Chief Delphi - Transmission HELP!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I don't know how high the demand for 0.7 module gears is (the demand might be higher if they were more readily available) but I suppose someone with a wire EDM machine could make a few bucks (few meaning a lot) if they made these.

Also I was wondering, can a laser machine cut gears?

It depends on how thick you want them. If you want a really fine face width, (like < 0.060") then certainly. If you want more like 0.50", then you might be better off with using a water jet or better yet EDM. The material used makes a big difference too.

If Nylon will do, you could use Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) to make a gear from powder as opposed to cutting one from stock. I'm planning to try this for some encoder gears as they will be lightly loaded and the consequences of failure are small. But then I'm getting paid to try new things with our SLS machine at work and a working gear will be something new for us! :D

SLS can be used for metal too, but that is a lot trickier and to get a good surface you will need a finish pass with a machine anyway. By the time you get it all set up you would probably be better off cutting one from stock.