- Joined
- Feb 7, 2013
- Messages
- 2,485
This morning I set up the rotary table and set the mill up for making the pinion gear for a rack and pinion.
I put centers on a one inch diameter rod about eight inches long using the lathe so that I could support
the rod between centers. The RT is 90-1 ratio so used a 64 count hole plate using five rotations plus forty more holes
to advance the RT 22.5 degrees for each movement. All went well and I made a 16 tooth gear on both ends of
the rod so I would have a spare one if ever needed. The set up is what takes the time so that was the reason for making two
pinion gears.
This is what the finished rack and pinion assembly looks like.
The next stage is to get some square stock to make the rack gear and do a bit of cut, weld, and machining. I kind of like the propane handle
so will do the same on the new one.
I will have to nod the head to horizontal to make the rack part. I may make two racks as well as long as the chips are flying.
The gear cutter is run at 15 hertz on the VFD and the step pulley on 850 rpm so I'm running my cutter at a little over 200 rpm,
a nice cool running speed. The mill motor was only luke warm when I got done so not overworked for this job.
The new rack and pinion will replace the old post affair with a bolt to hold the post in position necessitating me co always carry
my 3/4 wrench in my back pocket while cutting lumber.
I forgot to mention the diametral pitch I used... What DP did I use??
I put centers on a one inch diameter rod about eight inches long using the lathe so that I could support
the rod between centers. The RT is 90-1 ratio so used a 64 count hole plate using five rotations plus forty more holes
to advance the RT 22.5 degrees for each movement. All went well and I made a 16 tooth gear on both ends of
the rod so I would have a spare one if ever needed. The set up is what takes the time so that was the reason for making two
pinion gears.
This is what the finished rack and pinion assembly looks like.
The next stage is to get some square stock to make the rack gear and do a bit of cut, weld, and machining. I kind of like the propane handle
so will do the same on the new one.
I will have to nod the head to horizontal to make the rack part. I may make two racks as well as long as the chips are flying.
The gear cutter is run at 15 hertz on the VFD and the step pulley on 850 rpm so I'm running my cutter at a little over 200 rpm,
a nice cool running speed. The mill motor was only luke warm when I got done so not overworked for this job.
The new rack and pinion will replace the old post affair with a bolt to hold the post in position necessitating me co always carry
my 3/4 wrench in my back pocket while cutting lumber.
I forgot to mention the diametral pitch I used... What DP did I use??
Last edited: