how thin is too thin?

[Joe Johnson]

Too thin to do WHAT?

If you are not going to load the motors at all, then it will be just fine (I doubt that air resistance acting alone will break the gear).

If you are going to load the motor to stall, I suppose you can get by too. BUT... ...if you are going to impact load the motor, I suppose all bets are off.

The general rule of thumb I try to follow if I can is to have at least a tooth thickness below the root diameter and 1.5 of that number if I can get it.

In this case the tooth thickness is 1/(2XDP) = 1/64 = .064" You look like you are only at about 1/2 of what I WANT to see. But... ... anyone who's read the NBD paper knows that I give up my rule of thumb when pressed.

Is it possible that you can only only have a keyway going through part of the gear?

How about this? Could you have a keyed collar that you mate the gearto (weld or press for example)?

Joe J.