[SEL] Sorta O/T..gear making

[jbcast at charter.net]

> 
> Sounds good Jim but something screwy was going on with the Springfield 
> engines.  A gear on Raymond Scholl's 1 HP had a couple of teeth 
> missing.  No standard gear would match it.  He had to send it to a guy 
> who had a special cutter made to match the existing gear.  Some of the 
> "blacksmith" makers of engines, sometimes which produced only a handful, 
> did it all.  They made the castings, did all the machining, cut the 
> gears, etc.  In some cases, I doubt that they were too concerned with 
> the pressure angles and more concerned with making sure they had a 2 to 
> 1 ratio that would mesh and work.  We have all kinds of standards 
> readily available today that some didn't have 110 years ago (standards 
> were in place, but not easily accessible to all).  I'm sure that many 
> manufacturers adhered to the standards to the letter.  I know some 
> didn't though as I've had examples.
> 
> Tommy Turner
> Magnolia, KY
> 
Tommy, my Holiday marine engine had stripped two of the three timing gears when a guide on the lifter broke, no doubt this is what took it out of service. The gears don't match any in the books, much finer teeth. Usually if you have the same number of teeth and the same diameter it will work. I'm running it on a timing chain from a Pontiac for now. I have the blanks and cutter made, just haven't taken the time to cut them yet. I made a helical gear for another engine, unique rigging, working on a story for GEM, got to get back on that.
J.B. Castgnos