08/09/00
Today I finished cutting teeth on the 180-tooth greatwheel, after some more "false starts." The problem turned out to be that the hardboard (Masonite) that I was using to back up the wheel blank was dulling the point of the flycutter after about 20 teeth were cut. This is mean stuff -- carpenters use a carbide saw to cut it, as it dulls saws quickly. The solution was to make them smaller, leaving empty space under the edge of the wheel blank.
I also made a new cutter, with a narrower footprint. I felt that the previous cutter left teeth that were too narrow. The new cutter is about a module 0.5 -- cutting a gap which is about .032" wide.
The photos also show the aluminum riser block I made to raise the Sherline rotary table to cutter height, as well as the tape with marks on it used to indicate minumum and maximum vertical travel of the Sherline mill verical axis.
The photograph of the teeth should show a small "land" (uncut area) on the tips, but the cutter was set too deep to leave any. No harm done.
Today's links:
Greatwheel cut.
Cutting setup.
Greatwheel teeth.