Don't put a machine straight onto a steel bed trailer. It'll be like a pair of ice skates. Use some dunnage or cribbing (wood) between the two.

Know that lathes are VERY top heavy. Strap that biche down like its going to China on a horse drawn buggy.

Rent a fork/skid steer to unload at your house.
Avoid placing it across expansion joints in your floor One machine per section of floor. If your shop/garage is monolithic then no worries.
Make sure your floor is thick enough for the weight of the machine. 4" slabs will usually suffice for smaller pieces.
Check to see if you can get/have 3 phase power at your house. A lot of residential locations don't have this as the power companies split the phases to various sections of the neighborhood to keep the loading uniform across the big transmission lines.

If it's 3P and you don't have it a phase converter will be needed. Not a big deal, just another expense.

Check the lead screw used for threading and make sure it engages smooth on the half nut. Make sure it repeats too.

Good luck.

C.

 

[waste_knot]

I'd jump on that. Get him to measure the bore through the headstock, as long as it's 1.5" or there abouts. A lathe that size will probably have enough bore in the spindle. It's going to be 3 phase though.

 

[RugerSlinger]

Thanks Chad for the quick response. I know I don't have 3 phase and that I will have to buy a converter. I have a nice shop with a 6" reinforced slab, and I also have a skid steer at the shop along with a old intertnational Backhoe that I know will lift it no problem but getting it running in the winter can be a PITA.

Thanks waste_knot, I got the rest of the pictures my brother-in-law took when he was looking at it. I am probably going to get it as it is so cheap I can't pass it up.

 

[230grRN]

For scrap price I'd take that thing whether is perfect or not! The Leblond Regal is probably one of, if not the last of the lathes to be made in the USA, not counting the high end tool room lathes still made here today. The lathe pictured is equipped with several add on options dual in/metric feed dials, trav a dial, taper attachment, D1 spindle nose (most Leblonds are L series), Looks like a Buck set-tru chuck, and a Dorian tool post.

The only major draw back I have with the Leblonds is the main bed is fitted with hardened and ground top ways for the carriage which is to be expected on machines like this. The main bed where the tailstock slides back and forth however is not, which can lead to really bad wear of the bed and tailstock base if not kept clean and lubed before sliding. Look these surfaces over closely for any heavy wear will be visible with your eye.

As I said though, for scrap price don't let it get away. I sold my clapped out 1964 13x30 Leblond that had heavy wear on the ways for $3500 last year. There is a decent market for the old Leblonds because they are good heavy (about 2500 lbs) and well built machines.

 

[colchester]

Leblonde is a very good machine. I would jump all over it for scrap price. The tool post and the chuck are worth twice what that machine will bring for scrap. Has what appears to be an Albrecht drill chuck and a taper attachment. That might even be an adjust true chuck. The headstock might be a little long for chambering but it will serve you well if you are resourceful. Its a pretty heavy dude be careful loading it, I dont think you will be dissapointed

 

[Bryan27]

For scrap price I'd be on that thing like white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm!

If it's a local move, rather than messing with moving it yourself, I'd suggest through bolting it down to two 4x6's run long way and have a flatbed wrecker come pick it up. When i bought my lathe and also when I sold it, I had a flatbed handle the transloading from trailer to the ground and then ground to the trailer when I sold it. The hydraulics those trucks have allow a lot of control in moving something that heavy. If you have forks on both ends of the move the flatbed isn't going to be much advantage other than the fact I'd rather pay someone $75-$100 who has insurance to cover the machine than move it myself.

 

[Rthur]

Checkout American rotary for a phase converter. They are very quiet and easy to wire.

R

 

[MikeeBooshay]

That lathe is going to be north of 3000 pounds, a new 15x60 is 3800, without accessories. Unless your skid steer is really big, probably not going to do it. Most of the machinery movers can do this job in a couple hours, and spot it exactly where you want it, insured and experienced is an OK thing here. If it DOES tip over, the cheapest broken thingy, would have covered the cost to move it.

If you are getting this thing anywhere under $5k, and it is as solid as it appears ( the pics don't show much wear at all ) you're doing good. If you aren't confident enought to put the thing thru it's paces, find a knowledgeable machinist to go with you, again, fixing much broken stuff, costs more than the machine is worth. Chad's advice about cutting a bar, checking for taper is excellent. Most machines get a lot of wear in one local area of the bed, depending on what it was used for, and the care it was given.

Looked at a lot of iron the last few years, there are some great values for the discerning shopper, this lathe has a lot of good equipment, that you could ebay out if you decided not to use the lathe. Nice to have a plan B if something doesn't pan out right.

 

[boltstop101]

Wow thats a great machine top shelf personally Id keep it . For the electric you could go with 1) a phase converter they can be spendy 2) a VFD variable frequency drive allot cheaper and you get variable speed controll or 3) Probably a two horse power motor just replace it with a single phase 220 motor and not have to deal with any extra crap . I got a screaming deal on a 3 phase South Bend 13x40 lathe changed the motor and it works great

 

[Clark]

That looks like a post 1979 LeBlond when Makino took over and used the name for import.

It is the same tailstock as a Jet or Clausing from China.

 

[Horseheadman]

I notice it has a taper attachment too...great deal for what you'll have in it.

 

[timbertoes]

very cool, I hope you get it and all works out well.

 

[RonA]

If you end up with the lathe I did some cleanup recently and have quite a few drills and some end mills to get rid of. I could box up 5 or 10 lbs of them.
If you are just starting out that kind of stuff can come in handy. Especially if you get a mill down the road. Just pay for the shipping.

RonA

 

[RugerSlinger]

Ron Thanks so much, I sent you a PM. And thanks to everyone else for the responses. I am going to be picking it up in a couple weeks but dont have the space cleared up yet so it may be a couple months before I get it setup and running.

Boltstop, I was thinking about swapping out the motor for a single phase motor as that might be the easiest route but I was also thinking that I may want to get a converter because a mill is going to be in the near future also and I know you want to keep 3 phase motors in a mill. Is there any disadvantage of swapping the motor out for a single phase vs the 3 phase? Also I read that some(all?) converters reduce the power output by 2/3 because of the conversion process, is this true for all of them or just lower end models. I checked out the American Rotory phase converter and I didn't see anywhere that it reduces the power output by 2/3 but I also didn't know if it was just the standard that you are going to lose power output with a converter.

I received a quote from the rigging company that is installing the new machine and it was close to $500 as it has to go about 75 miles. I have a car trailer with a wooden deck that I am going to use and they have a front end loader at the shop to load it for us. I also have a backhoe and a large skid steer with a lifting capacity of 2700 pounds. I worked for a recovery company before and moved and rigged many large awkward objects so I'm not a newb when it comes to moving things.

Worst comes to worst I can always get a wrecker from the company I worked for previously to move this thing.

Thanks again to all who have replied.

 

[boltstop101]

Im glad your getting that lathe RugerSlinger phase converters are very expensive and an extra component if you have a 5 horse power motor makes no diference three phase or single phase in power. the diference is higher voltage uses less electricity cheaper to run so if your a buisness running machines all day every day its allot cheaper . VFD's are the way to go if you want to keep your motor . If you want to maintain the original operation of the machine. A single phase 220 motor is the way to go you can find some very good deals on ebay I got a brand new 2hp motor for $175 including shipping any of the three will work but new motor is the claeanest if you do loose any power along the way it would be negligible the better question to ask is if you have the power avalable you will most likely need a 30 to 50 amp breaker

 

[E. Bryant]

I set up my 3hp lathe with a Hitachi 2.2kW VFD:

https://www.driveswarehouse.com/p-2527-wj200-022sf.aspx

 

[Powermac]

A VFD (variable frequency drive) is what you want as mentioned above.
It's a lot more cost effective then a transformer.
And you can pretty much configure it to run any kind of motor, single or 3 phase 50, 60 hz so you get flexblity to run the equipment you want.
I would advice to get one a bit overdimensioned for it's use as it will improve it's life span.
Hitachi (Omron) industrial poroducts are good, ABB is probably the better but they're not cheap.
Also if you're going to run precision machinery through a VFD, you should remember to use shielded cables to avoid potential problems

 

[RugerSlinger]

So got the call today saying this is all ready to be picked up. They are going to load it onto my trailer and how i get it off is gonna be a challenge but I always like a good challenge. So I ended up getting it for less money than a VFD will cost me. I still havent seen it in person but I think it will be worth it for the price.

I will keep you updated as things start to unfold.

 

[x ring accuracy]

I assume you will have accesabilty at your home / shop. You can rent a small telescoping forklift for say 400 a day plus delivery. You can put that machine off the trailer and into its home with ease. This is the machine I used. The lathe was 3300 and the machine was rated at 10k with a close pick up.

 

[RugerSlinger]

So we had a little SNAFU when we went to pick it up last week and we missed the riggers to load it. We made alternative arrangements and we were able to get it yesterday.

I pretty sure those straps wouldn't have done shit if we had to make any sudden maneuvers...


Now I need to figure out what VFD to get. Forgot to look at the motor tag to get the specs.

Came with 2 chucks, a 3 jaw and a 4 jaw, both Pratt Burnerd

Ways

Stuff

Tool Holder

I was thinking about picking a couple things up at Grizzly to get started, what would be some good things to get started with?

 

[jacq220]

Buy a trash can so you have a place to put that miller high life you have sitting in the background of one of those pictures!

 

[x ring accuracy]

Looks good, now comes the fun of tooling it up. Keep us posted and happy chip making.

 

[MarinePMI]

That collet closer sure looks nice...