Gallery, Projects and General > The Design Shop
Gear Depthing Tool Plans- ideas, suggestions, plans, machining order
raynerd:
Hi guys
Before I start, NO PICTURES ON THIS FIRST POST ARE MY OWN - they are from the net for reference only. I`ve been collecting pictures for years - if I can reference, I will do. I am posting for inspiration and ideas.
For many years I have wanted a clock wheel depthing tool. This tool allows you to correctly distance a wheel and pinion and then scribe the correct distance onto the frame.
This is commercial clock depthing tool:
The runners sticking out of the end are then used to scribe a line to correct depth by turning the device vertical:
A cheap simple depthing tool can be made by plans described in several books I own, specifically by John Wilding and Colin Thorne. This is good for the majority of jobs, but at 30 years old, I`d like to keep this for a good time and would like to invest more time in to making a more traditional and more versatile tool.
From Dean and Deans Photographica:
There are loads and loads of homebrew depthing tools on the internet. My issue is that they rarely describe the machining process to ensure they maintain parallelism between the two split runners. Also, I`m not clear how the hinge is made or designed to ensure the two parts are held firmly without wobble but lose enough to be moved. I also don`t know how the spring is being applied to force the two halves together!!
Taking madmodding to the limits, here is a Perspex tool with elastic band as the spring. Made by John Prevatte:
And another, this one made from a door hinge by Jay Fortner:
This homemade design, unfortunately I don`t know the maker, has a slightly different clamp down top, rather than the V groove style holder for the runners:
Aluminium body, again I don`t know the maker but has a more homemade feel about it - no idea how it being sprung
This is smart spring method - I can clearly see how this is working but would you need to have a spring on each side to ensure even pressure is put on both sides otherswise the frame could twist, depending on the rigidy of the hinge:
Lots of food for thought! If you have any ideas or suggestions as to how to make one, I`d appreciate your input. The key is getting the runners parallel and a solid hinge between the two parts but allowing you to fine adjust the two.
I believe there is a full article: MEW no 8 Dec 91 jan 92 - if anyone has a copy of this article, I`d be really grateful!
I look forward to replies.
Chris
micktoon:
Hi Chris , interesting tool, I do have some randon old MEW I will check through and see but I think they are a bit later from memory but you never know. Cheers Mick.
BillTodd:
The hinge appears to be a simple knife edge or bar in a pair of Vs. I suspect two bearing balls in small holes would suffice.
It is only necessary to ensure that the spring closing force is applied between the hinge and the opening adjuster so both are forced together.
milling identical grooves in the flat faces of the arms would be trivial on a horizontal mill (let me know if you need one)
bill
vtsteam:
Just from my dumb stand back and imagine basic process approach to stuff like this, I see:
1.) The hinge is the hardest part to make, and most important part -- everything else follows. So make the hinge first, as precisely as you can, ignoring the rest of the needs. Make the hinge whatever way or shape you want. But just get that part fabricated.
2.) Then fasten or clamp the hinged assembly to a mill or boring table. You can now drill/bore arbor holes/bearings whatever. If you index the table without loosening the part, you will automatically make holes parallel to each other and the established hinge line. (Assuming you clamped it true to that line, in the first place, of course).
ps. a boring table on the lathe might be better for this than a vertical mill -- depends on the size of the piece.
raynerd:
Thanks for the info so far. If a bar running in v grooves is used for the hinge, I dont see how the assembly is held together, I.e force at the bottom on the bar.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version