it Occured to me that I can use the "self indexing gear repair plate" I made to make a whole new gear from a blank of aluminum !
cut to the same diameter as My bad idler gear and with the same I.D. Hole in the middle all I would have to do is hand file one tooth !( or clamp it in the mill and just cut one tooth anywhere !)
then I could put it in the gear repair plate thingy with that v in the position of the pin.... clamp it in the milling vice and cut the first tooth
then take it out of the vice pull the gear off and rotate it 180 deg to the new tooth hole as long as it is not dead center of the hand cut tooth but sitting above or below it by the right amount... I could then cut another tooth , take it out and do that all over again each time progressing around the gear till all the teeth are cut.... will that work ? I have no idea i think your positioning of the cutter above or below the hand cut tooth is going to be the most critical move of all of this.... ( sense the v grooves on this gear are not straight across from one another if you scribe a line from center of tooth to the opposite tooth it is not centered in the hole,) so for the first few teeth precise scribe lines for lining up the fly cutter is a must !
but once the 2nd tooth groove is cut then it is just a matter of flipping the gear around on each tooth cut ....
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alignment of the first cut with the fly cutter will be the make or brake of the idea.... it will have to be exactly one tooth up from the line horizontal from the pin ... and that is where you would cut....
but I can just use my old gear to set that position..... so the fly cutter is cutting a new tooth on the blank,...take the old gear out and put in the new one
and cut the tooth.... take it out and flip the gear blank around line up that pin in the pin of the gear repair plate and then cut another tooth
pull it out again and flip it around again and put that tooth ( or v slot) in the spot for the pin to align the gear for the next cut and on and on till you work your way around the gear blank and if you did it right the last cut will be right on the money, if not you'll have a thin tooth and have to start all over again !
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any thoughts on that idea guys ? it's a much easier build than a full blown indexing device to cut your gears with .....i think you could just alternate back and forth from side to side and keep putting the freshly cut v groove with the pin to align it with and your ready to go again....
and just work your way around the gear till all the teeth are cut !
....but you do have to make one v cut without the gear repair plate thingie .... and once the mill is locked into position that shouldn't change
so the next tooth (you aligned the cutter for height using the old gear) is much the same proccess as repairing a braised gear except that you only have a few teeth on the gear at present , so you flip the gear over and use the one you just cut....
you should be able to walk your way around the gear and cut all the teeth and still index it by itself !
LOL.....
I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why it won't work..... but I fail to find a reason.... in theory it should make a new gear !
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humm I have some 1/4" plate aluminum.... 2 of those would make 1/2" which is the gears thickness.... I could rivet 2 plates together
and give it a go and see if I can make a aluminum gear to replace my idler gear ! (although the rivets would have to be counter sunk so they do not interfere with the mill vice !)
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I just might give that a go and see if it works ! .... it could save me $21.00+tax .... on brazing rod !
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thoughts ???
Bob.........
