Where to buy plastic gear in maint. station?

[Slack11]

I've had this happen twice, and am now out of spare parts to fix it. I have had a line get caught in the gears of the ink pump, and it releases ink all over the maintenance station. Most parts are fine, I can clean them and they work, but there is a plastic gear that drives the ink pump that is softened by the ink and the teeth go to mush......

Anyone know where to buy just this gear. It is black, longer, and has a small gear on one end and the larger gear on the other (I'll post a pic here tomorrow..) I've called solventinkjet.com but they said I would have to buy the entire maintenance station. I can't really justify buying a whole station for 450 bucks when it is a 2.00 gear that is bad.

Anyone know where to buy just this gear? Any help or thoughts would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Nate

 

[Finishline Signs]

Everyone I have talked to say the only way to get is to buy the mainanence station. If you find somewhere to get it let me know.

 

[klemgraphics]

I had a few of them laser cut, just the gear itself, and then removed the stripped one and glued the new one on.

 

[Slack11]

Any chance you may be willing to sell one of those gears you had laser cut? I found a Guy here that can Make that part out of aluminum but my small gear on that piece is so gone that he can't get decent dimensions for the teeth. If i could get one of those small gears from you, I could have him get the dimensions and even send it right back to you. I could also have him make you an aluminum one also if you'd be interested


Anyone have one of those that still has a good small gear? I'd be willing to give you a few bucks for it if you do


Thanks for any help
nate

 

[klemgraphics]

I'd be interested in an aluminum one, mine are not exact though as I had the same problem you had and just had to make a good guess at it. Works just fine though. I could also send you the vector file I sent to the laser guy if that helps you.

 

[Slack11]

The vector file may be the ticket.. If your gears are close that should be allright. If it eventually shreds the ink pump gear at least that you can buy for around 100 bucks, and your not looking at a whole maintenance station at around 450 like I am now.

Could you email that file to nplantz@gmail.com Once I get him the dimensions it will take a little time to get them made, he has a friend that is going to cut two special cutting tools to get the teeth on the two gears, (guy does things like that as a hobby) and then he should be able to go.

Thanks for the help, hopefully we can both get a decent solution to this problem when it is all said and done. Hopefully the vector file will be allright for him, and that is a lot easier than shipping one of these up here.


Nate

 

[Slack11]

Any luck on that file? Would like to get this guy going on making that gear, get the ole girl up and running again.

 

[klemgraphics]

Sorry, I forgot about it. Just sent it!

 

[betto]

McMaster Carr

Don't know what that gear looks like, but I've used McMaster Carr in the past to buy hard to find parts-n-pieces. Here's a link to their Nylon Gears section:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#nylon-gears/=e26c19

They also carry brass, metal, and stainless ones too.

If you don't see what you're looking for, you can email them from the site (contact us) or call them at (630) 600-3600.

Hope this helps.

-----Brandon

 

[elsignshop]

let me know guys if you get these gears going. mine just went out not even 10 mins ago, while i was reading this!!! it sucks so let hope it works

 

[Slack11]

just ordered two of the gears that are close from McMaster Carr. Gonna try to see if I can glue either one of these on and get this to work, they are close but not exact......

For $2.50 this hopefully is a cheap fix....

I'll post up here after I try and let you know if it works

 

[Slack11]

The ole DIY worked.... Saved myself 500 bucks.....

I ordered a gear from McMaster Carr (thanks to the link above) part number is 57655K36. I don't think it is an exact match as the old gear, but it seems to work fine. I took the old gear out, dremeled the chewed up gear off and ground down the shaft to be able to fit inside the new gear from McMaster Carr.

I expoxied the gear to the shaft, but left the end "knub" that sits in the holder to allow it to spin and work. This gear costs 2.67 plus shipping from McMaster Carr....A ton cheaper than 500 for the new maintenance station.. It seems to be of a better plastic that hopefully won't get chewed up.

Hopefully this helps someone else, I have spent over a week and a half trying to figure this out, hopefully someone can use this..

 

[betto]

Glad to hear McMaster Carr had close to what you needed and you were able to make it work.

Seems to be a common problem with those maintenance stations. Your post with the pictures and part numbers is awesome and going to help a lot of people out as well as save 'em a ton of money.

Great post!