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Now that is very creative!!
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home built cutter, steel type?
- Thread starter LEEQ
- Start date
Now that is very creative!!
So did you ever recut that gear in steel and work out how it meshed in reverse? I'm curious as to how all that came out. I was hoping to avoid ironing out those difficulties by following a set of carefully lined out specs. The method calls for using a certain sized endmill brought in to a certain distance from the bit in the x and y on the mill. I suppose instead of an endmill I could turn something that fit in a collet on one end and fit the endmill diameter on the other. I would then rough grind the bit, put it in the fixture and apply abrasive paste to the hardened, turned tool in the spindle. That way I could use the hss I have for bits. I could avoid buying some mills and collets also. I've not done any lapping/cutting like this before, but I think it might work. Free drill bits still sound good for the cutter- cutter. Does anyone know how to determine the steel type of drill bits?
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No, too busy with other stuff but its still working fine. I've cut a left hand 8mm thread and used the saddle feed in reverse with no problems other than the slight difference in sound in reverse but you have to listen really well to hear it, the out of round 120/127 make far more noise.
Thanks, I learnt so much from that exercise its incalculable.
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There High speed steel same as a lathe bit but they are hardened different. Your making gear cutting far to critical there is a fair amount clearance in any gear and even if they are not perfect after they run a while they find there spot and break in just fine. Ray
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Firstly, I totally admit to being anal about things. I tend to do them my way, probably taking longer than necessary to do about everything I've ever done. I've only had one unsatisfied customer in 22 years. You can't please every one, but I've come pretty close. Every other customer has appreciated my attention to detail. I know my way is often slower, but I'm proud of my work. I like this hobby and am trying to learn deeper than just the field expedient method to get 'er done. Two of these gears will be steel meshing with plastic. I don't want them chewing because I was off a bit. Thank you all for your advice on methods. I steal tricks when I see a good one, and there are tons here. Secondly Thanks for the steel advice. That's really my main question here and any help I get is much appreciated. I'll search around a bit for methods of annealing and heat treating hss. I have not done much of that and am definitely interested. There are always future projects to apply these lessons to. Lastly, are pretty much all regular old twist drills hss?
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Good to hear that worked out for you! I'm a rank amateur and am encouraged by your success.
well, it appears annealing hss is probably out of my range. Pooey. Guess it won't be of annealed and treated hss. Perhaps just some O1. Got an odd piece of D2 layin' around. I wanted something in the way of square stock, though. I guess you have to pay for what you want sometimes.
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actually,gears made wrong won't wear in,they will wear out.
To make any hardened tooling you first must get a knowledge of tool steels and how to harden and draw them. There are any number of books on the subject.
I would caution you that even 01 is not a great choice for making gear teeth. There are many teeth on a gear of any size at all. You cannot stop cutting gear teeth part of the way through to remove the cutter and sharpen it. Even just sharpening it without removing it will cause the cutter to be a little shorter,and perhaps a little smaller,depending upon how you ground it.
Clock makers in the old days made brass gears with a single tooth cutter,but those clock gears were brass,and they were very narrow. Much easier on the cutting tool.
I would encourage you to at least try to learn how to grind a HSS lathe tool to an accurate profile. You can carefully grind them on the corner of a wheel,and finish them with a small grinding point and a Dremel type tool.
To make any hardened tooling you first must get a knowledge of tool steels and how to harden and draw them. There are any number of books on the subject.
I would caution you that even 01 is not a great choice for making gear teeth. There are many teeth on a gear of any size at all. You cannot stop cutting gear teeth part of the way through to remove the cutter and sharpen it. Even just sharpening it without removing it will cause the cutter to be a little shorter,and perhaps a little smaller,depending upon how you ground it.
Clock makers in the old days made brass gears with a single tooth cutter,but those clock gears were brass,and they were very narrow. Much easier on the cutting tool.
I would encourage you to at least try to learn how to grind a HSS lathe tool to an accurate profile. You can carefully grind them on the corner of a wheel,and finish them with a small grinding point and a Dremel type tool.
I was hoping to use a careful, precise set up to make a few double ended bits up to the same specs. By doing so I believe I can set up a job to make changing bits mid job possible. Is there a better steel for such a single point cutter that I can heat treat/temper at home? I know this works, a respected author gave me his method and spec's. Unfortunately being foreign he is not at all familiar with our steel labeling. This leaves me hunting an appropriate choice of steel. One more question for you. Do you think a hss cutter can do 50 teeth in mild or carbon steel? Thanks for the help/ pointers