And then got better….

When my workshop activities mainly involved woodworking, I realised that concealing mistakes was a major skill of the craft.

As an amateur metalworker/model maker, the same principle applies.

So, today, I took a long hard look at yesterday’s disaster. (and apologies for my bad mood, and worse language. Actually, I toned down the language for the post.)

It was pretty bad. Huge gash, bent brake drum, damaged teeth.

And what I did is as follows….. first, a bit of amateur blacksmithing to bend the bent brake drum roughly back into shape. Then….

I found a bit of brass, and roughly fitted it in the big gash. Some belt sanding improved the fit. Then silver soldered it into place. I rested the brass shaft on a piece of brass as a heat sink. I really did not want that join to let go yet.
… then bandsawed and belt sanded and turned it closer to shape…. then recut the teeth.
… and it turned out pretty well, no?

Still some work to be done on the reverse face, but it is looking useable.

This time I wrote my own CNC gear cutting program. And it worked perfectly. And I used the same program to cut another gear.

Repaired gear on right. Some further filling, filing and machining required. But, nothing can go wrong now. OK?