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Tools, Glorious Tools! #10 (Part 3) - Shop Made Gear Cutters - Making Involute Cutters

🕑 Added 2020-06-14 19:59:48 +0000 UTC

Comments

Mark Hatchman

Hi Chris, been watching your videos for a long time ( brilliant ) and thought that it's time to have a go at the clock. I have a lot of questions but will try and work them out as I go. One question, is O1 tool steel the same as silver steel / drill rod?

Clickspring

Hello mate, terrific to have you on board! I'm not sure that I quite follow what you're describing, but generally, my observation is that the compromises and approximations inherent in the method I describe tend not to matter for the sort of work that most of us get up to in our home shops - Cheers :)

Rickwest Sampaio

hi chris I've subscribe to your patreon today and your content is really AWESOME. I have a question. The profile of the cutter changes slightl as in a cut approximately in 45 degree in relation to the original radius that the relieve has been cut. How to compensate that? i'm planning to make change gears to my lathe IN MY LATHE. Very labourious work by the way

Clickspring

Thank you Jacob, and terrific to hear about the new career :)

Jacob R

I don't watch your videos as often as I would like (I always forget about patreon) but every time I do come back I am always amazed by the work you do. Even with something simple and inconsequential as the lettering stamped on a shop tool you put the effort in to make it straight and even.I also have to say thank you because over the years of watching channels such as yours, AvE, This old Tony, and Abom79 I have been able to (while not actually doing it myself) pick up on how to run machines such as lathes and mills and novel ways to overcome problems. This has helped me because just a couple months ago I started a new career in the hydraulic hose repair industry and running a lathe is actually fairly common to do and I was able to walk up to the machine with confidence on my first day and run it without issue.

Clickspring

Its a great question - my personal observation is that the rounding of the tool tip is not necessary. I almost never do it, unless I need the rounded geometry imprinted in the part as a fillet for example. I do give the tip one or two strokes with an arkansas slipstone to remove the burr from the grinder, but that's it. Cheers :)

Benjamin Marn

This question isn't about the gear cutting tool, but more about your lathe tooling, so I guess it's tooling related. I've noticed a lot of your turning tools have a sharp point, do you radius them at all or do you leave them sharp? I know this sounds a bit like a silly question because every machining handbook suggests radiusing the tips of tooling but I am curious if the practice is different when it comes to timepieces/precision instruments.

Clickspring

Hello mate, I was so pleased to read your post, in particular the happy ending! Thank you so much for sharing it with me, and also very happy to hear that your young lad is taking an interest. Should you find yourself with some spare time on a Sunday evening, do come along to the regular Discord chat - we could do with the performance auto engineer POV! Cheers :)

Robert Petz

I’ve been watching you for years but wanted to share with you a bit of a story about your channel that probably is a bit out of the ordinary for you. About five years ago I went through a divorce - nothing rough about the divorce (no kids luckily), but I was pretty heartbroken that my wife had been cheating on me and that I was starting my life over. Then I had a minor accident on a dirt bike that resulted in a major surgery on my brain and massively took a toll on my everyday ability to handle difficult situations; which, in turn, resulted in a highly depressive state for several years until my brain started to recover. I apologize if that is sharing too much, but I assure you it is relevant. During my first month or two post surgery I was (obviously) at home recovering and discovered your channel at the recommendation of a friend. Watching your videos of these machining processes relaxed me into a state where I could genuinely be comfortable even when my mind was struggling. Being able to not only see the work getting completed, but learning HOW it is done and soaking up the knowledge is extremely rewarding for me. I’ve literally watched every single video, many multiple times, and to this day they still are an excellent coping mechanism when I am not okay. Since then I left my desk job as a software engineer and have pursued automotive performance fabrication (as I had always wanted) and have spent my own time experimenting with machining to hopefully expand into more complex parts to begin to manufacture in small batches. Not only have I seen your own skills expand massively and your capabilities exponentially skyrocket over the years, but your channel has had a massive impact on some viewers’ lives - even if it has just been in the form of providing high quality, relaxing, and educative content. I’m remarried now with a year and a half old son, and he is absolutely intrigued by tools and electronics and building stuff - and I am looking forward to many more years of enjoying your content while I take on more challenging tasks myself and share that knowledge with him. Thank you for being a very consistent creator, and I hope you continue to be able to do what you clearly love to do.

PJ

The MSDS for it say it is >=95% ethanol and <=5% demineralized water. No mention of methanol. https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.com/Product/19486148-7cd0-42aa-b6c8-ac1a0ed92149.pdf

Clickspring

So pleased you're enjoying them mate :)

Andrew Harkin

I will never cease to be amazed by your skill at not only machining, but in planning, order of operations, and in adding in multiple uses for the tooling you have to build. I can't imagine the pile of discarded mistakes and single function tools I would generate in trying to do something like this. I love watching these, as I always find myself learning as much or more about those aspects as the actual project you're making.

Clickspring

I feel exactly the same way!

Matt

Well this is just the way to remind myself that I have too much to learn and not enough time to learn it!

Clickspring

No not at all - this is just too easy - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Cheers mate :)

Matt Tester

After all these years of heat treating this way, have you ever considered building or buying an induction oven for ease and accuracy?

Trevor

Incredible work! Very much looking forward to your next videos :)

Clickspring

Ha ha! Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

Thank you mate!

Stubbs

If Chris ever uses his powers for evil, we're all screwed

Clickspring

Thank you mate! Yes in some circumstances it might be the way to go, although it does raise the issue of registering the cutter mid cut - not insurmountable, but worth keeping in mind. Yes this process will give you pinions, I will cut some typical steel clock pinions in the next episode - Cheers :)

Cold War Motors

An absolute delight to watch, as with all of your work and videos. Very much enjoyed, cheers!

Justus Dehegovit

Sounds great, can't wait!

Paul Busby

Another great video Chris. Really removes all of the cost and knowledge excuses of gear cutting. I was watching almost counting the many different ways I could ruin a rotary cutter while making it then you did the fly cutter which made it look so simple. Given the lack of complexity in making, I wondered if making 2 or more of the same fly cutters would still be faster than the rotary which would offset the higher wear during use. Would any of these approaches work for making pinion gears or would you still need HSS cutters for these?

Clickspring

Yes certainly mate, you can drop files into #personal-projects-discussion at any time - although if you want to hold off for about a week, I think I will have the beta version of the new platform ready for a few test drivers soon, and this sounds like a perfect fit. I'm designing it for exactly this sort of project sharing and collaboration - Cheers :)

Justus Dehegovit

Glad to hear from you, Chris. I would love to share the plans and scematics with fellow patreons, is there a room on the discord server that would be siutable for that? (I am sadly unable to be live for tick-talks, as they start at midnight in my timezone.)

Clickspring

Thank you mate :) That sounds like a terrific project! Assuming you scale the tools appropriately, you can make and use the cutters to as large a module as you require. From the horological cutter standpoint, the tool drawings as published are intended for cutters of M0.2 up to around M1.0. I would guess that scaling up by approx 1.5 would be a good place to start to cover your upper limit of M2.5, but you will need to check for limitations to be sure. Use the calculator to see where the issues arise (eg optimum cutter blank thickness, button diameter etc) and then go from there - Very happy to answer any questions that arise - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Hello mate - if you were going to broach, then the appropriate profile in fly cutter form would do the trick. Alternatively, the method with which I'm familiar to sort out the ring gear issue is to run the cutter in standard rotary mode, on an extended spindle that has the ability to reach inside the diameter of the ring. Happy to elaborate if required - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Thank you mate :)

Clickspring

Terrific to hear that Chris :)

Clickspring

Thanks - duplicates removed

Clickspring

Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

Terrific mate :)

Jason Doege

Hi Chris, if we wanted to cut (broach) a ring gear for a planetary gear set, would we use the rack profile for a broaching tool or something else?

Justus Dehegovit

Excellent videos as always, Chris. I was super nervous when you were forming the cutter profile since it looked like the buttons were about to collide with the arbour. Which brings me to the question: How big can you make those cutters? I happen to have plans for the gearing of an astronomical clock (something I wanted to own for a long time) and some of the gears are quite big (module >1, with the biggest being 2,5)

Brendan Gill

Just perfect as always chris!

Chris Downunder

I am learning so much from these videos! It's completely fascinating. I have some of the reference books you mentioned, but your demonstrations really bring the concepts to life and make them easy to understand. Thank you.

Harri Haataja

BTW the links in the post have a few duplicates like the scroll saw.

Harri Haataja

Another glorious video, though I'll probably stick with premade cutters now that I can find them. I feel the background music is annoying at times. Not as bad as many channels, but still.

Harri Haataja

People who sharpen tools tend to have scratched nails and no hair on one hand :)

MrTridac

Your video description is a treasure trove.

David Few

Thanks Chris, demystifying another black art. Your videos are always so enlightening, makes you want to go out to the shop and give It a burl.

Markos Skoulatos

Thanks Chris!

Clickspring

Thank you mate, so pleased you're enjoying them :)

Clickspring

Yes its a visual check - and yes direct indicating a pre-existing hole is a necessary method to have in the kit bag too (although not what was required in todays video working off a punch point). As to which to use, it comes down to the characterisitics of the job and personal preference - no single method quite covers all situations, or levels of personal convenience. You'll see holes dial indicated, points detected by wiggler, edges found with edge finders, and then a mixture of all of the above and much more. There are almost too many methods to count, and each will appeal depending on the situation. Keep 'em all in your kit bag, and deploy as required - Cheers :)

Markos Skoulatos

Thanks mate! Very well explained-just to make sure: the very last bit is that you check by eye (or a magnifying glass) that the point of the tip matches the point on the workpiece, right? So the alignment in the end is done by eye? If yes, what about this method with a dial indicator? https://youtu.be/VY2crpjhL3E?t=274 Is that better for locating a bore or an extruding cylindrical feature? cheers!

Clickspring

Hello mate - yes you certainly could, and you'll have noticed that I often do this when its not critical. However a chucked point unavoidably exhibits the eccentricity of the chuck, as well as any runout of the extended point itself, and so is not guaranteed to be truly centered on the mill spindle. Often this is not a big deal, since the eccentricity of a decent chuck is often quite small, and we can choose to keep the bit short. However the beauty of The Wiggler is that its capacity to be moved at the elbow join permits the very tip to be knocked perfectly onto the spindle center, thus negating any and all eccentricity of the chuck/bit combination. It takes the uncertainty out of the process, and gives exactly what is needed in the specific case where you want to accurately align the spindle with a given point on a workpiece - Cheers :)

Markos Skoulatos

Thanks Chris, however I don't get it: What if I put in a straight, rigid shaft with a very pointy edge on the other side, like a pin? What is the difference to find the center like this?

Max Goldstein

"denatured" means they put methanol in it, so you can't (shouldn't) drink it and it can be sold without the taxes and restrictions that apply to alcoholic beverages.

Charles Rioux

In Canada we have Solvable Methyl Hydrate, Same as methylated spirits.

Spoons

I know it's only a little detail, but I really liked the little 90° indication again the part and the fly cutter for the rack. It was a nice little touch and really makes it simple to see and makes your videos pop. I love it. Thanks for making cool stuff!

Clickspring

Cheers mate!

Clickspring

Nothing at this point mate, but I will let you know here as soon as I have something to share - Cheers :)

Clickspring

+1 on what Jeff said - I use this one: (Amazon affiliate link) - https://amzn.to/3hoAsK1 and this video is a good instructional from the Little Machine Shop on how to use one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhtBdar4iVg - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Terrific to hear that mate :)

Clickspring

I use this stuff: https://www.bunnings.com.au/diggers-methylated-spirits-1l_p1560782 I've always assumed it to be a denatured alcohol, but the term might mean slightly different things in other parts of the world - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Thank you mate - standard YT programming will resume once the paper is out - Cheers :)

Chris Schmedding

Hi Chris, fantastic, I didn’t catch what type of alcohol you mixed with the boric acid.

Kevin Reardon

I keep forgetting you put your primary content on Patreon. Good show. I have missed your content during this shut-in period.

Clickspring

Awesome Iain, so pleased to hear that :)

Iain Deas

Timing of this couldn’t be better!! I think I’ll be trying my hand at this on a count down f needing a one off gear 👍🏻

Matthew Dormer

OMG, Yet another great video with production of beautiful tools!

Eric Webster

I feel sorry thumb nail.

Jeff Armstrong

It's a 'wiggler' type edge finder being used as a centre finder. The flick is to get it running true so you can get the drill accurately into the centre punch mark.

Jeff Armstrong

We'll talk about that in the Discord forum - in about 40 minutes

John Gentzel

Beautiful work, it always makes my day when I get the email that there is a new video.

Markos Skoulatos

Hey Chris, very nice video, thanks as we anticipate more and more of these, LET THIS SERIES NEVER END! I have a question on the tool at the beginning, the one that finds the center of a hole(?). You first flick it with your finger, why? And then how does it work? Can you point us to some video describing this, and where to buy?