Alan F.
Well-known member
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The Lathe thread.
- Thread starter matty
- Start date
Speaking of lathes- heres one I have in mothballs looking to sell it. Not a great choice as a general purpose machine but quite useful for production work ie cranking out parts on a production basis; perfect for motorcycle-sized bushings, screws etc. I don't do much production so it doesn't get used enough. The last run I did on it was a series of aluminum button caps for a 70's stereo.
Finally got a 3 jaw chuck for my lathe, 7" diam or perhaps 180mm because all the fasteners and hole layouts on it are metric. Spanish made by TDG a while ago- so pretty old but in almost mint condition, low if not 0 miles on it. Excellent fit and operation- I'm pretty much always a 4 jaw kind of guy but this chuck is nice. I had to fully machine a rough backplate, reminded me of why I don't much like turning cast iron but it came out really well. Total weight is something around 60lbs, so a bit of a grunt to get it on and off. 1st job chucked here is some 1" bar I used to make a nice big chuck key for it.
nzrian
Renegade
You could make a solid tool post riser to suit, and remove the top/ compound slide.
I did this on my Chinese lathe and it stiffend things up quite a bit.
nzrian
Renegade
Making the squish on my 300 2t a bit smaller to bump compression.
Worked quite well.
Worked quite well.
You could make a solid tool post riser to suit, and remove the top/ compound slide.
I did this on my Chinese lathe and it stiffend things up quite a bit.
Thanks for this! Very helpful! That’s sorta what I was leaning towards. But the pics help a lot.
nzrian
Renegade
No worries, there are some YouTube videos that are helpful, one in particular I can't remember the name of, he is Canadian from memory.
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looks like a deal;
1941 LeBlonde Metal Lathe - tools - by owner - sale
HD Metal Lathe - Lebonde 17in with Some new tooling. Moving, and lathe is under power to work it through it's steps. Comes with a copy of the Original LeBlonde Bill date and sale. Photo's show the...
dallas.craigslist.org
Thats a LeBlond Regal- pretty nice machine but relatively lightweight which has advantages and disadvantages. I've had hands on one taking off a stuck chuck, but did not run it.
This one looks really well tooled which justifies the price to a degree, and location is a big factor too. The headstock gears are known for being a bit lighter duty than they should be but certainly up for reasonably unreasonable work.
Its a very useful form factor- you can put fairly large work on it in addition to small and the chuck sizes are well-chosen. A very capable machine looking to be in great shape :)
This one looks really well tooled which justifies the price to a degree, and location is a big factor too. The headstock gears are known for being a bit lighter duty than they should be but certainly up for reasonably unreasonable work.
Its a very useful form factor- you can put fairly large work on it in addition to small and the chuck sizes are well-chosen. A very capable machine looking to be in great shape :)
You'd be into a full size pro lathe, or cnc- so way more than $5k. Such a machine would offer a higher max spindle rpm and more modern features like combined metric and sae threads, spindle brake, spindle jog, rapid traverse, follow rest (the LeBlond doesn't have one looks like)
www.normanmachinetool.com
which is pretty nice- I saw one quote of $23k for this model lathe; smaller swings are cheaper. Hard to beat $5k for a well maintained fully tooled lathe if it does the stuff you need. The chucks on the Regal are likely very good if well fit and not worn out- that machine looks like it was carefully prepped and operated so its likely capable of good work from day 1. Note that 4 sided toolpost is a McCroskey- top quality stuff from back in the day. The 3 jaw chuck shown is a Bison- good modern stuff from Poland- likely better than what ships with that Kent lathe. The LeBlond's toolpost is adequate, but comes with a good selection of apparently quality tooling in the toolholders. The general rule is that you'll spend the same amount on the lathe tooling as you do on the lathe- but much of that is already present; one of the reasons why $5k is arguably reasonable.
The Teco vfd is good stuff too, though the install could be better. As-is its pretty convenient but the small buttons tend to be awkward.
My 1936 12" American was $2k, filthy, partially tooled, needing a bunch of work and not in running condition. I've spent way more than that on time and effort getting it to its happy place- a bit of $ also but not a full $2k.
Kent 17" x 44" Manual Precision Lathe, ML-1740T - Norman Machine Tool
Kent 17″ x 44″ Manual Precision Lathe, ML-1740T Inventory # 8113 Model: ML-1740T Read the Kent Model ML-1740T PDF Here Specifications: Swing Over Bed: 17″ Swing Over Cross Slide: 11″ Swing Over Gap: 24 1/2″ Width of Bed: 12″ Distance... Read More
www.normanmachinetool.com
which is pretty nice- I saw one quote of $23k for this model lathe; smaller swings are cheaper. Hard to beat $5k for a well maintained fully tooled lathe if it does the stuff you need. The chucks on the Regal are likely very good if well fit and not worn out- that machine looks like it was carefully prepped and operated so its likely capable of good work from day 1. Note that 4 sided toolpost is a McCroskey- top quality stuff from back in the day. The 3 jaw chuck shown is a Bison- good modern stuff from Poland- likely better than what ships with that Kent lathe. The LeBlond's toolpost is adequate, but comes with a good selection of apparently quality tooling in the toolholders. The general rule is that you'll spend the same amount on the lathe tooling as you do on the lathe- but much of that is already present; one of the reasons why $5k is arguably reasonable.
The Teco vfd is good stuff too, though the install could be better. As-is its pretty convenient but the small buttons tend to be awkward.
My 1936 12" American was $2k, filthy, partially tooled, needing a bunch of work and not in running condition. I've spent way more than that on time and effort getting it to its happy place- a bit of $ also but not a full $2k.
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morsetaper2
Well-known member
So you got Greg's lathe I see.Speaking of lathes- heres one I have in mothballs looking to sell it. Not a great choice as a general purpose machine but quite useful for production work ie cranking out parts on a production basis; perfect for motorcycle-sized bushings, screws etc. I don't do much production so it doesn't get used enough. The last run I did on it was a series of aluminum button caps for a 70's stereo.
That was a good buy!
morsetaper2
Well-known member
I used to own this 1945 Monarch 10EE. Bought as a project. But kinda realized I was in way over my head w/ the electronics. An elec engr friend helped me get it running. But w/ the wear and electricals, it just wasn't a good fit for me and I sold it about 10 years back.
So you got Greg's lathe I see.
That was a good buy!
lol, I am he :) I did sell off the lathe though (at my usual breathtaking $ loss) - another Wade 7 turret guy actually using his to make money- mine was lots less worn than his, so it was a good upgrade for him.
That's interesting. I wouldn't have thought electronics would be an issue on that machine. I assumed it would be purely mechanical after switching the motor on.I used to own this 1945 Monarch 10EE. Bought as a project. But kinda realized I was in way over my head w/ the electronics. An elec engr friend helped me get it running. But w/ the wear and electricals, it just wasn't a good fit for me and I sold it about 10 years back.
morsetaper2
Well-known member
Well no shit! I should have known it was you w/ the ATW lathe, LOL. I just had no idea you rode motorcycles. So didn't make the connection. Ha Ha, small world!
morsetaper2
Well-known member
Of all the drive variants of the 10EE, the Motor/generator drive (of which it was) is supposedly the easiest to maintain. There is a lot of wiring, circuitry, and various electrical components inside those covers. Might not be too bad for some, but my electrical skills are pretty weak. Plus the machine had a lot of wear and with all that I just decided it was best for me to off-load it.
morsetaper2
Well-known member
My current lathe is a 36 ctr-ctr South bend 10L. Its in pretty nice shape, and I've got just about every accessory for it. Even have metric transposing gears. I'll have to put up a decent photo of it. I'd like to get another lathe to accompany it. Something larger in the 12-14 inch or so range.
I remember hauling a couple BS#7 collets down from Philly and giving them to my wife to hand off to you; IIRC you bought a mill out of the same garage I got my 14" ATW from?
Well-met here :)
morsetaper2
Well-known member
Doesn't ring a bell? I've never owned anything that takes BS#7 collets? You must be thinking of somebody else. My Bridgeport came out of a garage in Bethesda.
matty
Border raider.
Nice lathe the 10L, i had great ideas for a 10l some years ago, i got a bed and headstock for one in a deal for a load of other tools and some ford kent crossflow engines, At the time i really strugled to find any of the many missing parts it was pre fleabay and indeed the internet and it was just a case of dealers and word of mouth watching auction catalogues etc and i just never seemed to conect with anything for that south bend.