I broke my Smithy (again)

[Inferno]

A few years ago I thought I had bought the greatest bang for my buck machine. It had a good legacy, etc.
A Smithy Midas 3 in 1 machine.

Well, they are now discontinued. Just my luck.

In the gearbox, there are a couple sacrificial parts.

Here's what happened and happened again.

While using the power feed, I locked my X-axis and was using power feed on the Y-axis, I accidentally threw the lever from Y to X and the sacrificial part broke, again.

The problem is, the replacement part has been discontinued as well. Last time I ordered a replacement part was about 4 years ago and I was smart enough to buy two of them but it's the wrong length since a different part broke this time. First thing I'm thinking of doing is to to cut down the part I have but if the longer one in my machine breaks again I'd be back at square one.

So, does anyone know of a compatible replacement?

I'm in the process of adding a stepper driven power feed so, theoretically, in a couple months I won't need this gear other than for threading (which I've only done on this machine once in the years I've owned it).

Another alternative would be for me to make "something that will work" out of brass or aluminum.

 

[RJSakowski]

If it were mine, I would make a new part. It isn't that difficult. You should be able to cut the grooves with the mill using the lathe chuck to rotate the part.. You will need to index for 90º rotation but there are ways to accomplish that. What is the OEM material?

 

[Inferno]

If it were mine, I would make a new part. It isn't that difficult. You should be able to cut the grooves with the mill using the lathe chuck to rotate the part.. You will need to index for 90º rotation but there are ways to accomplish that. What is the OEM material?

OEM material is a cheap cast pot metal. Designed to break.
My mill head won't reach my lathe head or even close but I could work around that with some tooling.

I know how I can index it. It's not a high precision part.

 

[rodm1]

3D printer??

 

[Inferno]

3D printer??

Plastic won't be strong enough. Metal 3d would be too expensive.

 

[Flyinfool]

Cast pot metal is not very strong, there are some pretty strong 3D printing materials. Glass filled, carbon filled, even metal filled.

If you make a replacement out of brass or even Aluminum it might not be the weak link anymore, that means something bigger may break next time.

The first thing I would do at this point is to make some detailed drawings with full dimensions so that you have the info for later.

If you do find a source to buy, get a bunch of each, IF you have a bunch of spares that will ensure you never break one again, Murphy says so.

 

[Inferno]

Cast pot metal is not very strong, there are some pretty strong 3D printing materials. Glass filled, carbon filled, even metal filled.

If you make a replacement out of brass or even Aluminum it might not be the weak link anymore, that means something bigger may break next time.

The first thing I would do at this point is to make some detailed drawings with full dimensions so that you have the info for later.

If you do find a source to buy, get a bunch of each, IF you have a bunch of spares that will ensure you never break one again, Murphy says so.

The reason I have the long one was because of the rule of "If I have it, I won't need it".
It wasn't expensive. Probably $15.
The last price on the shorter one was $38.

I haven't played around with higher end plastics yet. I planned on trying them on the 3D printer I'm building.
Easy enough to design the part. I should do that tonight and, maybe, look for someone with a carbon or metal filled filament to make me a few. Good idea.

 

[Inferno]

This is a rudimentary design of a part that would work fine.

 

[bill70j]

Easy enough to design the part. I should do that tonight and, maybe, look for someone with a carbon or metal filled filament to make me a few. Good idea.

Tom Lipton did a video saying how he decided to have someone print a rather than machining it himself. Here's the company he used, and said he was pleased with their work and with their price. Maybe you could send them your model and have them give you an estimate,

 

[fixit]

Looks to me as if you could cut the NEW TOO LONG one in half and have two.