New to me 13" Regal.

[craptain]

I am the proud new owner of a Regal 13" and would like to know more about it. I have been doing the usual searches on Google, EBay, Vintage Machinery, etc and found some interesting and useful facts. I totally appreciate the speed limitations and that's not a problem, as I have a 9" South Bend which I use for smaller parts.

The lathe is equipped with 3 phase 3/4 hp motor, which I intend to drive with a VFD. It runs so well I don't see the value in changing it to single phase. It came, basically with no tooling, but has a decent qctp, and an 8" 6 jaw chuck (needs clean and lube). Wear, backlash etc are reasonable so I am hopeful for accurate work. Of course I have no idea yet what that work will turn out to be yet. Honestly, I bought it based on the price ($200), and it being bigger and heavier than my South Bend.

So, a couple of pictures taken where I bought it, and a picture of the numbers on the bed. Part of this is the serial number but can someone decode the whole thing for me?
I will not be able to run it in my shop until I get a VFD installed, but cleaning and checking out will start soon.

Any help and guidance is welcome.

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[Chuck K]

Cool old machine. I have one like it.

 

[craptain]

I have another question. With a VFD I have the option to speed up the motor and therefore the lathe. I understand that this is a low speed machine, but how fast might be reasonable? For a design speed of 500rpm, do you think 20% or 600rpm is safe? Essentially I suppose I am asking how much would the bearings take. Maybe even upgrade lubrication to a synthetic oil.

Just musing after researching VFD's.

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[benmychree]

I think you could get away with that speed increase; when using the top speed, pay attention to giving extra oil in the oilers that feed the spindle bearings; I have a 19" Regal that I speeded up, and ended up having to replace the bearings, the problem is that splash from the gearbox does not feed the bearings to any significant extent, they need the oil from the Gits oilers. I ended up slowing the lathe back down to its original speed, but have a two speed motor on it, so I can still get double the original speed if needed (with extra oil).

 

[Silverbullet]

Nice chuck you'll love using it. Good lathe and size to have. At $200 you got the lathe free and bought the chuck. I'm jealous

 

[wa5cab]

Our Downloads also has several Leblonde and Regal manuals available. Including four editions of Running a Regal.

Having looked at the assembly drawings, I note that most of the bearings are tapered roller type. The spindle in the 13" isn't significantly larger than the spindles in the largest Atlas, Craftsman or Logan machines, most of which will run up to 2000 ROM. Similar sized gearboxes in automotive applications typically run up to over 4000 RPM. I really don't see any reason why you couldn't safely run the 13" at double its normal RPM. The only thing I see to check would be the motor. It might not be rated for 3600 RPM.

 

[Chuck K]

I think that is a plain bearing model. If I'm not mistaken when they changed to tapered rollers they just said leblond on the front of the headstock rather than the size (13).

 

[wa5cab]

Well, you could be correct about it being a plain bearing model, in which case I wouldn't run it much faster (but at least, you won't have to worry about the motor). However, it does not appear that the marking change occurred in the same year as the bearing change. We only have copies of three versions of Running A Regal, 1931 (plain bearing), 1948 (roller bearing) and 1951 (roller bearing). The photos in the 1948 edition show the size and those in the 1951 edition show LeBlonde. So craptain will have to determine the bearing type.

 

[craptain]

Thanks for the info so far. I have already downloaded a copy of How to run a lathe from 1946, which appears to cover my model. But now I notice the change to roller bearings very close to then. I will check tomorrow and see what bearings I have. I will also be checking with the factory later in the week for any information they can give me, based on the serial number.

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[Chuck K]

I emailed the factory for info on mine and they sent me the original sale invoice. I thought that was pretty cool. It was sold to a school in the chicago burbs for about 1300.00. It was itemized to show the cost of the accessories.