I recently bought a Atlas Craftsman 618 lathe and it was missing the change gears. I'm looking at making gears and curious as to what the best material to use.
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Material to Make Gears
- Thread starter papermaker
- Start date
The gears on my Atlas/Craftsman are made of a type of pot metal. I also don't have the change gears, but i would imagine that they were made of the same material. works ok, but you definately don't want to overload the geartrain.
Thanks for the suggestions! Just waiting for my friend to return from Florida so I can get my new to me indexing head. Can't wait!
It is thought by many (including my machinist mentor) that many - most? - of the popular makers of lathes, SB. Logan, Sheldon, etc, used a metal similar to todays 12L14, which is an easily workable metal and can be readily substituted with most anything in the scrap box. Couple years ago I needed a complete set of change gears for a Emco Compact 10 - 10 gears - and used what was in my scrap box (and my mentors, that was a lot of scrounging!) 4 of them were assorted cast iron and the rest was "scrap yardominium". So if you, or your buddies, have a good selection in your scrap box, jump in and start making gears with what ever you can find.
Yes,Atlas lathes always had Zamak gears.
There are several types of Zamak, being a family of alloys primarily of Zinc and Aluminum. It is still in use today. It is the bane of antique collectors of a few items, because the old Zamaks often "rotted" due to impurities. Modern Zamak doesn't suffer that.
I'm not sure I'd want to use steel for gears there. I figure the Zamak was used partially for protection against things getting in a bind. I'd get some 7075-T6 or T651 Aluminum. If you're willing to risk damage elsewhere, or can use shear pins or keys in the right places, it doesn't matter as much what you make them out of. Whatever you have and can cut the profile on.
I'm not sure I'd want to use steel for gears there. I figure the Zamak was used partially for protection against things getting in a bind. I'd get some 7075-T6 or T651 Aluminum. If you're willing to risk damage elsewhere, or can use shear pins or keys in the right places, it doesn't matter as much what you make them out of. Whatever you have and can cut the profile on.
Wondering tho how gears made of different materials would stand up under load. Steel with steel or cast iron with cast iron etc are, I imagine, good to go.
But steel & cast iron, or brass & steel, or aluminum & brass/steel or plastic meshing with various metals? Never used a Maximat but I understand that the gear trains used a non-metal gear in the train to keep things quiet. Or...?
Are there rules: do use x with y but not z?
As required torque transmission increases are certain gear materials (in combination) no longer considered adequate?
What role does lubrication play?
But steel & cast iron, or brass & steel, or aluminum & brass/steel or plastic meshing with various metals? Never used a Maximat but I understand that the gear trains used a non-metal gear in the train to keep things quiet. Or...?
Are there rules: do use x with y but not z?
As required torque transmission increases are certain gear materials (in combination) no longer considered adequate?
What role does lubrication play?