# Living with a Cowells



## Dr Jo (Feb 5, 2012)

Last Monday I purchased a second hand Cowells lathe, and over the next few weeks I plan to "restore her":







This weekend I chose to start by remounting her, this was necessary as on her original mounting 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 (free ;D) 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! I plan to cover those unsightly cables with a small shelf.
If you look a bit closer you will see that I have fitted dial gauges, this is because the original dials are not adjustable: 





My plans for next week is to go into mass production of quick change tool holders.

Jo


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## chuck foster (Feb 5, 2012)

now that is one neat looking lathe 8)

when i first got my 9" south bend lathe i added dial gauges to it and it made the lathe allot easier to use. 

please keep us updated on the progress of your tool holders (if you can).

thanks for showing the pictures of this nice little lathe.

chuck


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## steamer (Feb 5, 2012)

Nice Jo!

I think the door was a very wise choice...spend the money on something a bit more "TANGIBLE"....

Are you the "shelf" or "drawer" type?... ;D


Dave


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## Dr Jo (Feb 5, 2012)

As she is in my spare bedroom :big: I have donated her a toolmaker's cabinet for her accessories. So would seem to make me a drawer type ???. 

There is still a little bit of space left in the cabinet for a few more bits but I think the quick change tool posts may have to live on that little shelf that I am planning to make to hide the mains cable. Maybe I should plan tomake the shelf bigger, just in case I get carried away with tool holders.

Jo


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## steamer (Feb 5, 2012)

:big:

I should have known....saw the corner of the tool chest in the back ground.

I've always admired the Cowells lathes....very interesting.  What does it have for a spindle nose?

#0 Morse taper? or 8mm ?

Dave


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## Dr Jo (Feb 5, 2012)

She has that weird shortened O MT in both the nose and tailstock. The nose thread is a 14mm * 1.5mm pitch, unlike the modern Cowells which are 1mm pitch the same as some other lathes. But as all the accessories also have the older thread I don't intend on updating it. One of the tasks on my list is to knock up some spare backplates I seem to recall Sherline doing a very nice 2 1/2" SC 4 jaw that I may just have to buy for her.

The major minus point for most would be the 1/4" through the head stock but as I seem to be forever turning sub 1/4" SS on my Hobbymat it is not a problem. The main problem I see will be keeping the swarf out of my bed/bedroom.....

Jo


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## steamer (Feb 5, 2012)

Cool...Sherlines products are great so that's a great choice....what kind of QCTP are you going with, or are you going to make your own?

Dave


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## Dr Jo (Feb 5, 2012)

If you look closely in the photo's you will see that she has the original Cowells QCTP. But only 4 holders, how am I supposed to survive with only 4 holders ???? 

Jo


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## steamer (Feb 5, 2012)

I smell a build thread coming!..... ;D

Dave


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## raggle (Feb 5, 2012)

This faceplate may just have something going for your Cowells

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330525913394?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648

It's threaded 12 x 1mm but maybe there's just enough meat to make it 14 x 1.5 - core (or tap) dia for your thread is 12.5 mm.

In this regard I would recommend making a copy of the Cowells spindle nose to be used as a dummy in case you were to single point the internal thread.

Up to date Cowells swing 120mm in the gap so an 80mm faceplate should be useful.

I could be talking rubbish (again) but the price seems right.



Ray - (HMEM's lovely man or extra idler, depending on how I read your first reply)


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## Dr Jo (Feb 6, 2012)

Thanks for thinking about me Ray, in amongst the various goodies she came with was two faceplates. 

I will need still to knock up some spare backplates for her, my plan is to use either her indexer or dividing head as a gauge. 

Jo


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## Dr Jo (Feb 21, 2012)

I have been making a few more items for my Cowells. The first is a necessity a mandrel handle:





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, which you will note 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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## Dr Jo (Feb 21, 2012)

The next job was to mount a 4 jaw SC Sherline chuck ;D using an old backplate. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of cutting the 3/4" * 16 thread but it was successfully done on the Cowells using her threading gears and the mandrel handle:










What I was supposed to be doing was making tool holders:





Mainly this was a simple job on the mill however, my bevel cutter was the wrong angle so an old friend came to the rescue and yes it is hand powered:




So I am now half way through making the tool holders:




You can see that there is one extended tool holder in the photo, I am also making the opposite handed one but my arm was aching too much to finish it :-\. Next job the 14 height adjusters. 
Jo


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## arnoldb (Feb 21, 2012)

That's good going Jo 

I'm intrigued by that hand-powered shaper of yours; do you have any more photos of it ?

Kind regards, Arnold


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## Dr Jo (Feb 21, 2012)

The hand shaper is an Adept 1a. Tony has some nice photo's of one half way down this page: http://www.lathes.co.uk/adeptshaper/index.html

She is one of those tools that can get you out of all sorts of problems, but because she is so small it is easy to get carried away using her, my shoulder still aches and I gained a blister oh: so the last holder will have to wait..

Jo


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## arnoldb (Feb 21, 2012)

:bow: Thanks Jo - I like the little machine!

 ;D Ok, now I understand just why your shoulder aches and you have a blister to boot - I was wondering how the shaper was operated!

Kind regards, Arnold


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## steamer (Feb 21, 2012)

Hope your feel better soon Jo!

Dave


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## Dr Jo (Feb 26, 2012)

All of the new toolholders are now finished, including the other extended holder:






I even have a spare one :idea: ;D

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. So with nothing to loose 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 :big:. 






Next job I must replace the tailstock lock, it is currently an Allen screw, replacing it with a lever will mean I am more likely to use it. Then there is replacing the nut on the tool post with a lever and maybe making a couple more collets.
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I have actually been using her, she has been helping out by machining a few studs. I do enjoy a good stud 8) especially in 303 stainless. 

Jo


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## steamer (Feb 26, 2012)

Hey Jo!

Glad the arm's feeling better and the stud situation is under control! ;D


Any pictures?.....of the lathe.... 8)

Dave


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