Pfaff 545 lower miter gears

[sandmanred]

My new to me Pfaff 545 has a big problem.  The lower pinion gears are shot :-(  So far I can only find upper pinion gears on ebay or anywhere else I've checked.  Any suggestions on where to find them?

@Uwe

Edited January 21, 2021 by sandmanred

[sandmanred]

By the lower gears I mean the pair on the bottom of the vertical shaft that comes off the main shaft.  For anyone that has had miter gears fail is it common for the pair at the bottom of the vertical shaft to fail or is it more likely the pair at the top to fail?

Any idea what the little orange dot is for, it's on both of gears in this pair?

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by sandmanred

[Pintodeluxe]

On Pfaff I think they are alignment dots, so the gears go back together the same way.  Sometimes gears are not perfectly concentric with the hole in the middle.  Once they wear in, everything is smooth.  But, if you put it back together in a different orientation, all bets are off.  

[sandmanred]

38 minutes ago, Pintodeluxe said:

On Pfaff I think they are alignment dots, so the gears go back together the same way.  Sometimes gears are not perfectly concentric with the hole in the middle.  Once they wear in, everything is smooth.  But, if you put it back together in a different orientation, all bets are off.  

Ah, good to know.  As I just got this machine I know little of it's history.  One of my theories was that a PO switched the top and bottom gears on the vertical shaft coming off the main shaft.  Neither of the pair of gears on top of the vertical shaft have alignment dots.  The pair on the bottom of the vertical both have orange dots. All that tells me the gears are likely all paired as originally installed.  

My plan at this point is to purchase and install a pair of upper gears and turn a bushing to fit the larger bore of the pair to fit the 9.4 mm shaft.

[Pintodeluxe]

You might try Nickosew.  I've bought used / obsolete Pfaff parts from his outfit before.  No complaints.

[shoepatcher]

New genuine will be expensive.  They do make generics.  

try eBay.  there is a guy on eBay that sells Pfaff parts.  he is in Lithuania.  prices reasonable.  You need to find the part numbers for the two gears.  i would also contact Henderson sewing and Collier Equipment, both in Alabama. have parts numbers ready.

 

ok  the parts number for the bevel gear sets (only sold in sets) is #91-141536-90, the set screw set is #11-330964-15.    The cost i found was $190.00 for the gears and the screws.  Hope that helps

glenn

Edited January 23, 2021 by shoepatcher

[sandmanred]

52 minutes ago, shoepatcher said:

New genuine will be expensive.  They do make generics.  

try eBay.  there is a guy on eBay that sells Pfaff parts.  he is in Lithuania.  prices reasonable.  You need to find the part numbers for the two gears.  i would also contact Henderson sewing and Collier Equipment, both in Alabama. have parts numbers ready.

 

ok  the parts number for the bevel gear sets (only sold in sets) is #91-141536-90, the set screw set is #11-330964-15.    The cost i found was $190.00 for the gears and the screws.  Hope that helps

glenn

Thanks for the part numbers.

Yowsa!  Those gears are over half what I paid for the machine!  The Lithuania guy does not have a pair of the ones I need.  I couldn't find the lower pair on ebay but I did find the upper pair.  I have them on order. I'll bush out the large bore gear to make it work. 

I also found pairs of spiral bevel gears with the same number of teeth and very close to the same centerline distance on McMaster Carr.  They have tool steel hubs and hardened teeth so they are the real deal.  They are only bored to 6 mm and don't have set screw holes so I'd have a few more steps to get them installed.  The gears are about $75.  By the time I add metric set screws, drills and tap my total is about $100 plus probably a 1/2 day of fiddling to get them bored, drilled and tapped.  That's a possible plan B if the generic ones don't pan out or last very long.

Which supplier did you find them at?

And thanks again for looking all that up!

[shoepatcher]

I went on line on Google and put the part number in  and got a few hits. You might try Henderson sewing in Alabama.

glenn

[JJN]

On 1/23/2021 at 7:33 AM, shoepatcher said:

ok  the parts number for the bevel gear sets (only sold in sets) is #91-141536-90, the set screw set is #11-330964-15.    The cost i found was $190.00 for the gears and the screws.  Hope that helps

Glenn and @sandmanred the part number for the bevel gear set in the parts manual I looked at has a different part number, 91-009-432-90. I see someone had 11 sets for sale on ebay for $70 per set but is sold out now. i sent the seller a message to see if they had any more.

update: I now see that this is the seller from Lithuania you mentioned above.

In his description he says this gear set will fit other models:

USED PFAFF 120,122,141,142,144,145,146,148,151,153,155,190,191,192,193,194,195,196,333,335,341,342,343,345,346,3300,541,542,545,546,595,596  LOWER GEAR & PINION,  10046, 10045. SET 91-009 432-90

You might find a parts machine from the list that you can salvage a set of gears from.

update #2: I got a reply from sewtech71: Hello. I don't have sets at the moment. I have two units of 10046

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by JJN

[sandmanred]

My gears from ebay arrived today.  All I could find was the upper gears but these are identical other than the bore on the horizontal shaft is  0.500 instead of 0.370.  So I made a bushing to make up the difference. I got it running and with a little trial and error got it retimed.

Everything is so quiet now.  I'm running a hypoid gear oil instead of grease, it's nice and thick and clings to the gears without slinging off.  What do you run on gears like this?

Shown without cover in place to show the bushing on the one on the left.