Gear Making Information

[Alan Ing]

Chris, Joe, & Andy,

Thank you very much for your responses. Our team is from Hawaii and while that may be great when I need to find a Coconut, Pineapple, a Mango, or a Japanese Tourist, it isn't so great when I need to get parts made up for the robot. We only have a handful of Machine Shops and most just repair industrial construction equipment. We really don't have much of a manufacturing industry here.

This year, my good friend the Professor said he was planning to make some gears for us out of two Coconuts and assorted Bamboo stalks. This would have been great, but he later found out that Gilligan had already given the Coconuts to Mary Ann who made them into a Coconut cream pie. He tried making the gears from the pie, but found that the finished gear did not have the tensile strength we required. Well, so much for making gears out of commonly available products in Hawaii. I guess it wouldn't have been legal anyway as I don't recall Coconuts being on the approved materials list.

Kidding aside, unfortunately, we don't have an EDM source. Thats why I was thinking about cutting our gears on a Mill with a good divider head. Is this a bad idea? Are we asking for a lot of problems? Our machinist has a standard Brigdeport type Mill.

Andy, thanks for the welding advice, I'd like to play with that motor coupling design as it is a truly unique solution.

Joe, are you going to have that motor class again at the Kickoff? I personally thought it was the most useful of all seminars that was offered (They should give you guys a real room!)