# Why are gear tooth gauges so ridiculously expensive?



## JohnAspinall (Feb 10, 2020)

Screw pitch gauges are cheap - say $5 for a cheap one.  Exactly the same technology could be used to stamp out a gear pitch gauge.  Why do they cost ten times as much?


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## higgite (Feb 10, 2020)

Supply and demand?

Tom


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## MontanaLon (Feb 10, 2020)

Because they have no need to crank them out by the million.


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## Nogoingback (Feb 11, 2020)

If you can find a Boston Gear catalog on eBay, they have full scale drawings of gear profiles that can be compared with the
actual gear.  Perhaps not as nice as a gauge, but actually it works just fine.


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## BGHansen (Feb 11, 2020)

I've got a plastic gauge and the more durable steel leaves.  Below is a link to the "what I bought today" thread with a scanned photo of my plastic one.  You should be able to print the photo, glue it to chip board and trim to size.

Bruce









						What Did You Buy Today?
					

Yeah my hearing is not the best, as a young guy i've run too many loud exhausts and straight pipes so i really should do something if i want to hear at all when i become old.




					www.hobby-machinist.com


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## GL (Feb 11, 2020)

Boston Gear also has downloadable catalogs with tooth profiles.


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## Mister Ed (Feb 15, 2020)

Do you have access to a 3d printer? 
I added a gear generator app to Fusion 360, generate a rack of however many teeth and the pitch you want and print. May not be as durable as the metal ones ... but cost a couple cents per gauge. I'm dealing mostly with 5 & 6 Dp gears ... and that has worked fine. You may run into issues going to finer Dp gears ... I guess it would depend on printer and slicer accuracy.


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## Tim9 (Mar 2, 2020)

Yeah. New they are outrageously priced. But you can find them on eBay. Sometimes you’ll find one priced fairly. I bought an older hard cover gear catalog...think it was Martin Gears. It has all the profiles with full sized pics. Very very nice item in my opinion. 
   But then I ran across a metal Boston Gear metal gauge set. So win-win.


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## francist (Mar 2, 2020)

Don’t know if his prices will qualify as outrageous or not, but it’s one source for new.

-frank


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## NCjeeper (Mar 2, 2020)

You have to be patient when on E-bay. It took me awhile to find a Boston Gear set at a reasonable price. They do pop up though.


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## Moderatemixed (Mar 3, 2020)

Industry can’t get away with paper cutouts and 3d printed plastic. I’m an airline pilot, and years ago there was a DC9 whose windshield blew out because the maintenance team used screws that were literally a couple thousandths too small. But it resulted in the Captain being sucked out of the plane (fortunately he lived to tell the tale). I get that as hobbyists we are not in industry, and close tolerance isn’t that big a deal, but I like the idea of ”doing it as the pros”, and as such I have been patient and purchased Starrett from ebay. So while I agree with everyones position above, and I support doing things in a “cost effective” manner, I also maintain the ideal of doing the best that I can. When I look at the work I do, and can see that it is to tolerances greater than spec, I am proud, and the extra $60 doesn’t matter...... how much does proud cost? That is for each of us to answer; I’m also proud when I manage to save $60 by clipping coupons, lol. Cheers lads, no disrespect, just my 2 cents. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Mister Ed (Mar 5, 2020)

Moderatemixed said:


> Industry can’t get away with paper cutouts and 3d printed plastic. I’m an airline pilot, and years ago there was a DC9 whose windshield blew out because the maintenance team used screws that were literally a couple thousandths too small. But it resulted in the Captain being sucked out of the plane (fortunately he lived to tell the tale). I get that as hobbyists we are not in industry, and close tolerance isn’t that big a deal, but I like the idea of ”doing it as the pros”, and as such I have been patient and purchased Starrett from ebay. So while I agree with everyones position above, and I support doing things in a “cost effective” manner, I also maintain the ideal of doing the best that I can. When I look at the work I do, and can see that it is to tolerances greater than spec, I am proud, and the extra $60 doesn’t matter...... how much does proud cost? That is for each of us to answer; I’m also proud when I manage to save $60 by clipping coupons, lol. Cheers lads, no disrespect, just my 2 cents.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I'm not sure anyone is saying to use a paper cutout or 3d printed gauge to check tolerances (or steel ones for that matter), and one wouldn't use screw pitch gauge for that either. But if I have a worn buggered up gear in my hand and am trying to determine which gear cutter to use (or buy) they are very useful ... and plastic works for me. The gears I deal with most (not that I deal with them often) are from 4-8 dp and can be either 14 1/2 or 20 PA. So, for most gauge sets I have seen ... I would need 4 sets, 2-5 DP and 6-80 DP in both 14.5 and 20 PA. I'll keep printing them on my 3D printer.


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## Bi11Hudson (Mar 5, 2020)

Many long years ago, I was explaning to a co-worker how mass production worked. Since we both were in the electronics field, I related the story of ICs, specificly the 7400 TTL chip. When they first came out, they were expensive. Very expensive. Later, the price came down. Over the years, as more complex ICs came to be, they got so cheap they weren't worth the profit on the shelf space. You had to ask for one, in dozen lots~~

What it came down to is the manufacturing costs. The first 7400 costs $300 K to make. The second one costs 37 cents. The thousandth one cost 3 cents. And got cheaper from there.

Gear guages fall into that same catagory. Only they never got much beyond the first stage.

.


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