Gear blanks

[cathead]

This is in preparation to make a pair of 52 tooth 16DP gears. I had some 4 inch round stock but opted for some one inch plate instead.
I used the band saw to cut up two chunks of material, then marked the centers and drilled a one inch hole through each of them. The
rough blanks were mounted on a slightly tapered shaft that I use for milling gears. The blanks are just friction fit so one needs to do
a bit of hammering to get them on tight enough to machine. It's best to machine towards the fat end of the tapered bar so as not to dislodge
the blanks. The assembly was mounted in the lathe and the parts machined until circular and the proper diameter. It was a lot of interrupted
cutting so used an HSS cutting tool. This made a lot of small chips in the beginning but got easier as the cuts got more continuous. I cut the flat stock manually as the band saw was set up vertically and I was too lazy to change it. The hole was drilled in one jump with
a one inch drill bit run at about 75 RPM. So now that part is done except for cleaning up the chips and then on to phase two which will
be to cut some teeth on the blanks. The machining setup had a tendency to harmonic vibration so I changed speeds several times and used
a cutter with a narrow face to reduce the load.

 

[cathead]

 

[talvare]

I like your method for centering those blanks in the 4 jaw.

Ted

 

[Doug Gray]

The hole was drilled in one jump with
a one inch drill bit

Your a braver man than me

 

[cathead]

The gears in the case are the new 52 tooth 16DP gears made in steel and the aluminum ones in the foreground are
a pair I made some years ago. They were basically just carved to fit the spacing. Now I have all three sets
of change gears in steel. The old Springfield "Ideal" keeps on getting improvements so it's a keeper.

 

[Dabbler]

very nice work!