- Joined
- Dec 24, 2020
- Messages
- 1,192
Hey all,
This is part two of the planning stages for a gear project I'm looking at in the next few months. I promise, I did some searches and didn't find anything exactly like what I'm considering...maybe I just used the wrong terms?
I'm looking to make a set of metric change gears for my Sheldon lathe and I know there are other people interested in a set as well so it got me thinking about making a batch of them.
Now that I've got my K&T horizontal mill up and running minus the flood coolant (should be working by the time I tackle this), it has changed what I was thinking about this project. Assuming a typical configuration with a dividing head and tailstock, could I get away with simply making an arbor that would let me cut maybe 6 identical gears at a time? The bed length and travel are more than enough to accommodate that, but I don't know if there are pitfalls in the longer arbor deflecting more, etc? What about simply stacking the blanks so they're compressed against one another (and kept in alignment via the key) so it's essentially one cut that's 3" long instead of six individual cuts .5" long?
My thinking is that the setup time is nearly the same for one as multiples so why not take advantage of that? Crazy idea? Advice, references, threads I should be looking at?
This is part two of the planning stages for a gear project I'm looking at in the next few months. I promise, I did some searches and didn't find anything exactly like what I'm considering...maybe I just used the wrong terms?
I'm looking to make a set of metric change gears for my Sheldon lathe and I know there are other people interested in a set as well so it got me thinking about making a batch of them.
Now that I've got my K&T horizontal mill up and running minus the flood coolant (should be working by the time I tackle this), it has changed what I was thinking about this project. Assuming a typical configuration with a dividing head and tailstock, could I get away with simply making an arbor that would let me cut maybe 6 identical gears at a time? The bed length and travel are more than enough to accommodate that, but I don't know if there are pitfalls in the longer arbor deflecting more, etc? What about simply stacking the blanks so they're compressed against one another (and kept in alignment via the key) so it's essentially one cut that's 3" long instead of six individual cuts .5" long?
My thinking is that the setup time is nearly the same for one as multiples so why not take advantage of that? Crazy idea? Advice, references, threads I should be looking at?