Author Topic: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!  (Read 4914 times)

Offline simplyloco

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Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« on: October 17, 2022, 02:53:34 PM »
I'm still getting the monthly eyeball injections, there is some improvement. My EMCO V10P is great, but I need to get closer to the work, especially small bits that I'll find on my Stuart Triple, so I took the plunge and bought a second hand Cowells 90ME on you know where. The thread title sounds like a contradiction, but I can put it at eyelevel and use a head visor.

It's 15 years old, and looks well used,  but everything is adjustable, and it comes with lots of kit i.e.

Slitting saw, rear tool post, 2 front posts, 4 collets & Adaptor, 1 blank collet, die holder, fixed steady, angle plate, vertical slide and milling vice, face plate, 3 jaw chuck, 4 jaw chuck, test bar and catch plate plus other bits I don't recognise!
All at sensible money... :whoohoo:
John



« Last Edit: October 17, 2022, 03:29:33 PM by simplyloco »
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Offline Grateful Ted

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2022, 05:00:38 PM »
Eyeball injections can’t be much fun, but I’ve found as I get older I need to *modify* my lifestyle a wee bit.
I now need to stay off ladders, but I won’t bore you with that outcome.
That Cowells looks very capable & it’ll be great fun.
Cheers, GT

Online Jo

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2022, 05:39:42 PM »
Nice buy  8)

If your eyesight is not so good I would recommend a DRO  ;)

 :headscratch: Why did she come with a spare headstock? Did someone over tighten it?  :noidea:

Jo

P.S. I hope you are going to replace that mains plug for one with insulated pins  :zap:
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline simplyloco

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2022, 05:43:12 PM »
If your eyesight is not so good I would recommend a DRO  ;)

 :headscratch: Why did she come with a spare headstock? Did someone over tighten it?  :noidea:

Jo

P.S. I hope you are going to replace that mains plug for one with insulated pins  :zap:

Good advice. A whole new world is opening up!
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Offline GWRdriver

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2022, 12:40:23 AM »
Hello John,
Sensible money is a good thing!   :ThumbsUp:  I once owned an ME90, acquired for sensible money because I thought it would be good for my Gauge-1 and other small work.  It was, but so was my main lathe.

The problem I had with the Cowells was power.  I don't know if it was under-powered, because at any given setting belt slippage prevented 100% of the power getting to the spindle.  I wrote it down to the plastic belts and felt that rubber or Brammer-type belts would have cured the problem.  Other than that it was a very nice little machine.  I elected to sell it off, without replacing the belts, and I later found a CW90 which better suited my needs for small work.

Harry
Cheers,
Harry

Offline simplyloco

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2022, 04:24:44 PM »
The lathe arrived today. The boxes were a bit heavier than I expected, and when I opened them the reason became clear. The seller had decided to clear his workshop and I was the lucky recipient!



Here's a better view. Hundreds of carbide tools, drills with ground 0MT shanks, 26 various 0MT hard/softcentres including a drill pad, cup and flange, 3 blank arbors, etc.etc.. Two live centres - male and female, precision chuck, unused fixed steady and other stuff too numerous to document!



It has the M1.5 spindle, and has obviousely done a lot of work, but I've overhauled the slides, trued up the tailstock (0.015" out), oiled up everything and it works fine e.g.



There is no perceptible runout on the SS 1/8"  bar... 



I'm quite chuffed with it, although the RPM seems a little pedestrian for such a small lathe! I checked the speed using my Roman built mechanical tacho, and it was spot on 880, so I'm open to suggestions to speed things up a little. I also don't 'get' how the back gear works as the book says to disengage the driven pulley!




« Last Edit: October 25, 2022, 04:30:43 PM by simplyloco »
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Offline Kim

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2022, 04:46:45 PM »
You should be chuffed!  That's a beautiful little lathe with a LOT of nice tooling to go with it!  I'd say you made quite a score there!  :ThumbsUp:
Congratulations!

Kim

Online Jo

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2022, 05:26:10 PM »
Good haul  :o

Interesting they changed the baseplate casting over the years. You will need a magnifier to help you see your turning  ;)

Do you have its serial number?

Jo

Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Online crueby

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2022, 05:28:45 PM »
Great collection!  Have you decided what its first project will be?

Offline simplyloco

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2022, 06:17:51 PM »
Great collection!  Have you decided what its first project will be?

It will help produce the smaller items on the Reeves Bolton Triple that I will be purchasing next week. One of these...

https://modelengineeringwebsite.com/Triple_expansion_engine.html?fbclid=IwAR2U8sLlgXscUhp3e7EreVtfpWLz48IdkBLwaTvXaamAnGAbshIuTWUxImU

The Stuart Triple castings are being returned.
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Offline simplyloco

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2022, 06:20:34 PM »
Good haul  :o
Interesting they changed the baseplate casting over the years. You will need a magnifier to help you see your turning  ;)
Do you have its serial number?
Jo

I haven't (daren't!) look!
I only paid £985 for all this so I don't really care how old it is! :old:
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Online Twizseven

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2022, 12:00:20 PM »
That looks a fantastic buy with all those extra bits.

Jo mentioned you should fit a DRO.  I fitted one to my Cowells lathe (and Cowells Mill).  Used magnetic scales and the Touch-DRO software.  There is a post on this site about it but the photos vanished.  The photos can be seen in my album over on the Model Engineer website.

Have fun.
Colin

Offline simplyloco

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #12 on: October 26, 2022, 12:13:03 PM »
That looks a fantastic buy with all those extra bits.

Jo mentioned you should fit a DRO.  I fitted one to my Cowells lathe (and Cowells Mill).  Used magnetic scales and the Touch-DRO software.  There is a post on this site about it but the photos vanished.  The photos can be seen in my album over on the Model Engineer website.

Have fun.
Colin


Thanks Colin, I'll take a look. Before I installed the DRO on the EMCO I used slip guages on the bed stops, which may do for now. Right now I'm more interested in increasing the spindle speed. I spoke with your namesake at Cowells this morning who said I could fit the twin pulley but I'd have to carve lumps out of the motor housing!
We shall see...
John
« Last Edit: October 26, 2022, 12:19:03 PM by simplyloco »
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Offline simplyloco

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #13 on: October 28, 2022, 06:44:55 PM »
A short video for you! I made a larger drive pulley so I was still able to use the existing drive belt.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuyPbMQXUk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuyPbMQXUk</a>
« Last Edit: October 28, 2022, 07:01:39 PM by simplyloco »
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

Online crueby

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Re: Eyesight not so good so I need a Cowells lathe!
« Reply #14 on: October 28, 2022, 06:58:50 PM »
Looks like the video is marked private, so it won't play. Needs to be set to shared or public on the host, youtube?

 

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