Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!

[simplyloco]

Looks like the video is marked private, so it won't play. Needs to be set to shared or public on the host, youtube?

OOPs! Now public...

[crueby]

Great!!

[Roger B]

That's a fine set up     

My sight is still ok however I find my little Proxxon FD150 good for very small parts as I can get close in to see them and also feel the cut. My 'big' lathe is just a Hobbymat.

[springcrocus]

Hello John,

I hope this machine has met your expectations. At fifteen years old, it puts near the end of the period that I was the main subcontractor for making most of the Cowells components for the lathes and the mills. If it's rubbish, it's probably my fault.   :'(

After I shut my own factory in 2001, I spent the next eight years (doing two or three days a month) using Colin's Bridgeport mill to machine all the lathe beds, headstocks, tailstocks etc at his own workshop. He then did the grinding and lapping to get it all working smoothly. Soon after I moved to the Isle of Wight, Colin closed his factory unit at Little Bentley and moved to Brightlingsea.

They are cracking little machines, albeit a bit expensive, that are genuinely hand-finished. It took nearly as long to set them up as it did to make the parts.

Regards, Steve

N.B. I must be doing something wrong with the smileys! Never mind, I'll get there one day.

[BillTodd]

Springcrocus,

Little Bentley ! Did you have a small horizontal/vertical milling machine with the name Major cast in the doors?

My Haighton Major came of Bentley but not sure from who, could it have been Cowells? 8⁠-⁠)

(For those not familiar with Colchester, Little Bentley and , its cousin, Great Bentley are neither big nor inundated with engineering firms)


Edit. Rereading, I see you started in 2001 , I believe my friend, from whom I bought the machine, had this before then . Is Colin still around ?

[springcrocus]

Nowt to do with me, sorry.

Regards, Steve