Making My First Gear

[Don1966]

Today was my first try at making a gear. And as you will see it did not turn out to good. I managed to cut the blank out and bore with no problem. When it came time to cut the teeth that was another thing  . I hope I am not the only one who has made this mistake and hope it is the last time I do make it.
The dial Collar on my RT slipped and caused me a mishap in one spot on my gear, of coarse the rest of the teeth would be off also. When I reached tooth number 7 the collar slipped and didn't notice it till tooth number 9. Below are photos of the progression. It will be a will before I can make another work take preference.
If anyone sees that I did something wrong here. Please point it out?

Cutting the Blank
cu
Boring the blank


The finished blank

Setting up the Mill and finding the mid point

Adjusting the cutter to mid point

Cutting the Gear

This photo is where I marked the dial should it move again

This is a photo to show the large tooth


Don

[steamer]

Hi Don
Sounds like.....for whatever reason...there was an index error.....probably when the dial
slipped.     I did something similar with my Wallaby build.

I would set that gear back up , like I did, and cut some more teeth for practice.
Then I would make a new blank and start again.
Sorry bud

Dave

[tel]

Yeah, happens all the time, don't sweat it. I've cut well over 100 gears and still throw the odd silly one.

[Don1966]

Thanks Dave and Tel I hope the next one goes a lot better. I just have to keep focused on what I am doing. Dave the spreadsheet you gave me is great. I still struggle with setting the seconds they are so close. Hope next week I can try again. The is the 34 tooth gear for metric conversion of my Myford.

Don

[steamer]

Something to keep in mind with resettable dials on any machine tool    Don't turn the crank by the dial, but by the dial handle.    ......and yes I screw this one up all the time.... 

If it locks with a set screw just make sure its nice and snug. .....I screw that one up all the time too!

The mistake I made cutting the cam gear on the Wallaby was I forgot to tighten up the collet holding the mandrel!..

Well....if you don't make any mistakes...it just means you not doing anything....the next one will go faster...I promise Buddy!

Dave

[steamer]

I'm glad the spreadsheet is helping Don!  I'm going to need to use it myself when I put the 60 hole circle in my SB pulley....

Definitly set that bugger back up and cut some more teeth ....nothing to lose, and you'll get a better feel for the whole set up.

Dave

[Maryak]

Don,

Sorry to read about your Oops. If I am looking at things correctly, you are starting the cut from the back of the blank, so it's difficult to  see what's going on until it's too late.

May I suggest you either turn the cutter 180 and reverse the rotation, or start the cut from the other side of the blank,  or put the RT on the other end of the mill table.

Edit:

Lastly, prove your indexing.



Hope this helps

Best Regards
Bob

[Don1966]

Thanks I will finish the gear for a test run. And I do have a habit of turning the dial by the collar instead of the crank and it is a slip collar. I also have a video by Swarfrat on the RT. this is how I learn to read minutes and seconds.

Don

[Don1966]

Thanks Bob I will try that.

Don

[tel]

Thanks Dave and Tel I hope the next one goes a lot better. I just have to keep focused on what I am doing. Dave the spreadsheet you gave me is great. I still struggle with setting the seconds they are so close. Hope next week I can try again. The is the 34 tooth gear for metric conversion of my Myford.

Don

There's 99% of gear cutting success right there.

[tel]

... the other 1% is remembering to turn the mill on.

[steamer]

The dropbars get the other 5% tho.....usually on the last tooth!

)*&#$) dropbars!

Dave

[Don1966]

Hey didn't want to get your feathers ruffed. I can bad memorys are surfacing here.

Don

[steamer]

 

Dave

[rhitee93]

If it makes you feel better Don, I am impressed with how far you got.  This is something I have never tried.