I have yes. The gear is not hardened. I believe it is 1020 steel. All I know for sure is it is .2%Have you considered single point threading the gear on your lathe (I assume you have one)? I've threaded small acme nuts by welding/brazing/silver soldering HSS tool bits onto the end of small diameter bars. You need to take light cuts, but it has worked out for me. It will probably also depend on what material that gear is made out of (how tough/hard it is).
Just throwing some thoughts out there,
Ted
That's why I'm leaning towards ordering a precision screw with the same fit nut. The nuts come large so you can turn them to your dimension. Is press fitting a nut into a bored hole on the gear considered cobbled together?A for real surface grinder needs a precision lead screw and nut in the Y axis (yes, Y, spindle up and down). You need to be able to accurately raise or lower the spindle a tenth or two at a time. Something cobbled together will give you fits. Of course, not all surface grinders are used for accurate work and that changes things...