Tanque

I'm eagerly awaiting gear cutters for module 1, .7 and .6 gears for some projects I have and was just curious if anyone else here cuts ( hobs) their own? I've used involute cutters for SAE 32 and 24 pitch gears and have made a single start worm wheel
( the driven part of a worm gear pair ) by a clever use of a .5" x 32 tap which worked out very well.

I cut my own 'cause sometimes you just can't buy 'em....

Jerry

WhiteWolf McBride

My Feedback: (3)

Jerry:

The .6 mod ones would be very handy for the Tamiya tank gearboxes... if I remember the spec that everyone was mentioning ages ago when we were trying to get replacement pinions for the beasties. Then again... there are more than a few alternate solutions these days...

And no, short of a few grand in machine tools, and a house of my own so I dinna bother people with the 'at-all-hours' work (I like to work when the spark hits me, or it often gets left undone...) I couldn't make a gear short of pinching it from something else and testing... (like the Tamiya traverse/elevation clutched-gear replacement from their toys, eh?) They looked right, and I tried. Presto.

If ya decide to go into the small market, let us know, eh?

WhiteWolf

sevoblast

I don't have the machine for such work. However......I've found a good machinist in this berg....hmmmm.

dyeager535

My Feedback: (1)

Does anyone make helical gears?

Probably unreasonale to expect so, I'm sure straight cut are a lot easier to make, but I wonder what the noise reduction factor would be...probably not the right thread for this, but if they were possible to make...

Perhaps my non-Tamiya gearboxes are the only ones loud enough to make me care.

Tanque

I don't but here's one way it is done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fps0OR1eF_s

You can do it on a mill if you have a rotary table the can be geared to the x-axis drive. It must advance the work and rotate it as you see in the video.

Jerry

tomhugill

If you ever did decide to do replacements I think there would be a good ammount of intrest, Ive just had to shell out $120 for the sake of two stripped gears in my tamiya KT boxes for example, so anyon able to do individual replacememnts would be sought after!

Tanque

I have to point out that I didn't mention this with the intent that I was planning to make gears, replacement or otherwise
as a sideline. I don't want to mislead. Sorry if that was misunderstood. I was hoping to trade experience with anyone who
has done it themselves but I appreciate the comments nonetheless.

jerry

Pah co chu puk

Having worked in a machine shop, I am impresed that you have the set-up to do that at home, I wish I did. 

The set-up time involved to make gears makes me wonder why you don't " do a run" of gears then sell off the extras.  I have a project in mind that only becomes economical if I have 1000 or more parts run.  I need 4 of these axle upgrades for myself but nobody makes them so I drew up what I wanted it to be on AutoCAD and got a price from 2 local machine shops.  I haven't made the parts yet cause I'm still looking for someone to buy the other 996 peices.  Panther G idler axle improvement anybody???

If more of us could do that we could all provide parts for each other. 

Oh, and no I havent cut gears but my buddy has, I made screws, probes, knurled knobs etc...

Tanque

Hey, Pah co chu puk, part of the reason is what I'm looking to make may not necessarily be for Tamiya or Heng Long tanks...

When I needed metric gears before I either scoured ebay ( ebay.everywhere - .com, .uk, .de, you name it ) bought
from local supply houses at huge prices And finally ordered direct from Maedler in Germany.
The internal "ring" gear for the turret of my King Tiger cost $110 by itself at SDP-SI.
So to keep costs to a low roar I decided to make my own where I am able, I still can't make internal gears and many times
buying a stick gear is still cheaper than making my own. Buy just being able to make an odd configuration shaft with an
integral gear cut on it or a few thicker face gears than I can buy or a complicated side face will pay the cost of cutters
It allows me to experiment. I'm not so sure it actually costs less in the long run between cutter costs, electricity to run
my machines and time but what it does allow me is to try different things without having to order and wait around then
waste a gear by dumb-thumbing something. Certainly if I can buy two gears I need for $10 a piece I'm not going to spend 2-3
hours making my own...

Other reasons I'm not looking to do production of anything is liability, I don't want to hassle some bubba who buys something
uses it wrongly and then wants me to make good; another is I'm not CNC equipped, I'm a manual hobby machinist kind of
guy. My stuff isn't perfect or always pretty but so far has been good enough to hold up well under the rigors of glow engine
power and speeds of up to 15,000rpm. Making things manually, while way slower than CNC can produce just as good a result but
can no way hold up to mass produced per part costs. Lastly and I've had a lot of experience with this one: most modelers
are a really picky group; to the point of being as*^%#s; quite honestly most are so tight they squeak and don't want to pay
for a quality piece. Been there and done that in the 1980's.

I think you're a good candidate to eventually start your own hobbyist machine shop so you can make your parts and sell off the excess. You've got a leg up on the rest of us having worked in a production shop. When I worked as a chemist at Eimac (Varian) in the late 1970's the prototype machine shop was right across the hall. I learned a lot just talking to the guys. I'd still love to have a Hardinge... The production shop was in another building and I didn't get over there but rarely...

Be well,

Jerry

Pah co chu puk

Nice.  The set-up was most of the fun anyway.  Running parts gets borring fast.  Your also right about the hassle of selling retail.  Then there's all the tax.gov.bs worries.  My plan ( hope) is to sell to vendors wholseale and avoid the retail end all together. 

I would love to have a turret lathe and an end mill.  I could make lots of the parts I must buy now, and make them better. 

I also have experience in metal casting.

philipat

If you're looking for a specific spot to jump and start...I'd start with the HLBulldog and Pershing. Cast swing arms, better idler adjusters, steel gearboxes, etc...no one else is making upgrades for those two tanks.

Pah co chu puk

Thanks Philipat,

That is the idea I'm going for, find weak areas and make parts to improve tank performance / reliablity.  I have been looking too hard at the German tanks, I should be improving the American tanks too.

Great Idea.