Go to Home Depot (or equivalent) and get a length of aluminum angle or strapping. They come in 4 foot lengths, and cost a few dollars. Regards, Jim > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [OT] Making a new spur gear > From: veegee > Date: Mon, May 13, 2013 4:58 pm > To: PICLIST >=20 >=20 > Hi all, >=20 > I modified a cheap laminator for the purpose of making PCBs via the > toner transfer method. Simple enough: reverse engineer the PCB, figure > out where to put the resistors/etc to increase temperature to ~170-180 > degrees C. >=20 > It worked exceptionally well. Never before have I been able to get such > perfect toner transfers. The clothes iron method doesn't even compare. >=20 > I was able to push a few board through before one of the plastic spur > gears driving the rollers melted due to the high temperature. Luckily, > the other two gears, which are identical, are unharmed. >=20 > I need to make a replacement gear for the rollers. I'm probably going to > use plaster of Paris to make a mold using the other gears and cast some > appropriate material to make the new one. Of course, the mold will first > be properly set and baked before casting. >=20 > I'm leaning towards using aluminum, which melts at 660.32 degrees C. The > gears are small, less than 2cm in diameter. Melting a small piece of > aluminum over the mold with a blowtorch should do the trick. >=20 > Aluminum seems to be the best option. Low melting point, safe (no > dangerous fumes) when melted, easy to cast, cheap, and everywhere*. >=20 > Everywhere* but I can't seem to find anything around to melt. My unibody > MacBook Pro is not an option. Soda cans will work if melted slowly, but > they tend to produce a lot of slag, which I'd rather not deal with for > such a small job. And I don't want to have to drink 10 cans of soda to > do it. >=20 > Can anyone name a few household/cheap easily acquired things made out of > (preferably) pure aluminum that can be melted? >=20 > Any tips? > --=20 > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .