How to make Flat Gears

[Taraji]

Hi guys,
How about if we learn how to design gears?? Flat gears actually.
I came across a tutorial by Matthias Wandel at https://youtu.be/oNuhr3htNWs
And I thought it would be great if I share it with here. If you are interested, then here we go.

It’s always been the norm that to have gears go at right angle, one needs to use bevel gears. However, you can also use flat gears for example, in a wooden router lift and the gears will work pretty well at right angle.

[Taraji]

Here are the gears when placed at the right angle

[Taraji]

Steps on how to make Flat gears

Step one: Sketching the gears
You will of course need to make a drawing on how your gears will look in terms of size, number of teeth etc. There are several online gear template generators that can help you come up with a paper template for your gears.

Step Two: Cutting out the template

Once you have the paper template(s), then you move to the second step. Cut out the printed template and glue it on the plywood. Just use a little glue.

[Taraji]

Step 3: Cut out the circle
In this step, cut clearly cut out an approximate circle on around the gear template.

[Taraji]

Step 4: punching of holes
In this step, use an awl to punch a hole in the center of the template and also between each pair of teeth on the gear. These holes will help in guiding the drive point of a 5/16 inch brad point drill that you will use to drill a hole around every pair of teeth around the gear.

[Taraji]

Step 5: Set the table of the handsaw.
Set the table of the handsaw to approximately 5 degree angle. Setting it at a 5 degree angle gives the gear teeth a slit bevel, thus making it run smoothly. It is not a must though to do so.

[Taraji]

Once the handsaw table is tilted to the right, you can comfortably cut out the left side of every toot. This will make the teeth get somehow narrow towards the bottom.

[Taraji]

Step 6: Tilt the handsaw to the left and cut out the other half.

In this step, tilt the handsaw table to the left. On most saws, it is hard to tilt the table to the left. To achieve a 5 degree tilt to the left, you will need to put a piece of wood under the plywood. That set, you can proceed to cut out the other half of the teeth.

[Taraji]

Step 7: Drill the middle hole and trim every tooth well.

Cutting out the initial circle may not be that perfect. You will therefore need to trim each tooth to ensure good shape and equal size. Before you remove the template paper, drill out the hole at the middle. Then remove the paper by sanding it off.

[Taraji]

With those simple steps, You will have your gears. Follow the link I gave initially to see the whole process for yourself..
Thanks!