# Gear Swapping



## donnyfl (Oct 28, 2016)

Hey guys, I don't normally change gears on my lathes, but the PM1228 is making thread cutting very easy. I tried to do metric threads and followed the manual. However, the gear that is swapped doesn't align perfectly with the gear that it is suppose to be rubbing with. Is that ok? Picture below. I changed the location of the bottom gear. It was an easy swap. Change the position of the spacer and the gear. In this picture the spacer is to the right of the gear. It came with the spacer on the left.


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## Muskt (Oct 28, 2016)

It looks to me like the spacers on the bottom gear should be switched.  Kind of difficult to tell.  However, I would certainly desire full contact between the gears.
If you cannot get any of the supplied spacer combinations to result in full contact--build one that will.

Best to you
Jerry in Delaware


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## donnyfl (Oct 28, 2016)

Thanks Jerry, I was thinking of making my own spacer as well. The spacer on the left side of the gear in the photo can not go anywhere else other than where it is. It is used to hold everything in place when the screw is screwed in.


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## Bob Korves (Oct 28, 2016)

Ask Matt.


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## tmarks11 (Oct 29, 2016)

donnyfl said:


> I was thinking of making my own spacer as well.



Sounds like an excellent idea.

One of the joys of having a lathe is that this sort of thing is easy.


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## qualitymachinetools (Oct 30, 2016)

Ill have to take a look at one when I have a chance, it is much better to have the gears meshing as much as possible, but just for this time I am sure it will be fine to use.


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## donnyfl (Oct 31, 2016)

I ended up using one of the spare gears as a spacer for the inside and machined an aluminum spacer to put on the outside. Sounds much better than when I had it half on.


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