Author Topic: Living with a house lathe  (Read 24270 times)

Online Jo

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Living with a house lathe
« on: October 12, 2012, 09:03:08 AM »
One of my friends introduced me to the idea of a house lathe about 20 years ago. Having a lathe in the house rather than outside in the workshop has many advantages including: it is warm in the house, so you don?t have to wait for the workshop to warm up, when you get bored with tv you can go and knock up something without wandering outside and there are no rust problems. On the down side you get swarf in the house. But that is a small price to pay.

So my lathe: Earlier this year after three years of harassment I finally managed to get one of the other members of Guildford model engineers to sell me a very well equipped early Cowells lathe that he had picked up about 10 years ago and never used. On receiving her I set about doing a few improvements, in this thread I am going to detail them:



The first job was to remount her, this was necessary as on her original mounting (a metal tray) the primary belt was only tensioned by the weight of the motor, which meant that she "hunted" during cuts which had an adverse effect on the finish, I was unhappy with reaching across her to get at the switch, the two bars that the lathe and motor were mounted on made an unsightly gouge on my kitchen table and I just did not like that green drawer.

Having enquired to Cowells on the price of an original cast base and discovered that it was going to cost more than I had paid for the lathe, she is now sporting a very nice gloss white kitchen door front:



The motor has been turned 180 degrees to enable the swarf tray to fit (which is one of these silly modern paper trays that come with these titchy modern desks to try to give you more room) and to enable the switch to be put on the left hand side. I kept the original motor mount and did nothing more than add an adjustment bolt to keep the tension, the result was something of a transformation in her machining!
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2012, 09:22:39 AM »
When I mounted her on the door front I also raised her up on a block of aluminium. This was to improve the machining height and give me enough space to comfortably turn the handles:



If you look a bit closer you will see that I have chosen to fit dial gauges, this is because the original dials are not adjustable and having dials fitted means that I do not have to worry about backlash. The first dial gauge mount is simply a piece of 3/8? dia stainless that has been mounted at the back of the aluminium mounting block.



The second is simply bolted into the hole for the travelling steady on top of the saddle:



Jo
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2012, 09:36:14 AM »
A necessity for any small lathe is a mandrel handle, for my Cowells handle I borrowed the idea of using a dog fitted to the end of the lathe spindle, from my Hobbymat/Prazimat one:



This shows the mandrel handle's dog fitted using the 3/8 * 32 thread on the end of the spindle. Into which is slotted the handle.



The handle is simply a piece of flat plate with two holes drilled the handle is mounted on a spindle to allow it to rotate, the other end has a piece of ?? BMS with a pin through it. Which you may be able to see has the same 1/4" hole through the centre which means that I can still use it with long pieces of rod ( accepting that I am likely to catch my knuckles on them).

Jo
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2012, 09:46:22 AM »
One of those tools you cannot do without, once you have owned one, is a four jaw self centring chuck and sadly Cowells do not do one. But Sherline does and in comparison with the cost of Cowells chucks it is very cheap. Luckily with my Cowells came an old backplate, so it was a simple job of, mounting the spare plate:



Cutting a ?? * 16 thread (Sorry I forgot to take a photo of cutting the 3/4" * 16 thread) using the Cowells threading gears and the mandrel handle. The Sherline chuck is now fitted and ready for use:



If you have not got a four jaw self centring chuck I can recomend them. They are much more versitile than a three jaw as you can hold round, square and hex 8)

Jo
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2012, 09:54:51 AM »
When the Cowells arrive she had only four tool holders for the quick change tool post so high on my list of things to do was to make some more. This is the drawing for the QCTP and holders that I have:



The tool holders are simply machined from 20mm square steel:



Mainly making these is a simple job on the mill however, my bevel cutter was the wrong angle so an old friend the hand shaper came to the rescue:



Here is a shot of the half way stage:



You can see that there is one extended tool holder in the photo, there is also one of the opposite hand but at the point I took this picture but my arm was aching too much to finish it. The last job was a simple turning exercise for 14 height adjusters.All of the new tool holders are now finished, including the other extended holder ;D:



So I now have 18 tool holders for my Cowells. This means that I can dedicate a tool holder to each tool and don?t have to fuss around trying to get the height right each time I want a different tool. :whoohoo:

Jo
« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 06:47:19 PM by Jo »
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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2012, 09:56:43 AM »
Thats a very nice looking little lathe Jo. Thanks for the write up and pictures.

Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2012, 10:12:25 AM »
When I brought the lathe it came with a very sad copy of the Cowells 90 handbook which was falling apart. I found that they are still available new from Tee Publishing for ?6.95 inc P&P (you will pay a fortune on Fleabay for a used copy :disappointed:). So with nothing to lose I gave the original to a friend who works in a print room, he cut off the spine, added clear plastic covers and fitted a wire spiral binding.



He also took the opportunity of whilst it was apart running it through the scanner so I now have a pdf version, which has proved to be very useful.

I have also replaced the tailstock lock which was originally an Allen screw, with a lever. I had intended on making more collets but between the 4 jaw SC chuck and putting a standard drill chuck in the spindle nose I have not found that I need them.
---------
This little house lathe has been an absolute god send , she has helped me make umpteen studs, nuts and bolts. With a lathe in the house it is possible to have a quick fix at any time of the day or night :insane:. I would recommend having a small lathe in the house to everyone.

Next I need to start looking at what I can do with her dividing head and indexing head. Longer term it is my intention that she will have a friend to keep her company a "house mill" 8).

Jo
« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 05:18:28 PM by Jo »
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2012, 10:14:03 AM »
Thats a very nice looking little lathe Jo. Thanks for the write up and pictures.

You are welcome. I had meant to do it some time ago, it was when Dan mentioned the toolholders on one of his threads that I remembered :old:

Jo
« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 05:18:58 PM by Jo »
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Offline ProdEng

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2012, 11:07:00 AM »
Thanks for introducing the concept of a house lathe and sharing the mods on your machine.  In Oz heat is the enemy and less so the cold.  From 10C to 30 C I have no problem but above 30C I suffer too much to make it any fun at all.  Most of the summer is above 30C so activity is limited to the early hours of the day when I would rather be asleep!.  A lathe in the house would certainly help to keep things moving along.  The smallest of the Sherline range is small, light and inexpensive.
Jan in Perth

Offline Dan Rowe

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2012, 02:10:43 PM »
Jo,
Thanks for starting this thread on your Cowells lathe mods. I plan to borrow a few of the ideas for mine.

I never heard the term house lathe but I am familiar with the concept as for most of the time I was sailing all I had was house lathes on the beach. My first lathe was a Unimat SL that I bought with money I earned as an engine cadet. It lived with me at the Academy and all was fine until they replaced the linoleum floor with carpet. I spent a bit of time pulling swarf out of the carpet before formal inspections. The Unimat made a few trips to sea with me and I used it to make some tiny bushings for a water meter which would have been a bunch harder on a 22" Leblond.

I should have spotted that your QTCP is the Cowells accessory, but with so many holders I thought it must be shop made. Thanks the close up shots. It looks like I have the first thing on my Christmas list for this year.

I have to admit that my Cowells has been down for a while because I was needing a belt. They are not listed on the Cowells site and only one of the belts is listed in the book. I made several trips to sewing machine repair shops and never found a replacement belt and could not find the proper number.

The belts are lug belts and the numbers are MB 350 and MB 400 for the one not in the book. On this side of the pond that type of belt has a number that is the OD of the belt in inches. The MB 350 is a 1534 or 15-3/4" and the MB 400 is a 1600 or a 16" belt.

My copy of the book is getting a bit dog eared also I will have to think about a spiral binding soon.

Dan
« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 02:50:02 PM by Dan Rowe »
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Offline gerritv

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2012, 02:13:20 PM »
Very nice setup, I will adapt some of those ideas to my Unimat.
I do all my machining in a condo/apartment so keeping my work space tidy is important, we have 2 cats and I don't want metal bits getting into their paws.

My solution to swarf came about after I made a fly cutter and learned, as others have before me, that this tool likes to spread its love around your room! The Unimat can operate as a mill or a lathe. Even with normal lathe work the swarf gets around.

I bought some plexiglass off cuts and made a 'box'. The front piece drops in place for easy access to setup etc. To clean up the swarf I use a battery operated vacuum cleaner, its nozzle gets into most of the hiding spots. I still need to make a few brackets but the concept works for me.

Gerrit
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2012, 08:34:47 AM »
I also have plans to make a perspex cover for the Cowells which I hope will catch more of the swarf. I am still looking into the design as I have foolishly offered to give turning demonstrations at my club's ME rally next year so it will also have to act as a safety cover to protect onlooker's eyes and a security screen to stop light fingered people walking off with things.

I have a little dirt devil vacuum cleaner that lives with the Cowells that I use every time I use her. I also have purchased an industrial rubber backed cotton entrance mat that I have placed under where I sit (http://www.therughouse.co.uk/rugs/brown-cotton-machine-washable-absorbent-kitchen-rubber-mats.html) , the swarf doesn't catch in the cotton like it does in normal carpet, so can be vacuumed off 8).

Jo
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Offline Speedy

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2012, 04:14:48 PM »
Thanks for taking the trouble to post words and photos, Jo. You have some useful ideas and alterations there. I too have a house lathe, more because of lack of space in the workshop than anything else, although it is much warmer and comfier working inside as the autumn evenings draw in.



It's not fully commissioned yet, but there's enough of it there to get an idea. I'll post some more details and pictures in a separate Perris thread.

Pete
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Offline smfr

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #13 on: October 31, 2012, 03:42:20 PM »
Speaking of house lathes, here's a beautiful German one:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1bvyFG3hWM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1bvyFG3hWM</a>

The video itself is quite soporific.

Simon

Offline Peewee

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #14 on: October 31, 2012, 04:33:53 PM »
Its Soo clean, i must be doing something wrong looking at the state of mine  :embarassed:
Ian
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Offline ScroungerLee

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #15 on: October 31, 2012, 09:41:58 PM »
Thanks for the write up Jo, nice to have somewhere temperature controlled to play in :)

Is that some kind of manually operated shaper you pictured? Never heard of those.  Now I want one, I will have to research.  Was that purchased? Made from plans?

Lee
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2012, 10:06:27 PM »
Hi Lee,

My little hand shaper is an adept no 1, you can find details about it here: http://www.lathes.co.uk/adeptshaper/index.html  They are one of those devices that either goes for silly money or like mine, nobody can see the point in having one, so I got mine for a fiver  8)

Jo
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Offline Bezalel

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #17 on: October 31, 2012, 10:23:28 PM »
Its Soo clean, i must be doing something wrong looking at the state of mine  :embarassed:

Mine gets unclean just doing something (right or wrong) :disappointed:
 
Bez
« Last Edit: October 31, 2012, 10:27:50 PM by Bezalel »
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Offline Raggle

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #18 on: November 01, 2012, 12:44:12 AM »
My Adept 1A I paid more than a fiver for but I have seen 'em go for far too much, particularly when the table is missing. I suspect that they languish unused for a decade or two and someone decides they need an angle plate. Mine has the table.

I'd never actually seen one before I bought it but was surprised by the sturdiness of it, compared to the Super Adept lathe I have.

Ray
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Offline ScroungerLee

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #19 on: November 01, 2012, 01:05:30 PM »
Never having used a shaper I do have a question, then I will stop derailing Jo's thread.   How is the depth of each pass set?  Does the wheel on top need to be turned for each increase in depth?

Poorly formed question due to my lack of familiarity with shapers.  Sorry about that.

Lee
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #20 on: November 01, 2012, 01:23:19 PM »
Never having used a shaper I do have a question, then I will stop derailing Jo's thread.   How is the depth of each pass set?  Does the wheel on top need to be turned for each increase in depth?

Yes. The hand wheel at the top highers and lowers the tool. The handle on the left needs to be turned on each stroke to provide the sideways feed, whilst you are proving you have muscles on the lever on the right :LittleDevil:

Jo
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Offline craynerd

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #21 on: November 25, 2012, 10:53:00 PM »
Thanks for the details of the toolpost Jo. I was just going to ask over on the yahoo group and found you had already posted it. Is the post itself an original Cowells?
Chris

EDIT: Seems this is also answered in the thread and it is the official Cowells one.... humm, don`t think I can afford that for now!
« Last Edit: November 25, 2012, 11:04:18 PM by craynerd »

Offline John Hill

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #22 on: November 26, 2012, 08:42:56 AM »
Thank you for the description of your house lathe Jo, I am afraid that if I suggested such a thing I would be told to go the whole hog and move my bed out to the workshop!  ;D

But I do not complain, we have a garage through the door from the lounge and my workshop is off another door from the garage, about ten steps from my position at the computer in the lounge to be standing at my bench.

I too have an Adept shaper, it is an Adept 2 power shaper and is the only power shaper I know that I can pick up off the bench and carry around!  I found it was all too easy to over feed on the down feed and cause the tool to dig in or skate off after taking a chunk out of the work  :-\

John

Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #23 on: November 26, 2012, 01:07:36 PM »
Thanks for the details of the toolpost Jo. I was just going to ask over on the yahoo group and found you had already posted it. Is the post itself an original Cowells?
Chris

EDIT: Seems this is also answered in the thread and it is the official Cowells one.... humm, don`t think I can afford that for now!

Don't worry about the price it is about the simplest QCTP design going, anyone could easily make it for themselves ;D.

Jo
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Offline craynerd

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #24 on: November 26, 2012, 02:28:20 PM »
Jo, you are tempting me to make one. Can you just give me a little more info how the centre locking mechanism works?
Chris

Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #25 on: November 26, 2012, 02:36:24 PM »
It mounts to the top slide with a stud and nut on it, the tool clamping is by an allen key in the side ;).

Jo
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Offline craynerd

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #26 on: November 26, 2012, 05:48:16 PM »
Oh my gosh!!! I see that now. It is even an eccentric piston type! Got you....!

Offline Gedges

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Cowells 90 lathe
« Reply #27 on: February 28, 2015, 05:04:43 PM »
Hello,
I'm new here, so please bear with me if this message is incorrectly posted. I have recently acquired  a fairly old Cowells 90 lathe which suffers from similar problems posted some time ago regarding the motor hunting. The lathe and motor are both mounted to the same board, the motor being hinged and the weight of it creating tension to the belt. Whilst cutting material, the motor/belt move slightly causing a poor finish to the material. I've experimented by removing the hinge and mounting the motor directly to the base but even adjusting the belt tensioner mechanism and adjusting the position of the motor fore and aft, there isn't enough tension in the belt. There appears to be three option. 1. Use a shorter belt. 2. Raise the lathe height or 3. Drop the motor down. Without going to a lot of trouble, this last option appears to be impractical. Do any member have any practical suggestion. Any help would be appreciated.

Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #28 on: February 28, 2015, 05:44:00 PM »
Hello to you to, do you have a name? Would you like to post an introduction to yourself in the introduction section?

As for your Cowells you need a belt length that will let you adjust its tension with the belt tensioner mechanism. On the earlier machines people positioned their motors to suit their belt. So you could always look to move the motor back a fraction to take up some of the slack before using the tensioner. 

And which tensioner are you talking about? If you have it fitted to a board the there is one which tensions the belt to the headstock and there should be a second on the motor for adjusting the belt to the motor after you have adjusted the tension on the head belt.  If you have the later aluminium base then I will have to go and check how C2 does its adjustment   :thinking: 

Jo
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Offline Mosey

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Re: The best house lathe
« Reply #29 on: February 28, 2015, 06:45:13 PM »
In the future I will move from my house with basement shop to a retirement apartment with less space. At that time I will have a tiny shop and no room for my South Bend 10K, so I will want a house lathe like the Cowells you show. My question is what is the Cowells capable of?
I have a Derbyshire of the right size, but screw cutting would only be possible with an attachment to drive the slide, either making one or buying one.
What about the other micro lathes such as Sherline, Taig, etc? Are they better than the Cowells?
Mosey

Online Jo

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Re: The best house lathe
« Reply #30 on: February 28, 2015, 06:47:40 PM »

What about the other micro lathes such as Sherline, Taig, etc? Are they better than the Cowells?


 :lolb:
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Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #31 on: February 28, 2015, 06:55:29 PM »
Mosey, not really comparing apples to apples, though the Sherline and Taig are  both capable machines especially given the huge difference in price. I expect you will find the difference in accessory prices as well as quantity and availability far more paletable for Sherline and Taig as well, there are simply more of them out there and now there are third party suppliers as well such as A2Z, etc.

If had the spare cash laying around would I like to own a Cowells? Yes probably, but since I don't I am quite pleased with the Sherline products with which I am more familiar.

Bill

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #32 on: February 28, 2015, 07:03:32 PM »
How about a proper house lathe : :naughty:

http://wktodd.webspace.virginmedia.com/cadet/page12.html

Try cutting an M16 thread in stainless on a Cowells  :lolb:

Offline Dan Rowe

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #33 on: February 28, 2015, 07:12:08 PM »
Jo,
He did say that he has a Derbyshire and that is a fine lathe.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/derbyshire/

What size collets does the headstock use 8mm WW or 10mm D collets? I would go for buying or making the feed gears if you need screw cutting.

The Cowells has a metric lead screw so it can only do approximate inch threads. Jo and I worked out a compound gear system for the Cowells that will approximate inch threads but I think the Derbyshire is a better lathe from what I have read.

Dan
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #34 on: February 28, 2015, 07:22:52 PM »
He did say that he has a Derbyshire and that is a fine lathe.

He did and it should be on par for quality with the Cowells  8) but I suspect that by buying substandard cost effective accessories Mosey is not getting the true experience one would expect from it  :ShakeHead:

Jo
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Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #35 on: February 28, 2015, 07:35:26 PM »
Try cutting an M16 thread in stainless on a Cowells  :lolb:

I have a choice of lathes, so I use the appropriate lathe for the job  ;)

If I really want to do big stuff I do it on the Colchester which is happy to cut from 0.25mm pitch to 6mm pitch by sliding the levers on the gearbox 8) (6mm pitch is M68  :naughty:)

Jo
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Offline BillTodd

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #36 on: February 28, 2015, 07:52:25 PM »


If I really want to do big stuff I do it on the Colchester which is happy to cut from 0.25mm pitch to 6mm pitch by sliding the levers on the gearbox 8) (6mm pitch is M68  :naughty:)

Jo

Now, if you can lift your Colchester onto the kitchen table, I'd be impressed  :cartwheel:

[edit] mind you lifting the little Cadet does my back in  :old:

Online Jo

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #37 on: February 28, 2015, 07:54:09 PM »
Now, if you can lift your Colchester onto the kitchen table, I'd be impressed  :cartwheel:

If the floor boards in my house could take its weight I would be impressed  ;)

Jo
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Offline Mosey

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #38 on: February 28, 2015, 08:55:38 PM »
Jo,
He did say that he has a Derbyshire and that is a fine lathe.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/derbyshire/

What size collets does the headstock use 8mm WW or 10mm D collets? I would go for buying or making the feed gears if you need screw cutting.

The Cowells has a metric lead screw so it can only do approximate inch threads. Jo and I worked out a compound gear system for the Cowells that will approximate inch threads but I think the Derbyshire is a better lathe from what I have read.

Dan
Dan,
The headstock is a Model 750, taking 3C collets up to 1/2", and I have an adaptor to take WW10 collets down to 1/32", and all of the full set of collets are new. It is nice to know that I can call Derbyshire and order parts which they promptly ship out at reasonable prices. Clearly this is a lathe to keep, with it's ball bearing high speed spindle.
Mosey
« Last Edit: February 28, 2015, 11:45:38 PM by Mosey »

Offline Dan Rowe

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #39 on: February 28, 2015, 09:52:18 PM »
The headstock is a Model 750, taking 3C collets up to 1/2",

Now we are talking nice lathe.

Dan
« Last Edit: March 01, 2015, 03:36:00 PM by Dan Rowe »
ShaylocoDan

Offline Dan Rowe

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #40 on: March 01, 2015, 03:44:16 PM »
Does your slide rest have the small stub on the end of the lead screw to connect a universal and shaft? I know the triple slide rest has one see: http://www.lathes.co.uk/derbyshire/page12.html

That is what you will need for cutting threads along with the gears and lead shaft. Are these parts still made?

This link is photos of cutting threads on a smaller watchmakers lathe:
http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?74617-Thread-Cutting-on-WW-Lathe

Dan

« Last Edit: March 01, 2015, 04:38:30 PM by Dan Rowe »
ShaylocoDan

Offline Mosey

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Re: Living with a house lathe
« Reply #41 on: March 01, 2015, 10:09:56 PM »
It does not have the stub.
I don't know if those parts are available anymore, as I have just ordered only new nuts for the slide/compound.
I'll check with the wizards of Massachusetts for the additional parts.
I am almost finished setting this up with new VFD and building a table for it.
Mounted QC tool holder, that makes work much nicer.
Should be making little parts shortly.
Mosey

 

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