SmithingWitch

Its been a few days, I rearranged the bearing caps to plug the worm drive holes as well as the bronze gear bearings, propped the gearbox up and flooded it over the shaft level with 50/50 acetone and ATF. Tonight I tried to try and drift the shaft out again, still to no avail. Does ANYONE have any ideas from here? Im at my wits end dealing with it, and im not sure im doing it right to begin with. I dont want to put too much force on the hardened shaft ends or the cast iron housing, and the best method ive got to actually apply force involve slipping a bit of pipe around the end of the shaft, lining up the shoulder of the shaft on the other side to the housing hole, and sticking a pice of concave brass rod over the tip of the shaft and tapping. This seems like a bad idea for several reasons and prevents me from really applying force. I feel like removing the key could really help but I dont know if its a strait key like the other gear shaft in this machine or if its a wedge, as the bronze gear side of things has the key flush with the bronze but seems to slope up as it goes in. The other side, near the small iron gear, the key emerges a couple mm as does the rest of the shaft in what appears to be a shoulder making the shaft one way. On this end however rather than a slope on the top side of the key, the edge of the key sits proud a bit. Imagine the overall shape of the toothpick of a swiss army knife. This is outside of my wheelhouse and id love to hear any advice or ideas from people here who probably know about a million ways better to do it than what ive tried

Irondragon, thanks for the link, I had watched that series over the past few days to see if I could glean any advice but unfortunately he doesnt pull the bronze gear. I cant blame him, but for me leaving it in just means im left with a blower shaped object. So It looks like if this last drenching of PB wont do the trick ill be getting some transmission fluid. Im assuming im going to want a metal or solvent proof plastic container and other than that, just leave it to soak? how bad of an issue is evaporation with a 50/50 mix? Im thinking if I find a way to plug up the holes where the worm drive would go, and place the bearing caps on where the bronze gear is I could just set the gearbox in a suitable container and flood it with the fluid. Either way its a trick im going to have to look into so I appreciate the tip.

Ive recently picked up a champion 400 blower thats in all around great shape except for one glaring detail- the bronze gear has worn down to ragged, razor-sharp teeth. It will turn but the amount of play and the amount of metal remaining on the teeth is alarming and makes me think its on its last legs. Ive been able to disassemble everything else (despite the several pounds of hardened dust in the fan case) but the shaft for the bronze gear is eluding me. The cast iron gear's shaft came out easily with a couple taps but seeing as how the gearbox is thin cast iron and the shaft ends are HIGHLY hardened, im wary about both hitting it with too great a force and of heating it up too hot lest I ruin the shaft. Ive read one side of the shaft may have a shoulder and examining mine, there seems to be one on the side where the small transfer gear is. This gear lost its last leg a mile ago but ive got a lot peronally put into this blower (less financially and more sentimentally) and would really like to get it up and running again provided a local machinist can make a replacement OR I can 3d print and then cast one. Blacksmithing items at a decent price are in relatively short supply near me and finding a donor machine locally is pretty far fetched, though if anyone has a parts machine with a good bronze gear please let me know. So far the shaft has defied all attempts at removal and several days of gentle heating and flooding with penetrating oil. I dont want to damage anything further so the only idea I can think of is maybe stick the gearbox in a bucket of kerosene for a week or so and forget about it, unless anyone has any ideas? Ive been working on old machines since I was little with an old sewing machine but ive never had to remove a gear quite so finicky, and none of the other 400 threads ive read talk about removing the bronze gear. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, Ive lurked and read threads here for a while when dealing with my equipment and decided to finally make an account and participate. Im 24 years old and have been smithing off and on since age 13, and was lucky enough to have been given a very serviceable anvil shortly out of the gate. Since then Ive been collecting old tools (antique sewing machines are a specialty but thats lead to me picking up more and more smithing tools) and currently Im looking into getting a small building to officially set up a shop in. Im still pretty new and sort of stick out as a girl in this sort of trade but Ive got a passion for learning and keeping not only the craft but the tools used in it years ago alive, and I hope to be able to learn and contribute something decent fairly soon. -Emily