making very very tiny gears

Nov 10, 2010 10 Replies

Gratings



Lady friend picked up a clock at the thrift store. A very nice little clock, save that it is missing the knob/gear to set the clock. It is important, because w/o it the rest of the gear train doesn't stay 'rigid' and make the hands go round. It looks to be a press fit, so either dimensions are important, or I should consider a sort of spline to make sure it engages.



I'm thinking I can use a Dremel as a lathe, and just put a bit of something in the collet, and "turn to fit". Should I worry about toxic materials? (This is going into a day care when/if I get it done.)


I'm easily confused. Just what parts are there and what parts do you need to make? Just the knob for the shaft, just the gear for the knob/ shaft, just the shaft?

Sometime in the last 50 years of collecting stuff, I found some brass gear material. This is a brass rod about 12inches long with gear teeth the entire length. I have several, but am not sure if they are all the same or not. I guess you just cut off the width of gear you need and finish it however you need. If you need the gear for the clock, I could go find the gear stock and see if it would work for you.

Paul

It's called pinion stock or pinion wire, quite a lot of gear companies will have it so you just need to identify the size required if it's not an oddball.

Find your self a Web site that does old clocks or the like. They will have a souce for the parts. Setting up a dremel whatever will be a losing task for something like this.

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Gut it and adapt a battery powered unit.

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If you have a headstock Morse adapter, a drill chuck is nice for turning small parts.

Brass is toxic only in California.

"Jay Beldin" on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:11:48 -0500 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

It is a Battery powered unit. LOL.

I'm in one of those "It would probably be cheaper to get a new clock, but it's the challenge!" phancies.

Oh, and the knob is about .250 dia, and the shaft is ~.15 dia. OAL ~.300

>

If the clock is battery powered, it's likely to be metric:

Shaft: 4mm = 0.1575. (But 5/32"= 0.1563.)

Diameter: 6mm = 0.2362".

OAL: 8mm = 0.315"

Anyway, one can buy many kinds of metric knob, made of brass and aluminum.

Joe Gwinn

I'm looking at a floor lamp adjacent to my computer. It has a switch that you turn (rotate) to light the lamp. This one is approximately the size you describe, and made of brass colored metal.

Take a look around your house for something similar. Perhaps the knob will be close enough.

technomaNge

news:alt.horology might be able to help.

the knob and the shaft, although the shaft is the "critical part".

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