Show and Tell

[Monafly]

They aren't just for artsy stuff.

See http://www.magnadrive.com/md_couplings/

These are industria l strength magnetic couplers that allow misalignm ent, soft start and vibration isolation . Their demos usually have a strong brick shaped magnet and a large copper or Al plate and one of the booth folks spinning the brick above the plate and watching it slowly spin down and softly land on the plate. Eddy currents prevent it from crashing into the plate.

[ArtF]

Very cool..

Art

[rlovel]

A little off topic, (for now), This is a worm gear I made this weekend.
2 start, cut with a 25 deg. "V" bit on the 4th axis.
It would seem to me that I could adopt the helical gear making routine
to make one in the correct profile with a standard EM. Any ideas?

(Art, I read your other post and know you will not be working on this yet, I just want to play around with it!)

Richard

[ArtF]

Hi Richard:

  Nice work!. Did you say thats a 2 start? Looks like a single thread.. or am I misunders tanding?
Did you make the pinions for it as well? Im curious as to the method you used on those as well if you
did..

Art

[rlovel]

Yes it's 2 start, I will post the code tomorrow if you want, very simple. it's 40 tooth so 9 deg. per index, 11 deg. lead angle. x and z perform an arc(radius of worm) as a axis moves.
It is cutting air half the time, but that's ok by me. I found a web site that will cut these using a 4 axis machine and a small end mill. I will send the link as soon as I find the computer
I was using.
Both the other worm gears in the picture were taken off the same gearbox, I did not make the worm but that would be easy (standard lathe stuff) as it is strait sided at 25 deg.
This is the second one I have made, the first is being heat treated now. It goes on a roll feed for a window frame machine (GED Intercept for those that would know).
The last time I ordered these they cost my company over $550 with 2 month lead time, so I was very pleased to be able to make them.

I have been ordered off the computer (for dinner) so I will send the link and other stuff tomorrow.

Richard

[ArtF]

Richard:

  Bravo! Thats the kind of thing I love to see, a $500 gear replaced by smart thinking and gear tinkering .
Im thinking in years to come this will become the norm of the guy in demand. Mechanica l contrapti ons
keep getting more expensive to fix in a throw away economy, and its people like yourself that will be worth
their weight in gold. Of course, even if one was not to consider the economics of it, just the ability to
properly tinker with such things makes it all worth while. I dont know about you, but what I get when I
can make something like that work must be similar to what a runner gets after a few miles on the road..
at least thats what I hope it is..cuz Im unlikley to ever start running.. :-)

Art
 

[Ken_Shea]

                                   
Beautiful work Richard, impressiv e that you are able to make them and the savings is icing on the cake.

[rlovel]

Thanks for the complimen ts they are appreciat ed.

Here's the code, like I said it's simple.
I am cutting a 180 deg arc so the lead distance is 1/2 ( the distance between two threads) for a single start,1 for 2 start 1 1/2 for three start etc.
To get my lead angle I just used a Cad program.
This technique will only work when the width of the worm gear is narrow compared to the worm, for a thicker gear you would need a 5 axis.
the web site showing it done with a strait EM is " www.wormg earmillin g.com". watch the videos, the "simulatio n" looks like 5 axis work but it's not.
the people that made my gear box is "Hub City". They have soom good info on there site also 

[BobL]

Richard;

 Keep up the good work and thanks for educating all of us.

Cheers
Bob

 

[Mooselake]

Here's my first 3D print of a GM gear with my recently assembled Printrbot+ - possibly the first PB GM print.  I picked a knuckle gear just because I wanted to make one, and used Netfabb Basic to repair the stl so it would print.  The missing shaft hole is a known issue, and it's quite likely my bot still needs some more tweaking.

Kirk

[ArtF]

Kirk:

 Cool!. Be interesti nbg to see if it meshes with another.
The next version release fixes the shaft hole in the stl.
 3d printing really is going to change the nature of 3d
machining I suspect.

Art

[BobL]

Kirk;

 Looks good, thanks for sharing.

Cheers
Bob

[Ken_Shea]

"I picked a knuckle gear just because I wanted to make one"

LOL, could not think of a better reason.

Looks to be quite smooth, the affordabl e 3D printers have sure come a long way in a short period, will be exciting to watch as they advance.

Ken

[Mooselake]

It's a bit rougher than it looks but not really any worse than the printed timing gears with my kit; they were rough and slightly out of round.  When they get shaft holes I'll print a matched set and try.

Why would you buy a 3D printer if it wasn't to print GM gears?

Kirk