Joseph Macino
Branchville, N.J.
Squirming out of a worm-wheel dilemma
My idea is for producing worm wheels without special machinery. Using an indexing head, I turn a worm and worm-wheel blank to suit a particular application by cutting slots across the worm and filing the teeth to form a cutter.
I then have the worm hardened. Alone, it does not pick up the wormwheel teeth, so with the indexing head, I slot the correct number of teeth at the proper angles into the worm wheel. After mounting the worm in a milling-machine spindle and centering the worm wheel on the machine's table, I pick up the worm-wheel slots with the worm and, at a slow rpm, feed the worm into the wheel to the proper depth. I've used this method for worm wheels up to 2 ft in diameter.
Robert Sandberg
Coventry, R.I.
Pick the winning Practical Idea!Select the best Practical Idea in this issue by circling the associated number on the reader service card. Winners receive an award of $100. An honorarium is paid for each item published in this column. Submitted ideas are subject to editing, and sketches will be drawn to conform to AM's style and format. Submission of clear, close-up photos is encouraged. Send material to Practical Ideas, AMERICANMACHINIST, Penton Media Inc., 1300 E. 9th St., Cleveland, OH 44114-1503. Please include your name, address, zip code, and Social Security number. Winner forDecember2004: CharlesTodd,"Quick,customhexsockets," p. 47. |