Cutting new gears on a lathe

[MarkBall2]

Mac, I thought of adding a "catch" of some sort to lock the blank in place. The degree wheel is so much faster & there isn't much room in the adapter once I stick my fingers in there to turn the blank. (with the machine shut off of course)

For simple gears like this, it works ok. I wouldn't dream of cutting some high precision gears using this process, but then again, I wouldn't dream of cutting high precision gears with a mill either. Don't have that much confidence in my ability...............

Yet.

[1911man]

Thanks for sharing this Mark, it really made sense with the pics and your explaination. Good job!

[rmack898]

Originally Posted by MarkBall2

Yet.

You're on a roll, don't stop now.

[Alphawolf45]

Mark ,The first thread I read here was the 30 plus page story of your lathe..I can relate to everything you went through and so I found it very entertaining, I enjoyed it thoroughly.....I was glad to read you made your own banjo as that shop that wanted a K to make the part was seeing a sucker for sure. I'm an amateur but could make that part with my cnc , draw it and program the mill and make the part in 4 hours easy.......but,but,but, the way you made it using the lathe was brilliant.. You have the intelligence to find workable solutions to bad problems that would stop lots of other fellers..I hope you continue aquiring machines and building projects and sharing the stories...
.
On gears..Is your lathes' new gear playing nice with the old gears or wearing into the old gears? I am sure youre watching'em with a sharp eye..What are you observing?

[MarkBall2]

Well, I broke the compound gear on the tumbler when I was helping a friend thread a shaft for his tubing notcher. Once I got to looking closer at the other gears, I noticed all the wear & started looking for replacements.

I don't like spending money I don't need to spend & found a website that explained the process easy enough for me to understand. It only took me about 3 days to figure out how to hold the gear blank, machine the tool (including the hob that didn't work) & build the adapter.

The first gear I cut worked, but was originally machined too narrow. It took me about 3 hours to machine that first one, then the two replacements & did in a little less than an hour.

To answer your question, I'm watching the softer Zymak gears for wear/slippage. I'm hoping I don't wear out the compound, but I do have a spare on the way. I have a bit of adjusting to do on the quadrant also. The change gears want to ride a bit wide on the compound gear, so some more adjusting is in order.

[moe1942]

Not bad Mark..

[cutter]

Originally Posted by MarkBall2

Pretty straight forward milling attachment specific to this lathe. (Thanks Cutter, I'm getting some good use out of it)

You earned it and you're welcome. Now everybody knows why I sent it to you.

But let's not forget - Jack sent it to me.

[Vern2]

Markball2, I like "meatball2" if you ever want to change your name.

Well thought out, great tutorial. Thanks form a new guy.

I use end mill holders, not collects. Where did you find an end mill holder, that has the threads where the end mill goes and smooth, where the set screw goes? Sounds like a tool I might want. Don't tell platapuss , he'll want one too. He's back home now, anything to drive his new truck back and forth from Vermont.

[MarkBall2]

Vern, I use an end mill holder with a Morse Taper # 3 shank. It slides into the spindle & tightened with a drawbar that I made.

The threads you see are the threaded spindle. I'll see if I have a better picture of the spindle.

Pic 1 - Spindle end gear. This drives all the gears for turning the lead screw, reverse tumbler & Quick Change Gear Box.

Pic 2 - Chuck end of the spindle with the end mill holder in the spindle

Pic 3 - End mill holders & drawbar I built

Pic 4 - New 6" 3 jaw chuck.

[akabull]

Thanks Mark! I learned alot from reading this thread. Makes me wish I had a broken gear to try and replace.