Posted by BillS on March 11, 2012 at 09:37:01:
In Reply to: Re: holding gears on gear shaper posted by mike on February 27, 2012 at 04:00:52:
Are the gear faces flat? Is there any feature such as a shallow hub, shoulder, recess, drilled holes, etc.?
I'm guessing not...
Here's an untested idea - The shaper has a taper bore in the table usually used for drawing an arbor into place. What if you made a special arbor with a plug gage end whose OD matches the gear's bore ID. Then, you clean the area, bump the arbor up into the table's taper bore, clamp the gear down (using clamps on the face) with the arbor/plug gage in place, then tap the arbor to release it into a retracted position.
Of course, the height of gage in down position must clear the cutter. If gage OD is larger than taper bore, then it would rest in its retracted position during cutting, keeping chips and coolant out of the taper bore. Adding a thin rubber washer around the top of the taper would absorb the bump when the arbor is taped and released, and would help manage coolant and chips.
Also, having a way to yank it into place would be necessary - maybe an internal threaded end and a special handle that can be screwed in temporarily.
Just an idea...