How A Drill Press Infinitely Variable Drive Works (aka CVT aka Reeves Drive)

[@Alan_Hans__]

I'd dearly love for all drill presses to have that style of speed adjustment. Changing the belts/pulleys is a PITA.

[@TacoMaster3211]

That's such a cool mechanism. I've never seen any like that.

[@petehottois2856]

If you need a new variable speed pulley, Speed Selector makes pulleys that replace the Reeves, Hi-Lo, TB Woods and Lovejoy pulleys that went out of business or got bought. Most are in stock or Speed Selector will custom make if needed. They have an actual engineering department; very helpful.

[@maxpeckham966]

That’s a great resource right there Thankyou. I happened to be in the market for one and stumbled on this comment. I had trouble looking up any info on where to get one recently!

[@realcygnus]

Cool. its kind of surprising that works as good as it does without a special belt(such as a thick wedge shape for instance), since its really ONLY the top & bottom outer edges that are ever grabbing anything.

[@shopjay8291]

Great video, thanks for contributing you're knowledge to the YT community. I have a question for you. I have a Rockwell 20" bandsaw and have the Reeves drive on it. I had to do some repairs to the speed control foot petal and lost the speed indicator. Once I fixed that, I had to loosen the belt at some point. Ever since, I have a very loud belt sounding squeal. The belt looks good to me. Is there anything I should know or advise you could give me to figure this issue out? Thanks again for hour knowledge.

[@PeteHottois]

Speed Selector makes variable speed pulleys that replace the Reeves, Hi-Lo pulleys and TB Woods. I think they went out of business or got bought. Most of the pulleys are in stock or Speed Selector will custom make if needed. They have an actual engineer department who were very helpful.

[@PeteHottois]

Speed Selector makes variable speed pulleys that replace the Reeves and Hi-Lo pulleys. I think they went out of business.

[@markharvey4087]

Hey Joe Malovich I need help someone moved my speed dial on my exact drill while it was off now my belt is loose how do I get my chuck spinning now . . Please reply

[@JoeMalovich]

Does this help? kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIPaaKqor7yZrtE

[@markharvey4087]

@@JoeMalovich Morning Joe. . Thank you soo much for taking time to explain and make a video just for my question I really appreciate it. . We will try this today and get back to you I got your email as well . . Thank you so much u a lifesaver. .

[@florian.42]

*"My new 2020 resolution, I put likes for all those who have received unfairly dislykes"*

[@marksleeper9385]

nice I have one of these I bought surplus it is missing the table is your motor single phase and what is the hp and info would be great thanks Mark

[@JohnDoe-ls2ww]

This is a fantastic setup, and a must do on my list. Bridgeport mills use a similar design as well as Polaris atvs.

[@Vindex0]

nice thats what i was looking for now i have to rebuild this mechanism 😂

[@SpringRubber]

Very nice video and explanation (also, props to you for the corrective edits). I have no need for a production setup but do have drill press envy. : ) That Reeves drive is in my cheap import drill press that I picked up used. I also have a CVT in my Civic Hatchback and now I better understand how that thing works. Thx!

[@douglasmckinley-sr1507]

Is the bearing separate from the pulley or physically connected? When moving the bearing down…. Is the bearing connected and pulling the sheave/pulley down with it or does the bearing move independently of the sheave/pulley and belt tension move it? Thanks

[@JohnDoe-ls2ww]

Think, Polaris atv....they have a CVT that highly resembles this setup

[@toddbroussard5609]

Appreciate your explanation, trying to diagnose issue with my 15-655. I noticed that yours is a similar model to mine but it has a table lift. Was that an add on, if so can you provide details on parts? Thanks

[@JoeMalovich]

It came with the lift, I can't offer specific details but you might try asking over at owwm.org

[@harmangarewal4016]

Can you plzzz tell me its belt no plzzz its urgent

[@craigargabrite8822]

What belt did he use for the Rockwell drill press? Look about an inch

[@Boemel]

I want to put this on a riding mower. Trying to build one to have slow mowing speeds and a really fast cruise.

[@jlang8213]

It's not unlike the continuously variable transmissions (CVT) that have been becoming increasing popular in cars. I have an old Oliver lathe with a Reeves drive.

[@zeusmultirotor8479]

Yamaha golf carts (and probably others) use a belt driven cvt very similar to this drill press

[@TheMadMagician87]

How did you clean up the quill? Was the hard chroming not pitted by rust?

[@JoeMalovich]

The quill was fine.

[@ryanmckay1940]

Where can I get this?

[@Z-Ack]

Appreciate the condensed version..

[@wesaderty]

is the movement for sizing the pulley only done in one? what changes the sizing of the other?

[@FixNewsPlease]

Belt tension and a spring. As you force the front pulley closed with the cam/roller, the belt (which cannot stretch) is forced into the rear pulley by the effect of the belt being used up by the front pulley and because the rear pulley is tapered, the belt forces the top and bottom apart. Note the spring above the rear pulley which will force it closed when the front one is opened.

[@pokedojo484]

How do the belts wear? Like are they any normal belt that you use. I see it has teeth but it doesn’t need them. How doesn’t this slip with heavy loads. Just amazing

[@JoeMalovich]

It works just like any conventional v belt, friction on the sides. The "teeth" are curious so it flexes easier and doesn't heat up while allowing a thicker belt with more surface area in contact.

[@JP-0.]

Thx for the Video!

[@Mehdi-tq9ps]

Can standard v belts be used for cvt transmissions?

[@FixNewsPlease]

No. These are not V-belts. They are more similar to a snowmobile belt.

[@luigicarson7842]

Congratulations!

[@tgates811]

Does this style of drill press tend to slip?

[@JoeMalovich]

I havent experienced any slipping

[@Reman1975]

On the quill side of the variable speed drill, it looks like that bottom half of the pulley is able to spin independently of the top half? If the bottom half of the pulley on yours isn't physically connected to the top half, is it possible that it was meant to be originally? Maybe they're on a keyed shaft that's lost it's key or something? I'd have thought that only driving one side of the pulley would mean it was twice as susceptible to belt slippage. Do you ever hear the belt squealing?

[@JoeMalovich]

I can stall the motor in it's lowest setting so belt slippage isn't an issue.

[@Reman1975]

@@JoeMalovich Usefull to know. I've been toying with the idea of making a variable speed pulley system to go on my little lathe for a few years now, But one of the technical hurdles I thought was there was how to couple both sides of the expanding pulley in a way that wouldn't be too difficult to make with my available equipment, But would still be 100% reliable. I thought about using a keyed shaft, or finding something I could salvage a splined shaft and the corresponding sliding bosses from, But after seeing your video I've now wondering if I'd actually need to couple them at all. I think it's time for me to have a doodle and try to work out a much simpler mechanism than I previously thought I'd be able to get away with. :) Thanks for the reply.

[@JoeMalovich]

@@Reman1975 It might be easier to go with a DC treadmill motor with controller or sewing machine motor or 3-phase motor with a VFD. Another option is to get a gocart CVT torque-a-verter or similar and replace the weighted system with a manual throwout bearing.

[@Reman1975]

@@JoeMalovich I did think about modifying the CVT pulleys from a "Twist and go" motorbike, But most of the ones I saw fitted onto a splined shaft. Didn't think about go-carts. Here in the UK, Go-carts tend to be either single speed things, Or they use motorbike engines with the associated sequential shift gearbox. The reason for not going with a VFD is a bit of a silly one to be honest. The lathe in question is a little, But rather pretty 90 odd year old antique piece of British engineering. I've tried to keep all the changes I've done to it as reversible as possible, And most of my "Tweaks" have been of the sort of thing an engineer might have made to it at any point in it's long history. It just wouldn't feel quite right to use this "New fangled electrickery" to adjust spindle speed on it when it should be possible to build a mechanical system that would be more in keeping with the "British garden shed hobby workshop" approach I've used for it so far........... As I said, This mentality probably sounds silly to most people, But I'm a hobby engineer these days, and part of the fun comes from not just working WITH the machinery, but working ON them too. :) I'm now thinking I could turn half the input pulley and the output pulley as one piece that runs on one plain and one angular contact ball bearing race over a static shaft. Then have a floating second half of the variable pulley (Also running on a couple bearing races) that get's adjusted by a bolt threaded into a drilling down the end of the static shaft. When tightened that would push a capped sleeve along the shaft, and against the hub of the floating pulley half (Via a needle thrust bearing). I should be able to just tighten the bolt on the end while the motors running to increase the pulleys root diameter (And machine speed). I'll have to draw it to see if there's anything I've not thought about, But as it stands I think it should work.

[@JoeMalovich]

@@Reman1975 a more fitting variable speed drive for a 90 year old british lathe is a friction disk like what walk behind snowblowers use. or something called a Cone Mesh CVT

[@monoshock57]

To fast !

[@emailformosa]

Dude, awesome and thank you.