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> ...or one of the "official" ways to make a gear is to cut it with a custom single tooth cutter ... I don't know who could do that as a service though. Any lo

> ...or one of the "official" ways to make a gear is to cut it with a custom single tooth cutter ... I don't know who could do that as a service though. Any local machine shop? I remember watching a video a while ago where they were talking about how it's better/cheaper/easier to buy a part out of a catalog than custom machine whatever you are needing because chances are really, really high you don't actually need a custom part. IIRC they were talking about bearings but I'd imagine gears would be the same.

maicro 3y ago
Ah, caught one of my unspoken assumptions when talking about suppliers - I try to avoid operations that are very custom / very different from their normal operations. In this case, yes, any local machine shop could theoretically get or make the gear cutters, get a piece of the stock the correct diameter (/turn down from larger), mount it in a mill with the stock in a rotary fixture of some sort, then cut the teeth. Again, Clickspring has a bunch of videos on the process, including different ways to make the cutter. All that being said, you'd have to be on very good terms with your local machine shop folks, or be willing to pay for all of that new tooling and setup stuff, to get any random shop to make the part. Going with someone like SDPSI might be better for this specific part, as it's in the realm of what they do. Could also look at starting with "timing pulley stock" - it's basically the part that was shown elsewhere, but without the internal keyway cut. https://www.torontogear.com/bar-stock/ https://www.torontogear.com/bar-stock/ - starting with _that_ - yes, any local machine shop should be able to cut it to length, mount it in a mill and mill out the slot (with a small enough endmill). One more recommendation here, based on what Uncle said about buying stock - and this is a part of design for manufacture in general - is to design around standard parts. Look at SDPSI/Toronto Gear for common gear specs (IIRC "module" is the main property defining a gear and how they will mesh with other gears - so stick with one module size), pick one and change your design to use those off the shelf parts.

maicro 3y ago

Ah, caught one of my unspoken assumptions when talking about suppliers - I try to avoid operations that are very custom / very different from their normal operations. In this case, yes, any local machine shop could theoretically get or make the gear cutters, get a piece of the stock the correct diameter (/turn down from larger), mount it in a mill with the stock in a rotary fixture of some sort, then cut the teeth. Again, Clickspring has a bunch of videos on the process, including different ways to make the cutter. All that being said, you'd have to be on very good terms with your local machine shop folks, or be willing to pay for all of that new tooling and setup stuff, to get any random shop to make the part. Going with someone like SDPSI might be better for this specific part, as it's in the realm of what they do. Could also look at starting with "timing pulley stock" - it's basically the part that was shown elsewhere, but without the internal keyway cut. https://www.torontogear.com/bar-stock/ https://www.torontogear.com/bar-stock/ - starting with _that_ - yes, any local machine shop should be able to cut it to length, mount it in a mill and mill out the slot (with a small enough endmill). One more recommendation here, based on what Uncle said about buying stock - and this is a part of design for manufacture in general - is to design around standard parts. Look at SDPSI/Toronto Gear for common gear specs (IIRC "module" is the main property defining a gear and how they will mesh with other gears - so stick with one module size), pick one and change your design to use those off the shelf parts.