How to Make Metal Gears With Minimal Hardware

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Choose the thickness of the gear and purchase (or recycle from other equipment) a piece of material (brass works great) to make the gear out of.

   It is important for the material to be very flat. ,,, It is also possible (with the right paper) to iron the pattern on to your metal, but that's a different article.,,, Rotate the material on the table as needed., Keep the sacrificial material on until you are satisfied with the shape of the gear.,,,
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   Step 2: Get a sacrificial backing material to help keep the material flat while cutting (I like to use tempered hard board from the lumber store).

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   Step 3: Use the CAD software of your choice to design the gear and print the image scaled 1:1.

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   Step 4: Use spray adhesive or double sticky tape (the very thin kind

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   Step 5: not the thick foam type) to adhere the drawing to the metal and also the metal to the sacrificial backing.

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   Step 6: Use a small punch to mark the center and drill your shaft hole and/or other mounting holes as required by your design.

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   Step 7: Clamp the material firmly to a sturdy table hanging about half (or a little less) of the pattern off of the side so you'll have room to cut.

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   Step 8: Use a coping or jewelers saw with a fine blade (32 teeth per inch or more) to carefully cut out the pattern.

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   Step 9: If you have some high spots at the intersections of the saw kerfs

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    Step 10: you can use a small file to smooth them out.

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    Step 11: The paper and sacrificial material can now be removed by soaking in rubbing alcohol to dissolve the adhesive.

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    Step 12: Lay the gear flat on a piece of 400 or finer grit sandpaper and smooth out any burs that may be present from the saw cuts.

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    Step 13: Your gear is now ready to be installed in your machine.

Detailed Guide

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