Having been a transmission mechanic with over 40 years of experience I can tell you that the way that gear box throws oil looks extremely healthy to me. The oil is thrown from the center of the gears which indicates a good mesh pattern.

I always love a good restore video. Thanks for sharing Keith.

Good video Keith! I love the looks of the old lathes! Looks like a fun project. Can't wait to watch you fix her up!

Good video Keith. I've enjoyed watching you build your new shop and I'm looking forward to watching you do this restoration.

Was looking forward to this series Keith. Great to see the workings of the head stock. Thank you

Oh man I am looking forward to seeing this restoration!

I really appreciate your job

Just an idea.. This KZfaqr "SV Seeker" is building a boat and he has a LOT of work to do on it. At some point, he got the idea to open up a spare bedroom and space for campers and tents, so that people who watch his videos could drop in for a day or two to help out with whatever is going on. If you had supplies around, you'd probably get a lot of help finishing the barn, staging your equipment, etc.. Just an idea... SV Seeker is making that work, not sure how, but it is really inspirational that so many people from all around the world come to this guys boat to help..

Good find. Glad everything is what it's supposed to be. We all have some wear and tear but we still wobble along. Thanks Keith! Good one!

Looking forward to following the adventure with you Keith!

I'm beyond excited about this. Yesterday I paid for a Clausing 12x36 lathe and am headed out a couple hours to pick it up. I'm looking forward to following along, picking up pointers and rebuilding mine with your help. THank you!!!

Looking forward to this series

I just bought a monarch 10ee, it's my first lathe, starting to become familiar with it, so this series will be most helpful to me, thanks keith!

Looking forward to this series! I recently purchased a Rockford Economy 18" lathe that I want to verify and restore (mostly cosmetic). This was huge step up for me as I had a Southbend 9C before.

Looking forward to restoration. Keep up the good work.

For a machine of its vintage over all not bad. Thank you for the lesson on inspecting a lathe.

Nice vid Keith,definitely looks like a keeper and in good shape for its obvious age.

Great. Looks like it is in better shape than it looked like.

This is great! Looking to buy myself a second hand lathe in the next months and you gave a good indication of what to look for and where to start. Also Nice to see you finally working in your new shop.

This is going to be an awesome series!!!

Looks good Keith, looking forward to seeing the restoration. Like that LeBlond logo.

After the Vance Planer/Matcher, this should be a piece of cake. :-) I'm looking forward to seeing this series.

Great overview/explanation regarding the ways. With your knowledge and abilities you should have no problems or only minor ones that you'll know how to deal with. The gears look to be in excellent shape also. It appears that you have a great machine for this restoration. When you're done it'll be better than new---to you. This should be a nice video series and interesting, as well as educational. Good luck and I know you'll produce a beautifully restored lathe---for the new shop! Can't wait for more of these videos! ....13

Looking forward to this. What a nice project. Seems in pretty good shape for its age. As you say, you soon get to learn the little idiosyncrasies of these older machines and know just where to do your work when you need the best precision.

Nice inspection, now you know there will be no surprises.

Looks to be in pretty good shape!

The head stock sounds good and looks like it's been kept in good shape. Amazing what clean oil can do for keeping machines going. Good find Keith. Hope it serves you well.

THANK YOU...for sharing.

I think you bought a good one there , Great brand name to . Thumbs up Keith !

great video

I'm really looking forward to the restoration.

Thanks for the Vid Keith!! That lathe looks fantastic and for straight cut gears like that, she runs quiet. Loads of oil for those babies! As you said, the dish in the ways is nothing. People forget the majority of the work you are still going to do is in that same area. So, to the workpiece. Your saddle is not really moving. Once you transition from the dished area out into the virgin area is when you will see a change in tool position. The amount of tool tip position that changes on the X axis is a function of the part diameter. The tip will travel along a chord perpendicular to the axis of the part and the cutting tip will travel along that perpendicular line. The line will be inversely proportional to the diameter so the bigger the diameter, the less the tip will move in and out of the cut. In reality, the amount even for small diameter work will be very small. Could calculate it and then do a test cut on the lathe and compare the results of the calculation and the actual tool cut. Either way, that lathe is badda$$!! Would love to have it. Though, I love my Clausing 5914!

Great machine! Thumbs up and subbed!

Very good looking machine, not much wear for such an old machine, think you made a good purchase.

Hi Keith, as usual I really enjoy your machine walk-throughs... The only thing I was missing was for you to be say - that it will end up being painted Pink :-) cant wait to see you tear it apart. Best wishes from Denmark!!

Great tips Keith, it's always good to have a solid inspection program when in search of any machine. I know I have to slow myself down and rethink everything when I'm out looking at something. I can get excited if there's an interesting machinist to talk to, and my mind will go out the window. However, when I bought the Atlas, I got it for 1/3rd the price because it didn't have a power cord and wouldn't run. I sure know if I were the seller I would have wired one in for the $400 discount I got, LOL! Aloha...Chuck

This is going to be helpful,I hope. This is the same lathe I have.

Nice looking machine. I'm doing something very similar to a 1949 Holbrook C-16. It had sat for years and at one point had flooded during a tropical storm here in Houston. Mine came apart down to the last bolt and is slowly going back together. Curious about your compound, I wonder what the benefits of having the T-Slot cast parallel to the spindle axis instead of perpendicular to the compound axis is?

That sure is a nice quite gear train! I'm sure you'll end up with a great machine here!

Grate job, I never thought of using a Dial indicator to check the ways the way you did. Sometimes I feel so stupid. LOL

Classic wear pattern - I know on my old lathe it actually goes a bit tight when carriage closest to tailstock... and even similar when closest to spindle. Great potential with that lathe... nice gearbox.

I appreciate what Keith has done here showing us in a very simplified form how the ways can be out. The problem is when you put the indicator on the apron the apron can also be moving up or down or sideways as it goes into or comes out of the wear spots. Maybe I’m being too fussy. Another thing you could do would be to take a long very accurate straight edge hold it against the surface you want to check and use fine feeler gauges. Perhaps a combination of both methods would give you the information you need.

Keith, Very nice machine! I asked you about paint colors before and you had mentioned painting it green. As I look at your lathe I can see an awful lot of black paint. I feel fairly confident your machine was originally painted black. It sure would look cool if it were black again! I recall a fella on the Practical Machinist forum who actually picked all the layers of paint off with plastic spoons and other soft tools until he reached the origonal finish. If I recall correctly he found nearly all of the origonal finish was still in tact. And the machine was beautiful with the ways and all the handles polished up. I understand that Black may not be the choice everyone could live with. I have redone 2 of my machines in the origonal black and I realy do not see myself doing anymore of them like that. Right now I am leaning toward Rust-Olium Hunter Green for my 23" J.E. Snyder drill press. All the best! Mike

exciting!

Interesting, should keep you busy for a while. Keep on keeping on.

Before you tube there was no way to share knowledge like this. I can watch videos and make my machines and work more accurate. Thanks !

Awesome, not much better than seeing something old brought back to look good. If i had the opportunity to restore a Lathe i've always fancied using British Racing Green.

Keith - Could you cover the operation and how it works for the power feeds - Please. I have a mini-lathe and would really like to know how the power feeds work. Think of it a just more teaching to a bunch of senior juvenals delinquents. Love your work here. Please just keep it up.

It'll look great painted "Masculine Pink!" :)

with your skill you can fix the feed handle without any problem I believe in your abilities

never seen the inside where the gears are,very manual transmission-ish,great video Keith

Hello Keith, Great that you make video's about the restoration of your laid ( I was hoping for it ) and good to see that the wear on it is acceptable. Outside may indeed have a bit new paint on it but yeah, for a machine that is more than 75 years old I guess. I'm looking forward to the next part and for me the video's can't be long enough haha, but I understand that it takes more time to upload longer video's. Also all the render work and editing has to be done and I don't know the internet speeds you have. Here they updated a month ago the speeds again and now my download speed is 300 Mbit and upload 30 Mbit. But I understand that in America the internet speeds aren't so high but I guess it depends on where you live. Anyway many thanks for the great video and looking forward to the next one ! Many greetings from Roel !

Looks like a good lath runs very quiet no bad noises just a splash of paint and get rid of that blue on the base repaint the top of it and it will look as good as it runs you should be very happy with that

Keith, in the top of the gearbox one of the oil galleys seems to be running dry. In the video, left center of the screen, right next to the oil line. The perfectionist in me screams "scrape the ways!". Never mind that I've never done that. :-) You're right, it's not that bad. I'll keep following. Thanks, John

My favorite test for lathe wear is using a piece of long ground shafting like out of an old hydraulic cylinder and indicating the up and down and side to side movements at the same time. Have Adam pick you up a good piece of scrap rod you will find it a valuable tool I think. Of course turning a test bar will be the final answer but the ground rod sure helps you to diagnose where your turned errors are coming from.

Keith could the bar that you used the dial indicator on be replace if it were worn to much?

Looks like a nice serviceable lathe. Definitely needs a facelift and some minor repairs. That lathe appears to be very heavy duty for a 12" size. Always enjoy the videos!

Over on BasementShopGuy channel, he is restoring a South Bend 7" shaper, but he brings up a good point. Those old machines were probably painted with lead based paint. He uses Citrustrip gel stripper, and is careful to collect all the stripped paint for proper HazMat disposal. Something to keep in mind. Jon

Great episode....for its analytical aspect....! Have used a pre-WWII LeBlond...and it was a work horse....! Is there ANY way to correct the sag in the ways....besides replacement...?

Hi Keith. I think I would put a tool holder on and just turn a test bar before I stripped it down. The lathe is probably good but a little bit of pressure on it would show up any problems with the clutch and motor before you go to far. But that being said I am looking forward to the restoration. regards from the UK

I enjoy your project videos so much especially on things that I own. you make things look so simple sometimes. I look forward to this series. any chance of PBS picking your videos up??

Not bad on the ways and the gears are in great condition for an older lathe. I've seen ways that were .040 out so then it's a mater of is it worth fixing.

On another note, you guys should check out Steve Jordan's channel. Lots of great ideas to get the most out of your machines. I really like the way he thinks. Thanks, John

I'm your big sir from india

There are two big holes on the left side of the headstock with some gears underneath that don't seem to do anything. Also there is a plug in the front at that place in the headstock. I think the Lathe had some additional speeds you could select but was removed later on.

It's like an Eaton Fuller heavy truck transmission.

3:40 - This was the genius of LeBlond: replaceable, hardened steel ways. The bed was merely a supporting superstructure. The ways would wear minimally compared to the heat or induction hardened cast iron ways of their competitors. They could be reground or replaced.

Hi Keith interesting video, I was wondering what would you have to do if the ways were worn out could they be rebuilt??? I have always had an interest in machine work just never had a machine to play with

Just like a sway backed horse they can still be ridden, and you being from the rural south I'm sure you know what I refer to.

This should be a very interesting series. Quick question about when you were checking for run out though, wouldn't it have been better to run the dial against an external reference flat surface?

I can't tell from the video, but is the machined surface you made the second measurement completely vertical or is it angled toward the center of the lathe axis? If it was angled and the carriage is already rising and falling as it travels, the change in the vertical position of the indicator would change the reading even if there was no wear on it.

Keith, not that this one needs it, as it seems to be acceptable as you said. But is it possible to have the ways reground by someone to remove the peaks and valleys from wear over time? Really excited to watch this video series, by the way. Always look forward to your videos

nice

Thank you for the information! My next purchase will be a lathe. Is there a reason that you chose a Le Blond vs another type such as Monarch?

Compared to some of the other lathes in the You Tube community this lathe purrs like a kitten!

Keith, I hate to be a buzzkiller, but we are "neighbors" and friends, and friends should help one another. Leblonds of this vintage are no good, and known to be a repairman's night mare. There were two basic problems with them, and without the repair parts, which are no longer available, it is just a boat anchor or yard art. These lathes are famous for breaking the Johnson rods into small pieces, and the garfunken/flugel shafts were incorrectly heat treated. Just so happens that I have those parts here, so if you're gonna be home over the weekend, I'll drop by and bring the lathe back here. Then you'll never have to worry about your Johnson rods and garfunken/flugel shafts.... Regards, Duck PS: nice lathe Bubba....

I imagine the weight of that slide device could cause wear more fast then most,,she's a beast

Hi Keith, Maybe I have seen it wrong, but with the carriage following the worn bedways one would expect the dial gauge, running on the unaffected part of the bed, to go in the "plus" direction. Yours seemed to go to "minus". It looks that you first have to properly level the lathe out.

Hello, great videos sir, I'm talking about Brazil. I have a lathe that I inherited from my grandfather, an atlas th42 lathe, would you have a PDF manual of that lathe? Or would you know how many gears it has? I will be forever grateful.

Would leveling the machine make any difference in the readings?

Hi Keith, On one of your videos (the camel-back straight edge de-rusting, I think) you mentioned that something you intended to do in the future was some scraping. Is this slightly bellied lathe bed a suitable candidate for scraping to reduce the deviation from a perfect flat surface? Even if not, once partially stripped would it be a good candidate for showing how the straight edge could be used to highlight the deviation from perfect?

This may be a silly question, but could you swap the head stock to the other side of the machine so that the "belly" is in an area that see's less use? I have thought about doing that on my old Logan lathe, but have not fully researched it yet

Vintage Machinery? On my factory in Yaroslavl' (Russia) i work on the same lathe. 16K20, 1960-xx.

Keith, looking forward to this series. I already have my snack and drink menu planned. With the clown paint and less than craftsman like repairs, did this machine ever serve time in a school? I don't remember if you said in the last video. I'm sure when you get done it will be a fine addition to your shop. Rollie

Maybe the ways might not be quite as bad when you check them with your straight edge (or what ever you call that item you said early on might have to be scraped). Sorry about my ignorance but hey, the advice I give is always free and worth every cent you pay for it! Greg

Keith Fenner does a series 1-6? where he uses a tracer attachment on his lathe (I think it's a Clausing.) Obviously it would work differently than the LeBlond, but might be similar.

In your experience, are most of those industrial lathes 3 phase and what voltage do they typically run. My lathe is a modern 2014 offshore brand 14 x 40 but it is 240V 1 ph

American Rotary is giving away a rotary phase converter. There is a link at do right fabrication.

If the gear cover holes are countersunk, it took flat head screws, if the counterboars are flat, it probably took low head cap screws. Probably available from Grainger or McMaster Carr but you probably have to buy 50.

Wouldn't you also want to level the machine and test the headstock for run out before tearing things down to repaint?

finally a decent video on how to check an old lathe....but I must say Keith if you have NOT leveled the lathe FIRST then your indication maybe wrong......further you maybe able to level the lathe in your favor that way in the most working parts of the lathe it will not dip down and turn straight....

only eight mounts is that all seams a lot longer but it looks good

👍🏼

that drive train sure is a lot more heavy duty than what I am used to seeing.

If i ever go on with my intent to build a lathe to bypass all the known issues a conventional lathe comes with, making the ways something removable is a priority. As a byproduct of that, i anticipate some form of wear adjustment, after all, to secure the ways to a lathe bed would require a lot of screws, might as well make use of them.

Stupid question from a noob: Is it possible to run weld beads on the rail to build up the metal, and then grind it flat again to work out the wear? I guess asking you another way.... if you did not find the amount +/- 10 thousandths to be acceptable, what would you have done to rectify it? (or would that simply have been a deal breaker at time of purchase?) Thanks!

Would u have any quick change tool post for sale ?

I am wondering, are there any lathe designed with some wearing pads between the ways and the carriage? So you can change the pads when they are too worn out and the ways keep intact.

Keith, I tried to search back in your videos to find the one I think you did of a friend who had to get his lathe ways reground. The question I was trying to get answered was how much it would cost if you wanted to get this done? If you did, can you detach the ways from the machine or would the whole thing have to go? Great show as usual! Regards, Rich

keith very interesting how do you tell the r.p.m. you are running ?=======bob