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any - Cogs gears worm drives etc for that failed part? - gordonbennet

aln015 is the chap's Ebay name.

My wife had a die cutting machine which stripped a couple of teeth off a metal cog inside, no part available so it's basically scrap, but whilst looking for a used one for parts she found a chap on the bay of E who sells such things, gears drives, microswitches, springs etc..

He didn't sell this particular part, but he said to send it to him and he'd see what could be done, sure enough he made one up posted it to us i reassembled and the die cutter is working well again.

He asked for pics of the part in place so he's no doubt going to offer them in his ebay shop, and more power to his elbow, he made the effort and if from such small acorns he makes a blossoming tree good luck to him.

The part cost my wife £12 inc postage, which saved an £80 machine from needless scrapping.

That chap's ebay name might be worth keeping a note of, eg i could have rebuilt various wiper mechanisms and motor drives over the years had such parts been obtainable, if you need something he doesn't make he's proved himself up for getting it made.

I/we have nothing to do with this chap or small business other than my wife is a very happy customer and as the chap is prepared to put in some effort i for one am happy to let others know about him.

any - Cogs gears worm drives etc for that failed part? - craig-pd130

Skilled machinists who can make components like that are a boon. There's a specialist in Macclesfield who's done various jobs on motorbike parts for me - such as turning up and fitting beautiful, precision brass inserts to salvage some cylinder barrels, in which the threads for head studs were too far gone to helicoil.

His machine shop is a thing of wonder - huge old lathes, pillar drills, presses and more. Unfortunately he's in his 70s, I do wonder what will happen when these 'make anything' artisans stop working.

any - Cogs gears worm drives etc for that failed part? - Penumbra

i was looking at some handmade Japanese embroidery needles the weekend. I could barely see the eye, so how those were made by hand I have no idea.

any - Cogs gears worm drives etc for that failed part? - bathtub tom

The telecoms industry many years ago used tiny, ferrite core stores. These were,apparently, threaded by Maltese lace makers. They were soon superceded with solid state memory stores.

I wonder what became of the Maltese lace makers?

any - Cogs gears worm drives etc for that failed part? - focussed

Skilled machinists who can make components like that are a boon. There's a specialist in Macclesfield who's done various jobs on motorbike parts for me - such as turning up and fitting beautiful, precision brass inserts to salvage some cylinder barrels, in which the threads for head studs were too far gone to helicoil.

His machine shop is a thing of wonder - huge old lathes, pillar drills, presses and more. Unfortunately he's in his 70s, I do wonder what will happen when these 'make anything' artisans stop working.

I did an apprenticeship as a toolmaker/machinist and now I'm retired and got a bit of spare time and money I have put together a small machine shop just to be able to look after all the mechanical stuff we use on the land and the woods. Just a couple of Myford lathes a 1951 ML7 and a 1972 Super7B a recently required Warco WM 16 B small mill/drill, a cut-off bandsaw, bench drill, off hand grinder plus all my original hand tools and measuring and marking out equipment. I built a small insulated workshop inside our large barn to house it all. It's my man cave!

If anybody is interested in this sort of thing and you can find a Myford lathe in any sort of decent order, they are nowadays an appreciating asset , spares, tooling and accessories are readily available, ebay is usually a good source. They are now being manufactured again after Myford Nottingham went bust in the eighties.

An interesting page from a forum with some pictures of Myfords.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=99444&p=2

any - Cogs gears worm drives etc for that failed part? - concrete

My neighbour at my previous house had a small engineering business. He employed three skilled fitter/turners and the work they turned out was impressive. Especially as he and the old boys he had were of the age when skill levels were higher and apprenticeships more encompassing. He made all sorts of parts for Victorian machinery and luckily his reputation meant he was always in demand for anything out of the ordinary. It would be a pity if these skills disappear, as they will with CNC machines taking over the vast majority of production items. As GB said, the die cutter was only £80, how much skilled trade time will that buy these days? Cheers Concrete