Gallery, Projects and General > The Design Shop
Bevel Gear Mill
vtsteam:
Thanks Joules, that's a great video. I do have several books on gear cutting, and also Machinery's Handbook, but good to see a bevel gear cut on video. :thumbup:
I do have a horizontal mill, and could probably follow suit, but again this project would be a simplified standalone cutter. For my purposes of small Westinghouse type engines 2" gear diameter is actually excessive, and I think I'll modify that one capacity spec to 1" dia. max. That will make it easier. :coffee:
Andrew, I'm not down on 3D printers or what people use them for, just not interested, personally. Mini hand operated gear shaper is possible, and a good call, with some definite appeal, but I had started thinking about a mill style with a small gear motor. I'm not sure what the power requirements are, or prices and availability. Could be prohibitive. :coffee:
But anyway, as a start I'm rough guessing 400 RPM working speed for say a 1" dia cutter would handle mild steel or cast iron gears, or softer. There are a bunch of new 12-24VDC gear motors in the $20 range on Ebay, roughly 7 to 8 watts. I don't know if such low power could cut, and then there's the question of bearings. probably can't just put a cutter on the geared output shaft. So we'd need a supported spindle. :loco:
vtsteam:
Also part of the spec is I'd just be cutting 1:1 ratio gears for the engines. This probably means some of the machine setup angles can be built in rather than needing to be adjustable.
awemawson:
If the material being cut is brass or cast iron I expect that the power requirements are minimal.
The shaper has the advantage of much simpler tooling. I've only once cut a bevel gear 'for real' rather than playing about - (it was the table feed for a Richmond universal mill) - the thing I got tangled up with was the offsetting of the cut to create the varied clearance at different diameters - (I was using a standard involute cutter and a table of offsets).
It worked OK but I'd not like to make a regular habit of making bevel gears that way :bugeye:
vtsteam:
It might make sense to think carefully about the most LIKELY gear diameter and tooth number I'd need, and really focus on just doing that one job. That would allow a single indexing row of holes, a single cutter, some stops to do the change of angle and the set-over for doing the second and third cuts.
Or, maybe have separate modules for individual gear sizes that are comprised of a cutter and a set of stops that could interchange into the basic machine. I think being able to make 4 different standard bevel gears would fit my needs for a LOT of different size engines. I really don't need to make an infinite variety of bevel gears.
Really, starting with just one size would be fine.
vtsteam:
Yes Andrew, your shaper idea is wearing away at my mill determinations. I may give in, after thinking rotary for a bit more.
But wouldn't we still have to offset and rotate for 3 cuts?
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