Cromwell Smallpeice Lathe restoration, advice required

[lucerneParticipant @lucerne]

Following for the very useful tips offered in my intro thread, I now have some more specific queries as to how to get this old boy up and running, 

1. There doesn’t appear to be any way of tensioning a new drive belt. The old leather belt is frayed and the motors are all missing so I’m hoping to install a motor/inverter using the (very heavy!) pulley arm. So, how to tension a belt, which will just sit on one pulley (they’re slightly crowned), what sort of belt is best, assuming it’ll need joining, what recommendations for best inverter / motor kit, and what size of motor would be appropriate?

 

2.0 Whilst I’m leaving the main internals, as they seem to be moving fine, just in need of a clean out and degrease, I was hoping to get into the back end, which involves removing a couple of covers, which looks straighforward other than theres this cog in the way, which I assume is removable, but how to go about it? The other cogs have come off no problem but this seems tight, and I think screwed on? Would this have a normal thread and just needs more force, and if so what tool do I need?

 

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

On 2. I would *guess* the gear is keyed and the plain round section unscrews by hand. Scroll down this page and there is a picture showing a threaded end of a spindle to back up my hunch.

https://www.lathes.co.uk/cromwell/index.html

On 1a (belts) I don’t know – a long enough plain belt of approximately the right length, material and wrap will sort of tension itself so maybe just make one up and see if it works?

Motor I leave to others – I bought a likely looking one of approx the right size and then a SEW VFD s/hand for my ancient flat belt lathe and got it running but probably only by good fortune.

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