Where do gears come from?

Oh, right here. I thought I’d share my latest efforts with the small Maho unit.


I am making up additional change gears for the spiral milling unit I picked up. The unit came to me with only 6 of the 32 change gears that make up the complete set (still attached from the last job). Fortunately three of the change gear mounting pegs remained with the attachment (the peg is made up of about 6 small pieces that would be a chore to re-create without a sample). Hopefully 3 pegs is sufficient, or even as originally supplied.

Anyway, I have a small task which requires the spiral unit – needless to say, I’ve never used this attachment (it may not have been used for several years). Most of my projects seem to involve much more setting up for the task, than actually performing the task.

So, back to making change gears. Since this is my first go at ever making gears, my initial undertaking was for all gear wheels up to 4” diameter. This will cover the requirements of the task (and aligns with the bar stock I had on hand). That represents 17 gear wheels. My though is that I’ll stand a better chance of at least getting this batch done, instead of trying to make all of them and “running out of gas” -- & not have much of anything actually finished (I’m pretty good at starting things, not so good at finishing them). The remaining 9 wheels? Well, I hope to get to them later. Certainly I considered purchasing gear blanks, the cost adds up, and that only addresses the tooth form – there is still the bore and width details. Figured I’d just “belly up” and get to it. Really, it has not been very difficult, just a lot of details (shafts, sleeves, washers, adapters, ...) to address before ever getting to the point of generating any teeth.

If any of the other Maho users have, or know of anyone with a spiral unit, please let me know. I’d very much like to correspond with them.


Regards, David

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