[Creator Mat]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Indeed. Plain Bore items come with a hole in them, but as madison noted, it is expected you you will bore the hole to some specific diameter that you need, then add a hole for a set screw or broach a keyway. These items are made of steel that is easier to machine, and not having the keyway or setscrew hole keeps you from breaking lathe tools as they pass over the 'gap'.

Finished bore items are often much harder steel, and more difficult to machine. Then you have the 'gap' (keyway or screw hole) that can break the lathe tools, combine them and it makes you wish you just had ordered them the right size to begin with. Oh, the finished bore sprockets that I have experience with are too hard to drill, too, so you're really in trouble....

The funny thing is we had bought bevel gears from Mcmaster before and even tho it never specified from what we could tell if they where plain bore or not. The bevels we got all had set screws, so we where kind of surprised when these came plain bored (thanks all for the reminder of the correct term). The good news is we didn't take them out of there package so we can just return them. However we still need to find suitable replacements, does anyone know where we can get keyed or set screwed 3/8" bore bevel gears from besides mcmaster carr?