Trying to find gears for a craft project

Cafe Society
1

I’m not sure if this is the place to post this, but since it’s arts and crafts related, I’ll try CS.

I’m trying to find small (half-inch to one and a half inch or so) gears for use in making jewelry. The gears should also be fairly thin, or at least not thick, to help with weight. I’m hoping for brass, bronze, or steel. They don’t even need to be high-quality gears, just something that looks like a gear.

I have a source for watch gears, and I’m going to use those too, but they’re too small for some things. I can’t seem to find a source for clock gears - whole clock kits for ~$150, yes, but they don’t even say if they come with gears, besides being way too expensive. Is my best bet going to be looking for an old clock at a thrift shop? If so, are there only certain kinds of clock with gears (quartz clocks don’t, maybe?)?

2

I see what you mean! This was the best I could find and it seems to have everything but gears!

According to this, the typical quartz wall clock has plastic gears only.

3

Try these guys and these guys. You might also check the various sites dedicated to building robots.

4

Hmm. I still see the old fashioned alarm clocks with the hammer and bells on the top. Bet you could get some nice hardware out of one of those. 4.99 at Wal-Mart.

5

Well, I found this page at the first link: http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsection=19&category=178. The picture under “Sprockets” looks promising - I don’t need that back cylindrical part, but maybe I could remove that with the help of a hacksaw or something. They’re plastic - maybe I could make a mold around one with plaster, melt the plastic, and pour in molten casting bronze.

ETA: the old-fashioned kind of alarm clock is maybe a better source for plastic gears than paying to ship them to me, if I decide to try to cast gears.

6

Unless you’re familiar with handling metal at around 3K degrees, I’d advise against that. High temp molten metal isn’t something you can just pick up in a day or two. Also, you have to be careful in how you pour it, or the bronze will be too porous to use.

7

I have done lost-wax casting before, in silver. I don’t own a kiln, though. The casting was my SO’s suggestion - he was a materials major and has possibly been looking for an excuse to build a kiln for a while now…

8

I suggest having a gander at these books before starting. I’ve asked at the machinist’s board I frequent, so I’m sure someone there will have some suggestions.

9

Try here: http://www.sdp-si.com/

10

Servomotor gear sets

11

In the past I’ve seen bags of gears at craft stores like JoAnn’s and Pat Catan’s. Haven’t looked recently, but worth a shot to go and ask…maybe in the scrapbooking section or the jewelry section, but it’s always best to ask the person in charge of the ordering and stocking.

12

i’ve found lot auctions on eBay where someone wanted to unload bunches of non-functional watches and parts in a group. (i bought one because i wanted one of the watchbands in the group.) you might check them out for parts lots, maybe under the clocks section (if such section there be… but i’m pretty sure there is, since i’ve bought specialized clocks through eBay.)

or just do a search on “gears” or “cogs” there and see what comes up.

13

Might I suggest silver clay? It’s precious metal clay, when fired the binders burn off leaving about 99% pure silver. I’ve seen instructions that show very small inexpensive kilns (pots actually) and torches used for firing the clay. I’ve been dying to try this stuff myself but I want to get more practice in with general jewelry making before I invest in this stuff.

14

you might want to check out http://www.firemountaingems.com - they have a starter kit for PMC that is pretty reasonable. includes clay, torch, some tools, firing block… pretty much what you need to start out.

i’ve also gotten a pot-style kiln off eBay for under $200.

i’m still gearing myself up to start actually working with it. knitting on commission has me busy for the moment.

15

Wow, there’s been some great suggestions here. I knew this was the right place to ask :slight_smile:

eBay: I’ve been checking eBay off and on, and I’ve got my eye on a couple auctions that end this weekend. It’s hard to jusitify paying to ship an entire clock when all I want are the guts, so I’m looking at the auctions that are gears and other small parts only.

Kiln-related things: My SO’s read those Dave Gingery books (metal shop from scrap, right? yeah, those) but he probably won’t get to build his toys yet, at least not for this. I’ve been drooling over the PMC setup at Fire Mountain for a while now, and if nothing else works I may go that route, but not until I know I can make this jewelry thing pay.

I’ve discovered the existence of epoxy casting, which may be an alternative material to metal, if only I could make a gear-shaped mold.

16

Garage and yard sales might also be a good source for old clocks to rip apart.