Cutting my first gear

[Brian Rupnow]

At this stage of the game, I'm starting to get really happy about things---the gear looks good, and has cleaned up nicely.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Now remember---I wouldn't be happy with all this untill I seen my gears meshing. That was the reason I made the gear blank so long. I put it back into the lathe, and used my cut off tool to seperate the blank into two gears, then set them up on shafts in a block which I had drilled and reamed to the correct center distance (equal to the gears pitch diameter. And they mesh beautifully.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

This is my cutter "after the fact"---It survived unscathed, and without any undue drag or wear marks or material build up on it. This makes me think that the 7 degree relief all around was sufficient to the act.

 

[crankshafter]

Hi Brian.
Good to see all worked out. I'v followed this thread and got so inspired ;D. I went the "Hobb-way" and made up a hobb in module1 yesterday. I have to cut he flutes and releaf but that have to wait til over this weekend. Me and junior is heading for Sweden to nigth, just for fun. Was hoping for better wether so we could drive the Porche cab. 1953 mod ;D ;D so it have to be the Volvo.

Best regards
CS

 

[Brian Rupnow]

And yes---We have a video!!!

 

[Brian Rupnow]

A very big THANK YOU goes out to Captain Jerry. Without his awesome section on gear cutting in his Donkey thread, I would never have attenpted this.----Brian

 

[SAM in LA]

Brian,

Nice looking gears.

From you I would never expect anything less.

SAM

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Dragging my heel????

 

[Captain Jerry]

Brian

Congratulations on a successful conclusion. One move victory, one more notch on the stock. As far as I can tell, from other members posts and my own experience, the first thought anybody has after completing their first gear is "Hey, that's not so hard". The hardest step is the first step, deciding to do it. You probably thought about many times. I know I did. I'm glad I helped push you over the edge as I was encouraged by all the previous work shared on this forum.

Your future project list options just got expanded. Enjoy.

Jerry

Just a question about the thumping and the extruded metal carried out of the cut. Did you use any kind of cutting fluid. I usually cut aluminum on the lathe without lube but on the single aluminum gear that I cut, I found that a bit of lube made a big difference. WD-40 helped some and then I used a heavier oilier cutting fluid (don't remember the brand) and It was still better. The brass cut a lot easier so no lube was used.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I used an aerolsol spray on lube that I have found to work good on aluminum. Its marketed here by Canadian Tire stores, and from reading the can, it sounds a lot like a generic WD40. One thing I didn't do was "stone" the edges of my cutter, as the only stones I have are big flat ones, and I was afraid of stoning away the radius. My mill is not very large---Its a typical Chinese import. The gears turned out very nice, but I'm not sure if I would make them again using a single point tool. I know that you can buy a round cutter that is disc shaped, with about 4 notches in the diameter, which would probably be a lot easier on the machine. This was more of an exercise to "See if I can do it." I hear a lot of people on these forums who have trouble with the gear drives on these Chinese mills, and it seemed to me that the pounding that mine got making these gears is not something I want to repeat.----Brian

 

[Dan Rowe]

Brian,
Thanks for the giving this a try. The method would work just fine for anyone with a shaper in the shop as they are designed to take the punishment of a single point tool pounding away.

Dan

 

[Artie]

"I am very pleased with the first gears I have cut"..... mate that says it all...... Its one of the items high on my priority list... now that the shaper is up and running its drawing ever nearer. I can only imagine the sense of achievement you got from this. Hoping to join you shortly.

Well done mate.

Cheers Rob

 

[Maryak]

Congratulations Brian :bow:

Another arrow for your bow.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Brian Rupnow]

You guys have absolutely no idea of how much Hell I am getting for running this post over on the Home Shop Machinist forum!!! I never really realized what a drooling idiot I am untill now------

 

[Cedge]

Brian
I just read through the thread over there and found it pretty typical. There are always naysayers and they tend to be the same group of experts..... every time. I'm glad to know that I too am apparently an idiot, incapable of wiping the drool from my own chin. Now, I've got to go out to the shop and make sure my little Victorian engine even runs, since I now know that I can't possibly single tooth cut gears the way I did it. That substandard spoked gear would give them full blown case of the conniptions.

The experts are all too willing to tell us the things we already do, can't be done. I've been accused of blatantly lying about the Victorian Project being manually machined, by professional machinists. I now just smile and walk away when one begins his "You can't do that manually" spiel. I often find not knowing my task is impossible makes it so much easier to complete successfully.

Steve

 

[doc1955]

You guys have absolutely no idea of how much Hell I am getting for running this post over on the Home Shop Machinist forum!!! I never really realized what a drooling idiot I am untill now------

Brian I have to agree with Steve!
I have done many a gear in the similar fashion to what you are doing. And there are a few motors out there with a lot of hours on them and my gears are still holding up just fine. Don't let some one tell you you can't do something just because they have not tried to.
I've been a design engineer for a long time now and came from a tooling shop before that and have listened to new designers come and spout off how you can't do this and you can't do that. I agree if you are going to push things to the limit they may be right but most times they aren't. I have seen a lot of people spout off and though the years I've noticed the more they spout off the more they lack in general knowledge.

So I say keep doing what your doing, you have done a great job so don't let them BS you.

 

[Artie]

Gday Shred, Id have to disagree... I know a few of them from other sites. They do put out some great work... I think they just arent game enough to display it... might be a reason for that.... from what Ive seen on Brians thread.... would certainly make me think twice....

 

[Maryak]

Brian,

I have just had a look at your post and replies, (well as much of it as I could stomach), over on HSM.

If I were making a gear set for a nuclear sub to run silent and deep then the comments over there are valid. Then again who in hell would use a milling machine, with any type of available cutter, to make high precision gears for any application. ??? ??? ???

Brian you did a great job at minimum cost with a more than acceptable result for the applications we are most likely to encounter with our models. Hats off to you and to Jerry.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[John S]

There is nothing wrong with flycut gears IF the cutter is made correctly and to the constrains laid down by the way gears work like OD, number of teeth and depth.

If any of these are ignored you might as well cut the teeth with a slitting saw or use pin and lantern wheels.

John S.

 

[SAM in LA]

Brian,

Keep up the good work. Thm:

I learn so much from guys like you that "don't know what they are doing". :idea:

When you post messages, I consider class to be in session. *discussion*

My dad used to say that the guys in the locker room that brag the most about there exploits are the ones that are getting the least, if you know what I mean. scratch.gif

Respectfully,

SAM