Project Information
I always wanted to try making a chain drive from wood, and I saw a model in the book shown. The book had the hand-cranked model in a vertical gear configuration….......I changed this to a horizonal gear set-up.
Every project has a few key things which must be right. In this project, I think the key is using 1/2" diameter semi-circles to drive the 1/4" dowels. If you use a smaller diameter semicircle, like 5/16", the chain tends to jump out of the semi-circles.
Another key item is the chamfer or radius on the edge of the drive gears. There is nothing to keep the inner 2 chain links in the open position except being driven out by the edge of the drive gears. With no chamfer or radius on the gears, my model bound up all the time. Once I put an 1/8" radius on both edges of each gear, it ran a lot more smoothly. I would have put on a 1/4" radius, but I was afraid there would not be enough material left in the center of the gear teeth to let the bearing ride on when you routed the 2nd side.
I made a Youtube video of the model in action. You can use this link to watch the video.
I had to make a special fixture to round-over the edges of the chain links on the router table. It worked pretty well.
To see the whole project and how I made everything, use this link to see my woodworking web site.
Thanks
Every project has a few key things which must be right. In this project, I think the key is using 1/2" diameter semi-circles to drive the 1/4" dowels. If you use a smaller diameter semicircle, like 5/16", the chain tends to jump out of the semi-circles.
Another key item is the chamfer or radius on the edge of the drive gears. There is nothing to keep the inner 2 chain links in the open position except being driven out by the edge of the drive gears. With no chamfer or radius on the gears, my model bound up all the time. Once I put an 1/8" radius on both edges of each gear, it ran a lot more smoothly. I would have put on a 1/4" radius, but I was afraid there would not be enough material left in the center of the gear teeth to let the bearing ride on when you routed the 2nd side.
I made a Youtube video of the model in action. You can use this link to watch the video.
I had to make a special fixture to round-over the edges of the chain links on the router table. It worked pretty well.
To see the whole project and how I made everything, use this link to see my woodworking web site.
Thanks