Worthwhile access?

[Douglasr]

My lathe had picked ip a vibration which I traced to the drive belt. I was told that LMS was a good place for parts, while looking thru the site I have found metal replacement gears. Are these a good upgrade or waste of cash? Or does anyone have any better suggestions since I have to pay shipping anyway

 

[xalky]

If the gears are reasonably priced, why not change them. You won't have to worry about breaking the plastic ones anymore. Reasonably priced is subjective, and up to you to determine.

 

[Dunc1]

I look at the plastic gears as a safety clutch. Better one (or a few) break than some more important stuff that is harder to access or more expensive to replace.

 

[David Kirtley]

I bought a full set of the metal gears when I broke my high-low gear.

I bought mine here: http://thehobbyistmachinestore.com/store/Mini-Gears/

I put them in but kind of bungled up the install and shifting was a problem. The metal gears are noisy. Much noisier than I expected.

I picked up a second lathe headstock because I have plans for doing a CNC build with the old bed left over from my bed upgrade and just put it on the 14" bed.

Rebuilding the old one again and upgrading it to tapered bearings is on my list but pretty far down it. I was particularly unhappy with not having any way to lube the metal gears. When I do rebuild it, I will probably add some kind of lubrication system to it. I also picked up the bearing puller kit from Micromark for when I play with it.

As far as the change gears themselves, the plastic ones seem to hold up well and I would rather replace a $5 gear than break something more substantial. The weakest point is the keyway.