What is this and how do I take it apart?

[bhowden]

I came across an old wringer washing machine out in the bush.  The motor was long gone and the top was rusted off but the pulley still turned a bit so I dragged it home in the hopes that it had a worm gear suitable for either an index plate or as a drive for a half finished sand muller.  The cover on the transmission had just rusted through but it was full of something that was probably once oil and the gears looked fine.  This picture is of the end of the transmission with the worm drive.  Under the gear you can see is a smaller gear that drives the shaft up to the wringer.



This picture is a side view of the gear once it has been removed from the transmission.  The gear is upside down from the previous picture.  My first question is what are the three pieces of sheet metal between the two gears?  The round one is just like a spacer and is tight to the shaft but the two square ones rotate with respect to each other and have a lot of slop between the sheet and the shaft between the gears.  The hole in the sheet feels like is is about 3/8" larger than the shaft.  You can also see the sheet metal in the first picture.  It is not attached to anything but does ride against the case of the transmission which stops it from turning.  There is no thrust surface.



This is another picture taken from a different angle



There are tabs on the square sheet metal pieces which you can see in the bottom right of the first picture.  That would indicate that they are rotated with respect to each other for some sort of adjustment but the way they sit in the case would not allow any rotation.  Possibly some sort of magic alignment to pull it apart?  Turning them with respect to each other does not uncover any sort of hole or access that I can see.

The second question is how do I get the two gears apart.  I want to remove the pin that holds the connecting rod for the agitator part of the works as I don't need it.  The small gear looks like it is pressed onto the shaft or possibly threaded.  The shaft looks like it is part of the larger gear with no visible line or split.  I tried heating and pulling on the small gear but it won't budge.  Some oil boiled out of the gap indicating that it really is two pieces.  I tried rotating the gear on the shaft in case it was threaded but it won't budge.

Unfortunately the next picture is blurry but you can see what looks like two slots in the shaft holding the small gear.  I wasn't sure if it was some sort of stake or if a special wrench went into the slots to turn it.  I tried unstaking it to no effect.  I tried driving it with a brass punch to see if it would turn but no luck.  I filed a piece of metal to fit it like a wrench but I can't figure out what to turn it against.  Logic would imply the small gear but that would be the same as rotating it against the large gear which did nothing.



Any ideas and thanks in advance?

Brian

[naffsharpe (Nathan)]

Hi Brian, that looks like a useful find. My guess is that the two slots are stakes and that you need to be a bit more forceful!! Can you mount it in the lathe/mill and drill or bore out the shaft for 1/4"(6mm)? That should expose any stake slots or thread. The sheet steel obviously was fitted before both gears were mated. Even if you had to saw through the shaft you could still extend it with a sleeved "top hat" to regain it,s length.

    Nathan.

[ieezitin]

Hello my friend and welcome to our club.

First thing this as you say this  was a washing machine so they would more than likely would not have paid attention to threaded fits its mass produced. I can tell that by the linkage arm that’s connected to the bull gear its square and pressed fit, more than likely the shafts are knurled and pressed on, does not mean to say with some imaginative machining you could not make these work but that’s just it its work.
Its not in my opinion worth considering for a worm drive for a index table or RT for the lack of tolerance, you would pay havoc in backlash, plus what is the ratio?,   again a lot of work would be needed to make it work, the cost today of RT tables or indexing heads are low so why bother. But that’s your choice.

If you have an arbor press have at it, break it all down and keep all the gears together in a box and one day a project will appear where these would be most suited.

Box it and ten years from now trash it that’s my motto.

Anthony.

[bhowden]

It was a wringer washing machine so probably 60 years old.   Good point about the backlash making it more appropriate for the sand muller.  So far all of the gears have been held on with circlips.  The pin at the other end of the connecting rod looks the same as this one but the back has a circlip so I am assuming that the back of this pin will be the same.  Unfortunately the tin plates are covering that up.  All in all it feels very well made so maybe there is some truth to the adage "they don't build things the way they used to".  I have a 12 ton press but the shaft is part of the big gear and the two gears are close enough together I won't be able to get anything under the small gear.  I am still wondering what the sheet metal plates are for.  There is clearly a reason for them but it is not obvious.

Brian

[bhowden]

Well, I got it apart.  Turns out the small gear is threaded and just screws onto the shaft.  The notches appear to be for some sort of wrench but the metal is soft enough it just mushed instead of holding the shaft.  A strap wrench got it off.  The top of the shaft looks like this:



The complete set of parts looks like this:


The stack of sheet metal appears to be a friction brake.  It was a sandwich of square piece, round piece attached to the shaft, square piece, round piece attached to the shaft, and square piece.  The case stopped the square pieces from turning.  I assume it was to stop the washer from coasting too far when it was turned off but it seems like a pretty hokey way of doing it.  The worm is about a 17 to 1 reduction so just about perfect for a sand muller.  1740 rpm divided by 17 and driven by a 2 to 1 pulley will be around 50 rpm.

Brian