how do i make gears?

[eraser111]

Please, does anyone now an easy way of making gears? They have to range in size of about the diameter of a CD down to the diameter to... say a half dollar. The thickness needs to be around .5" to .75". And the teeth needs to be flat edged , not sharp. I will see if I can find some pictures. I was thinking wood would be a nice material to construct them out of. Metal is totally out of the question. The lighter the better.:lol THANKS EVERYONE!

 

[missileman]

Lego?

 

[eraser111]

That might actually work.

 

[exoray]

The cleanest would probably be laser cut or CNC router cut MDF, you could hand cut on a jig saw but it will take a lot of patience...

 

[tim]

Another idea (short of finding a gear hobbing machine) would be to use a rapid prototyping system to make plastic gears.

 

[fuelish]

I would use a pie graph chart program(free online or in some office software) to give me a basic template(Divide 360 by the number of teeth) print it out and extend the lines to the dia of the gear. Draw a circle to show the inner dia of the teeth and draw out your gears with a second template(I would hand draw this and move the template to each position. Then cut out your teeth, handy drawing as a demo below(The lines are straight because I was just doing a quick show of how to cut a tooth, the bottom would be curved and the sides angled):

Draw your lines, drill the corners(If needed), cut it out. I did this with a coping saw but it would be faster with a table saw. Then finish, as needed with a file.

 

[BlindSquirrel]

How about poplar or if you want something extremely hard, maple?

 

[g05ty]

what about thin alloy and a dremel/tinsnips i know you said metal is out but it would be light and the finish would be better than wood for gears.

 

[fuelish]

They could be cut out of brass using a jewelers saw(tiny coping saw) and file finished, but he is looking for 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. That is pretty thick for using any metal.
It would help to see what you are doing.

 

[g05ty]

I did once use a jig-saw/metal cutting blade to cut some heel plates from 10mm alloy for one of my bikes looked good but it took some cleaning up after this could be an option and im sure it would work on the slightly thicker stuff you are after.

 

[moviebuff5]

Here is a gear template generator you may find useful.

http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html

 

[Revolverkiller]

find a set of gear vectors for illustrator and print up the ones you want

Revo

 

[propologist]

erector sets and many toys have great gears , Mr machine , lego , mouse trap...( just looking at my shelves by the puter ) to name a few. What size ?

and then there's these :

 

[RICHIES ARMOR]

I can purchase small sets of gears at my local hobby shop. I beleive they are typically used for RC cars..if that helps.

Richie

 

[kdawg1]

Cut them out of plexi you can pick up scraps at your local plastics shop.

 

[G17RDY]

Depends what you want them for i guess...!!

Why make when you can buy, plastic gears are available from various places, such as RS Components (UK)
Fairly cheap, range of sizes, precise and light weight,

Gears are often found in normal everyday items, toys house loads of plastic gears, which if you have any old ones lying around, or go to a flea market and rip em apart.
Other examples can be found in cars - Idea, go to scrap yard or something and pick up all kind of old gears (even ones in electric window motor windings)

Just a few thoughts....!