Official Tie Pilot chestbox cog search WITH REWARD

[RBJ]

We all know how the hose one went[emoji23]..well let’s give it another shot. Once verified the information WILL BE shared publicly

FREE TIE PILOT HELMET!

Now that I have your attention..Time to get serious. Find what the original found part used on the Tie Pilot chest box, and I will give you a new CFO Helmet kit FOR FREE.

This is the part I’ve been trying to I.D. for years...
Here’s what I know

-Molded in white plastic painted grey
-2” in diameter
-18 teeth
-VERY unique tooth profile and center Note the center bar has a gap behind it..maybe for a spring? There are also little tabs on the inside circle.
-too thin to take much load. This eliminates many cogs/sprockets. IT IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL GEAR.
-no markings on front or back
-sourced by Elstree (not AA)
-14 at least Available in 1976 UK

LOOK AT THE TEETH AND THE CENTER. This is the key. It is VERY unique ..I have not found any even close. There are a zillion plastic gears out there..look closely at the details

The tooth profile is the key..I’ve looked at thousands of gears ..NONE with a tooth profile like this. Same goes for the center.

So if you tell me exactly what this is from WITH EVIDENCE and I will send you a FREE Tie helmet.

Maybe the collective knowledge here can finally find this thing!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Good luck with the search. Hope this is found.

 

[wtyler3]

I might have a direction to go. I found this:

Revell V-8 Engine Model

If you look at the parts one in particular seems very close, and may be a clue as to what and where to look. It might be a gear from an engine model as it seems that these were used extensively for greeblies in the early movies.

 

[ID10T]

*spitballing*

What about drive wheels for a tank model? The tooth shape seems more like track driving gears than gears that mesh. That detail debunked my first thought that it might be part of the auto-stop mechanism of a tape deck. The other problem is that everyone was using their tape decks in 1977, not taking them apart.

It would be a rather large tank model...

 

[RBJ]

It 100% is not in the visible V8

tank tracks are a possibility but I doubt it due to the original being white plastic

 

[Jediseth]

I would assume that because of the way the teeth are shaped that it drives some kind of a chain, I could be wrong.

 

[thd9791]

Is it true these boxes were vacuforms of a vacuum cleaner? I dont remember where I heard that

Those teeth arent great for a chain. I still feel like theybwere on the end of a roll or something... printer?

 

[woodywaverider]

The teeth look similar to car oil pump gears, but the centre is very unique it does remind me of sothing from a printer or fax machine. Going to be super difficult to find, it’s not the sort of thing that would get photographed at the time.

 

[v312]

I would assume that because of the way the teeth are shaped that it drives some kind of a chain, I could be wrong.

I second that. Teeth really look like they are meant to drive a chain. My guess would be it is a timing chain sprocket from some engine scale model kit.

 

[TazMan2000]

The chain drive idea gave me an idea. We were thinking printer parts, but what about garage door openers. Here is one from an older Chamberlain opener. Very similar.

TazMan2000

 

[joberg]

The chain drive idea gave me an idea. We were thinking printer parts, but what about garage door openers. Here is one from an older Chamberlain opener. Very similar.
View attachment 1461679


TazMan2000

Mmmh...you might have something here mate

 

[RBJ]

It’s way too thin to handle any load, and it’s a sprocket not a gear. Not a garage door opener part

 

[TazMan2000]

A chain tensioner would not need to handle much of a load, except one on its horizontal axis, but if you’re certain that it isn’t, I’ll stop looking.

Good luck

TazMan2000

 

[RBJ]

A chain tensioner would not need to handle much of a load, except one on its horizontal axis, but if you’re certain that it isn’t, I’ll stop looking.

Good luck

TazMan2000

Never stop looking! I think it may be a part used for a similar application just not the load of a garage door. I’m thinking possibly a photo backdrop that rolls up

 

[TazMan2000]

Another idea is a conveyor system. The rollers may be made of steel but the gears operating some of them are plastic, possibly designed to shear at a certain amount of torque or force, so that trapped items or body parts aren't going to go fully through.

TazMan2000

 

[Jcrutts]

is it some kind of spur gear for reducing or increasing speed and motion between two parallel shafts. I thought maybe betamax but probably too recent to trash for greeblies at the time. could be from a mechanical clock, albeit a large one? just throwing thoughts around sorry. also it looks (to me at least) like its too thin to be under tension but maybe for grip (like winding between two cylinders on an old word processor type thing. sorry n helmet for me haha

maybe a 1970's typwriter? i really need a tie helmet ha ha

 

[Pedro]

I came across auto antenna motors the other day while looking for some other stuff, and they have a gear that's similar (at a glance), but typically a lot more teeth. Have you looked into that as an option? I know some other bits from these were used on the Hoth scanner.

 

[Cbstudios]

It's probably already been discussed, but how about something from a 70's kids Gears/Cogs set? No load bearing needed, cheap and probably easily available?

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Found this Kawasaki Water pump gear. Sure, it's not exact, but seeing as AA was making vac-formed basins, it would seem likely he had access to pump parts.

Or something close to this: Drive / Roller Gear - 3" White Plastic for WE290 | MoreWine

 

[RBJ]

I'm going to bump this up..This is the year we find this thing. Help me RPF, you're my only hope!