worm gear emergency

[ClicheCow]

Last night, nearing completion of our robot, we picked up a tetra with for the fourth time on the full Assembly. This was met by an unpleasant sound of the worm gear losing over 1/4 of its teeth, not a pleasant sound when you just spent 6 weeks of intensive work building it. We called our mechanical engineer over, who looked at it, and said that the shaft (a custom made part that took a day to machine) was crooked, and above that we realized that the worm was engaging the worm gear only 1/4 of the way down the teeth, creating some nasty forces on said teeth. So right now, we have days before ship, and need something fast. Re-machining the gear box is not an easy option at this stage, so we are hoping to find steel worm gears (not worms) which will take the forces better than the cast iron ones did. So far we have been unable to find any. If my memory is correct, they are pitch 12 18 tooth worm gears, but I'll check at the lab tonight and post the correct specs when i get home (the Internet at my school locks down on the weekends)

thank you, and if anyone does know where steel worm gears can be found: THANK YOU!