[How-To] Rank beginner question on cutting gears

Phenolic is cheap, easy to work and a great material for change gears. Just get the sheet, not the rolled bar stuff.

Master Gotteswinter on the subject of making change gears:


I really enjoy making gears, it's one of my favourite operations on the mill.
 
What does one look out for in a dividing head? Is the smallest one available a BS0? Can one fit an ER32 chuck to it? Or is a 4 Jaw better? TOT shows an adjustable pair of arms that help one index the number of holes, is that a standard thing?

Are the BS0 dividing heads mostly the same these days? Which ones are ok, and which are to avoid? What should I make sure the set has? What are recommended should haves? Kind of leaving myself open here, to all you enablers, but, I can always filter the answers to suit my constraints. (Mostly size, has to be usable with a PM25, and cost. Can't break the bank.)
 
The BS0 clones seem to be held in fairly high regard. Might be worth another thread asking about experiences and sizing. The BS0 style is universal, meaning they can be angled, rather than being fixed horizontal, which is a nice feature. Most will come with sets of dividing plates covering a range of divisions, a chuck and a tailstock. This is pretty much all you need to get up and running.

Yes, the hands are pretty standard on all. What type of workholding you fit is more or less up to you. For small work, mounting a collet chuck is useful. For larger stuff, it's hard to beat a 4 jaw. 3 jaw (most commonly supplied) is ok, but you'll run into concentricity issues if attempting precision work like gears. Not the end of the world if you're happy to pop a shim here and there under jaws, though.
 
Should that thread be in Tools and tooling?
 
I've made custom gears for metric threading out of PVC, Delrin by slotting on the lathe with a hand ground HSS form tool. You would need a different form depending on the tooth count. Indexing was done by printing a divider wheel at: CGTK - Divider Wheel Generator and attaching it to the spindle.
 

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WobblyHand said:
Yeah, the rabbit hole leads to profuse spending... But, hey, I could use an arbor press, right? Between us, I'd rather spend the cash on a rotary table setup.
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I don't have an arbor press. I've had a 20 ton elcheapo hydraulic press for a long time so I could press bearings. Not as handy as an arbor press but can do other things. Biggest drawback is it takes a lot of pumps to move much. As for rotary tables, get as big of one as you can fit. You can quickly run out of room on them when you need to clamp work. Also consider how much Z axis they take when you add the work and tooling. I've never used a semi-universal indexing head.

A spin indexer will work to give gear making a try. Reversing the plate location helps get some clearance. I've seen where someone has made it so finer stepping can be had also. Have fun.
 
Going with a BS-0 clone head. Ordered. Set of 8 M1 cutters, ordered. Some 1144 for an arbor, ordered. Have stuff to make a mandrel. Shipping on everything seems to be delayed at least a week from normal. So maybe in a few weeks, I can ask a whole host of questions about gear cutting. Need to more seriously look into stock for the gears themselves. Need to price out materials.
 
martik777 said:
I've made custom gears for metric threading out of PVC, Delrin by slotting on the lathe with a hand ground HSS form tool. You would need a different form depending on the tooth count. Indexing was done by printing a divider wheel at: CGTK - Divider Wheel Generator and attaching it to the spindle.
Click to expand...
That's very clever. I've found custom grinding HSS tools to be difficult. Doable, but they take a long time to get everything right.
 
I cut gears in aluminium this way
www.hobby-machinist.com

tumbler reverse

Its been a long time since I got any shed time but managed a bit in the last week. Made the angle plate from 8mm plate and welded it together. Managed to control the welding distortion and kept it square. I was rather pleased with the 8x1mm thread, it came out pretty good, not perfect but...
www.hobby-machinist.com www.hobby-machinist.com
That gear is still in place working today.
 
Got my M1 gear cutter set. Got one of each of #1-#8 cutters. Apparently that doesn't always happen. Also received some 1144 to make an arbor. Waiting on the BS-0. Hope to get it tomorrow, but you know how delivery is lately. My kids just received a holiday card today that was mailed early December 2020.
 
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