Nylon Gears for my Metal Lathe

[rherrell]

I wanted to quiet down my lathe a little so I searched for some nylon gears that would fit. No luck, my gears are a Module 1.25mm and nobody had any.
So, I decided to make my own and after waiting 3 weeks for the cutter to arrive I got to work.

First thing to do was to make two mandrels, one to hold the nylon and the other for the gear cutter...

Next step was turning the nylon to size...

Stringy stuff!!!

Next step, cutting the gear teeth...

Next I parted the blank into four pieces...

Then I modified one of my expanding mandrels so I could clean up the outside of all four gears..

Now it was time to broach the keyway slot, I used my mill as a press and since this was nylon it worked well. Not something I would do on a steel gear...

Here are the four nylon gears along with the steel ones they replaced. I'm keeping two for spares...

And finally, here they are installed on my lathe...

The big main gear remains steel.

I'm REALLY happy with the outcome, it made a SIGNIFICANT difference in the loudness of my lathe!!!

Thanks for looking!

 

[duncsuss]

Most excellent!

I read there's another potential benefit of having a nylon gear - not that you'd let this happen, but if the carriage does bottom out against the headstock it will strip the nylon teeth before anything else gets damaged, a kind of mechanical circuit breaker.

 

[Woodchipper]

Nylon will dry out and get brittle over time. I have a fishing reel that has nylon gears. After a while, the teeth stripped off. Fortunately, I found a shop that had the gears in stock. I put in the new gears and put the reel on the shelf. Not confident that I can find them again as the reel is over 45 years old. Fishing reels have a habit of becoming obsolete and parts become nonexistent.

 

[egnald]

Hi Rick - that is pretty cool. I think it is hard for most people to understand the self gratification that comes from doing a project like that. Congratulations - Dave

 

[Curly]

You might be the first person I have run across that wanted plastic gears and not steel. Well done.

 

[rherrell]

Nylon will dry out and get brittle over time. I have a fishing reel that has nylon gears. After a while, the teeth stripped off. Fortunately, I found a shop that had the gears in stock. I put in the new gears and put the reel on the shelf. Not confident that I can find them again as the reel is over 45 years old. Fishing reels have a habit of becoming obsolete and parts become nonexistent.

I don't have 45 years left on this planet so I'm not worried.

 

[Mach4]

Not necessarily recommending this, but 3D printing lathe gears is certainly possible…especially in an emergency or when parts are no longer available. Haven't done any lathe gears but have done some for a stepper driven rotary table project designed in Fusion 360.

They appear to be significantly strong….

3-D Printed Gears for Atlas Lathe
3D Printed Change Gears In A Heavy Duty Lathe?

 

[Dalecamino]

Awesome work Rick.

 

[Penchant 4]

Not a criticism. What was the reasoning for going with nylon rather than delrin?

 

[rherrell]

Not a criticism. What was the reasoning for going with nylon rather than delrin?

It's what I had on hand. Delrin machines better, MUCH better, but I didn't want to buy any.

 

[Bryguy]

Impressive work Rick! I'm at the very beginning of the learning curve for my machining skills. This blows me away.

 

[Penchant 4]

It's what I had on hand. Delrin machines better, MUCH better, but I didn't want to buy any.

Understood and thanks for the reply.