Craftsman/Atlas Traverse Gear Assembly

[Moodyj2000]

Well I am in the middle of renovating my 101.07403 and noticed that one of three attachment points of my travers gear assembly 10F-11 is broken. Replacement on ebay is crazy and Clausing has them for $87 but this to me looks like a weak link. I am pondering machining my own out of either steel or aluminum. Anybody have any input if aluminum 6061 would be strong enough? Also, I am going to mock up one in Delrin just to see if it works. I don't really see any clearance issues so I was thinking about making it as beefy as I can. The original design just seems like they were trying to make it light and cheep.

 

[AR1911]

Well I am in the middle of renovating my 101.07403 and noticed that one of three attachment points of my travers gear assembly 10F-11 is broken. Replacement on ebay is crazy and Clausing has them for $87 but this to me looks like a weak link. I am pondering machining my own out of either steel or aluminum. Anybody have any input if aluminum 6061 would be strong enough? Also, I am going to mock up one in Delrin just to see if it works. I don't really see any clearance issues so I was thinking about making it as beefy as I can. The original design just seems like they were trying to make it light and cheep.

I don't disagree but the Zamak originals lasted for decades before abuse broke them.
Most replacements I have seen were milled from aluminum, which is already an upgrade. That's probably what I'd use.
I have also seen a couple built up from flat plate steel or aluminum and welded together.

 

[pdentrem]

As AR1911 states most tend to use alum as it is easy to machine and much stronger than the original.