Cutting gear blanks woodworker style?

[dewbane]

So you are buying a CNC plasma table?

I'm buying a whole CNC machining center, a Learjet, and a castle. Just as soon as I win the lottery.

 

[Tozguy]

I'm buying a whole CNC machining center, a Learjet, and a castle. Just as soon as I win the lottery.

Don't forget we are your friends.

 

[Lo-Fi]

You'll find an RT useful for all sorts on a clock build, I'm sure.

A scroll saw is often overlooked in the home workshop, I think, if a little slow. Great for cutting odd shapes too.

 

[Ken from ontario]

I use that circle cutter (trepanning tool) regularly to cut copper (Brass but not as often) from sheets, as Eddyde pointed out it can be quite dangerous if the sheet is not properly secured , I use double sided tape on the back of a small sheet of copper and then press it on a 1/4" piece of plywood, this way I can clamp the whole thing to the drill press table.

I do set the drill press on the lowest setting and use cutting oil during the cut, no pilot hole is necessary if the workpiece is clamped right. let the small pressure do the cutting, I cut with many stops in between to let the copper and the sticky tape on the back to cool down, then add a couple of more drops of oil and start cutting again, it will cut a perfect circle but the accuracy is not the important in my case but in general it is harder to achieve.

 

[Dabbler]

I'm abandsaw, sand to near round, glue to a mandrel, and turn kind of guy. It sounds involved, but it is fast, safe, and controlled.

 

[Flyinfool]

I have always had good luck with an oversize hole saw to get a round blank. If the finished part will have a hole in the middle I predrill the hole and then use a pin in the hole saw. I have also used the hole saw with no mandrel as long as it is in a machine to hold it still. I have a manderal with a 1/4 center screw for mounding on the lathe to turn to final dia. This is the fastest method I have found. If it was going to be a gear I would finish the dia on the mill in the same setup that was going to cut the teeth.

 

[dewbane]

A scroll saw is often overlooked in the home workshop, I think, if a little slow. Great for cutting odd shapes too.

I do own a scroll saw, but I want to avoid using it as much as possible. I think the main problem is the motor is just so anemic that the only way to cut is to move at a snail's pace. I have a tendency to force things, even when I'm trying not to force things, and that's why I break so many blades. My horizontal bandsaw used in table mode has extremely serious limitations, but I've almost always managed to get the job done using that thing over the scroll saw, and that's my go-to. It won't work for crossing out wheels though, and I'm going to have to make some kind o peace with the little saw I never loved. Maybe we need couples therapy.

 

[dewbane]

You'll find an RT useful for all sorts on a clock build, I'm sure.

After I decided to skip a rotary table, it dawned on me that the plan I intend to follow calls for lantern pinions. I spent some time pondering different ways to tackle that problem, and the two most promising approaches I come up with are a rotary table or drilling a calculated bolt circle. I could probably use the hand wheels to do a good enough bolt circle for something like a dually wheel spacer, but not something this precise.

So I either need to add DRO or I need a rotary table that can index the numbers I need. Well, I already decided not to go cheap on the DRO, which is why I don't have DRO yet. I'm going to do it right, and have a really nice setup one of these days, but I don't think that day is today. Nope, I think it's time to start doing that homework on rotary tables.

Oh, and on the topic of cutting out wheel blanks, I'll have to compare costs, but it turns out Time Savers actually sells wheel blanks at prices that look reasonable. It's not like I'd be proving a lot to the world by cutting out a bunch of circles, so I'm going to compare the cost. I'll probably cut them out myself, but it's nice having the option. Today is rainy and bleak, and it's a good day for shopping from my chair instead of shivering in my shop.

 

[Lo-Fi]

The hole saw idea is good too, I've done a fair few holes that way in the mill then finished with a boring head. The rigidity of the mill is definitely welcome with large hole saws. You could easily cut a blank and turn finish, it would be quite a quick workflow. The rotary table is an excellent investment, though.

 

[dewbane]

The rotary table is an excellent investment, though.

I spent just a stupid amount of time scratching my beard and clicking through catalogs and forum posts. I am way less concerned about the tedium of cutting the circles now that I have really looked at the lantern pinions.

I'm starting to realize how many problems I'm going to have, due to everything I own just being too big. Toward that end, smaller is better here. Even if it's more limiting for other things, I need to go with a 4" table, and I do need a table. Now it's a question of the one with plates or the one with DRO, and what to do for a chuck, or some other work-holding setup.

This has been the least productive day of my life, but I am pretty chillaxed right now, so I guess that's a good thing on a vacation day. I might even have a scotch or three, since I'm not spinning any machinery today at this rate.