Lathe Counter-shaft

[Rob Cunningham]

A while ago I gloated about the Delta lathe(46-204) I picked up off Craigslist. I checked the speeds and found that the lowest speed is @ 900 rpm. To fast for starting a bowl blank. I'm thinking of adding a counter-shaft to be able to reduce the speed and have a wider range of speeds. My problem is I can't quite figure out how to get tension on the belt from the motor to the counter-shaft and tension from the shaft to the headstock. I've Googled images but it's not helping. Anybody have any good explainations or pictures? Thanks for the help.

[Richard Madison]

Rob,
My old Craftsman monotube lathe had a fixed motor mount and four-sheave pulleys. It was easy enough to "roll" the belt from one sheave to the next. To get a lower speed I mounted another motor on a hinged mount below the original motor and installed a belt between the motors. Weight of the #2 motor on hinged mount provided sufficient belt tension with the #2 motor driving (#1 unplugged). It wasn't exactly smooth running but it did get the minimum speed from about 800 down to about 300.

[Jeff Nicol]

Rob this would be the way to do it, if you want the best control and variable speeds. This link shows the best pictures I have found so far that show all the pulleys and the configurations. This is a small belt system on a small metal lathe but the idea is the same. There is a ton of information on this type of thing on the web, its finding the one that suits your needs.

Here is the link: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mechanicalphilosopher.com/rkuhl01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mechanicalphilosopher.com/TaigJackshaft.html&usg=__GJYe1L8SjKt8dubDvVXY9vZVWNg=&h=450&w=600&sz=121&hl=en&start=96&tbnid=tZWmkc5s1YYJ7M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJackshaft%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa% 3DN%26start%3D80


Jeff

[Matt Hutchinson]

This might be an option as well. Here's my lathe's countershaft setup. Right now it's not configured in the ideal position. If the whole system is located vertically over the lathe pulley, tensioning is much more reliable.

Hutch

[Leo Van Der Loo]

A while ago I gloated about the Delta lathe(46-204) I picked up off Craigslist. I checked the speeds and found that the lowest speed is @ 900 rpm. To fast for starting a bowl blank. I'm thinking of adding a counter-shaft to be able to reduce the speed and have a wider range of speeds. My problem is I can't quite figure out how to get tension on the belt from the motor to the counter-shaft and tension from the shaft to the headstock. I've Googled images but it's not helping. Anybody have any good explainations or pictures? Thanks for the help.

Rob here are couple of pictures that show different ways of trying to do what you like to do.
The simplest is the one that's used on a lot of drill presses, it has that centre pulley floating between the motor and drill shaft pulleys, so it will be easy to change either belt and very quick tightened again.
Than there's the way the old Rockwell lathe with the jackshaft version did it, motor under the bench, shaft on the lower shelf, hinge the lower shelf and you have a quick release/tighten setup.
There's other ways, like the one with the wedges under the jackshaft, for adjustment and the motor can slide back and forth for its tensioning, not a quick-change, but it does work.
Then there's Pete's way, the motor and shaft hang for tensioning, (not the best way IMO) and the motor to shaft is again the loosen and slide, setup.

There's another way, but I don't have a picture of it.
Basically there are two rigid hinged platforms/plates that hinge on the same shaft.
First plate holds the motor, second plate holds the jackshaft.
By pulling the first plate down, the motors belt will tension between it and the jackshaft, and also the belt between the jackshaft and the lathe.
A very simple and good system to make.
Hope this helps :D