Since i put that post up, i have put together a set-up for milling involute spur gears, and made several gears out of baltic birch ply, and will make some out of aluminum in the very near future. here is the process i went through- hope this helps:
1. bought "Gears and Gear Cutting" by Ivan Law. fantastic book, that outlines gear making for the small shop/hobbyist. It gives many different methods including gear making on the lathe, miter gears, and worm gears. good place to start- it will give a general idea of what you are in for.
2. found a used Harbor Freight Vertical Mill/Drill for $400 on craigslist. it was in great shape and came with a bench, set of mills, vice, collets and a bunch of other goodies (worth $400 without the mill). I have seen these type mills for this price frequently in my area (Boston). I just couldn't justify shelling out $1500+ for an X3 and tooling if i didn't have to. The HF mill isn't the greatest piece of machinery in the world, but with some patience it does what i need it to.
3. Got a dividing head. Grizzly and Enco both sell a small one for around $300. Got to have this for making gears. its a great milling fixture.
4. For cutters, I elected to make my own since money is tight. I found a website on drafting involute spur gears in CAD (requires a bunch of math). I draw all my gears, and use a printout as a template to grind a 1/4" HSS lathe tool bit to the tooth profile. I made a flycutter that holds the tool at 90 degrees. this is not identical, but similar to one of the processes in the Ivan Law book. THe cheapest gear cutters i found were $30 ea. I wanted the freedom to be able to make whatever size or pitch i wanted, which in the long run would cost a fortune.
Its a very involved process, but well worth it when you see two gears meshing perfectly!
oh yeah- you will need to have access to a lathe to turn blanks to precise diameters.
hope that helps, and that i didn't tell you a bunch of stuff you already knew  |