I have a cowells I love it! I have question about belts though, I have changed my motor belt but belt from pulley to lathe is looking old now, how hard is to change and does effect the squareness of the lathe to fit it?
Hi Peter, I'm glad you like the video. I wish I'd videoed the belt replacement now, I guess that would have made an interesting little video in itself. Changing the belt is a relatively easy thing to do if a little involved. Getting the pulley clusters off to get the old belt off and the new one on should be a straightforward process. You just have to be careful about introducing end float in the spindle and countershaft when you put the pulley clusters back and not over-tightening anything to make the shafts bind. The spindle pulley cluster also has to align the back gears as well and the countershaft. The countershaft pulley cluster should be positioned on its shaft so the drive belt doesn't rub the back gear on the furthest position left. Make sure also that when you tighten the pulley grub screws up you are over the ground flat on the shaft. Also pay attention to the spindle bearing clamping screws. These should be adjusted with the drive belt slack and the spindle free to rotate. Nip them up until the spindle just binds and then back off a fraction. Hope that helps but if you have any problems the come back to me and I'll see if I can help.
4:27 shows the motor pulley and belt out of alignment with the countershaft pulley. Might explain what appear excessive vibration/play in the left side of the countershaft at 4:43.
Hi Mike. Our host doesn't seem to be available but as another Cowells owner I can confirm it can easily make such an item. Being smaller and less powerful than the Southbend it will of course take longer as you need to take much smaller cuts.
This looks like a very interesting little lathe. What is the maximum depth of cut achievable without overtaxing it on materials like CZ121, EN1A-Pb and 2011 T6?
I wouldn't like to hazard a guess on that one Henry as I haven't actually used this lathe in anger yet. I bought it as a restoration project and it needed several things putting right before I put it to use. Cowells lathes are really designed for small, high-precision work like watchmaking so I'm not sure if maximum depth of cut is really that important to the typical user of such a small lathe. If you really want a definitive answer I would contact Cowells directly at www.cowells.com as Colin Childs the director there has always been very helpful with any queries I have had.
Hi,
I am looking forward to seeing more of your restoration vids on the Cowells.
Cheers
Paul
What a great set of videos this is going to be. I love the ones so far and I think you'll end up quite attached to this little lathe.
Thanks for that Ron. You gotta love a little lathe...
I have a cowells I love it! I have question about belts though, I have changed my motor belt but belt from pulley to lathe is looking old now, how hard is to change and does effect the squareness of the lathe to fit it?
ps great video!
Hi Peter,
I'm glad you like the video. I wish I'd videoed the belt replacement now, I guess that would have made an interesting little video in itself. Changing the belt is a relatively easy thing to do if a little involved. Getting the pulley clusters off to get the old belt off and the new one on should be a straightforward process.
You just have to be careful about introducing end float in the spindle and countershaft when you put the pulley clusters back and not over-tightening anything to make the shafts bind. The spindle pulley cluster also has to align the back gears as well and the countershaft. The countershaft pulley cluster should be positioned on its shaft so the drive belt doesn't rub the back gear on the furthest position left. Make sure also that when you tighten the pulley grub screws up you are over the ground flat on the shaft.
Also pay attention to the spindle bearing clamping screws. These should be adjusted with the drive belt slack and the spindle free to rotate. Nip them up until the spindle just binds and then back off a fraction.
Hope that helps but if you have any problems the come back to me and I'll see if I can help.
4:27 shows the motor pulley and belt out of alignment with the countershaft pulley. Might explain what appear excessive vibration/play in the left side of the countershaft at 4:43.
Hi. Could you have made the pulley on the Cowell? (if it was working, obviously!)
Hi Mike. Our host doesn't seem to be available but as another Cowells owner I can confirm it can easily make such an item. Being smaller and less powerful than the Southbend it will of course take longer as you need to take much smaller cuts.
Great little video, I've inherited by Fathers Perris Lathe. What process did you use for cleaning up the metal work on your lathe?
This looks like a very interesting little lathe. What is the maximum depth of cut achievable without overtaxing it on materials like CZ121, EN1A-Pb and 2011 T6?
I wouldn't like to hazard a guess on that one Henry as I haven't actually used this lathe in anger yet. I bought it as a restoration project and it needed several things putting right before I put it to use. Cowells lathes are really designed for small, high-precision work like watchmaking so I'm not sure if maximum depth of cut is really that important to the typical user of such a small lathe.
If you really want a definitive answer I would contact Cowells directly at www.cowells.com as Colin Childs the director there has always been very helpful with any queries I have had.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my enquiry. I am sure you will get a lot of pleasure from using your Cowells lathe.
how I would love that so!!