Hi All ...... I spent nearly all day looking for some right angle gearboxes which could be used to produce scratch Z Drives and bow thrusters since the ready made jobs are a bit expensive and not to the scale I require, and since 6 are required Im a bit unhappy to pay the going price.
Hope some one can come up with a website which covers the smaller items.................Regards Alan

Tamiya makes right angle boxes. www.tamiya.com

Not much out there good for small bow thrusters, at least not that will save you any $$ over the commercial offerings. You'll want between 1:1 and 3:1 reduction at most, but if the reduction is in the bevel gear, you'll have a big gear blocking the water flow... so best to have 1:1 in the right angle bit. I've been eyeballing dental prophy heads:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...44&postcount=3
But haven't gotten around to converting one yet. Would only be good for very small models, maybe 1/2" or 3/4" propeller.
For a Z drive, the configuration is so special I can't imagine building one without a small machine shop and some special gears ($$$), will be hard to beat the cost of the commercial offerings. Good luck!

Pat Matthews

If you are really 'hard up' for gearing, try here;
www.hpcgears.com
I'm serious about the 'hard up' thing! They have, or can make anything you want. The question is then if you think it's going to be worth the cost (the exchange rate too since the place is in the UK).
- 'Doc

(ask for a catalog, they really will send one.)

Ah, but he is in th UK!
For those on this side of the pond, it's easier shopping at https://sdp-si.com/eStore/ , though they may want to make 10,000 of any 'custom' item.

Pat M

.... since the ready made jobs are a bit expensive...

There in lies the difficulty, Often the gears and bearings alone can run you right up to the retail costs. Two sets of Bevels could cost $50 US, However there is nothing that compares to building a custom drive and showing it off at the pond.

In the states, these two companies can supply a lot of parts you may need.
They aren't cheap though.

http://www.smallparts.com/
http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/gbb.cfm

http://www.wmberg.com/
http://www.wmberg.com/prgears.html

Hi All........ Well Food for thought !!! . It seems Im going to have to do more research, I have been in contact with HPC and am waiting for a result but im not hopeful My problem is that the majority of the commercially available are out of scale for me though I wouldnt consider that a serious deviation from the drawings Thank you all for your input and i will go through all the websites you have listed tomorrow ,I too have also looked at the dental side Pat there wouldnt be much of a problem with Revs since I dont intend to be sailing at more than midrange due to the nature of the ship Any one interested I will post a pic of the model Im copying or if you go to Model Boat Mayhem and look in the gallery at CSO Seawell you'll get an Idea of what Im up against....... Many thanks to you all for your help (Watch this space) Best Regards ........Alan
I will at some stage be posting my progress as soon as I have something to show for it

Try Hobby Engineering. These guys have great stuff...

http://www.hobbyengineering.com/SectionM.html

Don't know the size of the boat you are working on, but here is a link about a Graupner bow thruster assembly for about $36.00 U.S., which could be less than it would cost for a set of bevel gears.

http://www.mhsd.org/model/moonlightbt.htm

Another thought is that you might try an electric toothbrush for the shaft-to-rotary brush mechanism.

Pete G.

Hobby Engineering Looks ok Will check them out tomorrow .Pete great idea Great minds think alike how does an electric toothbrush work any idea, I dont have teeth myself so ive never used one Lol. Time to go to Howstuffworks I think.....Alan

PS the Graupner bow thruster Too small Dia tubes and the propulsion is by impeller again scale becomes a problem.......

From the dental side of things, the disposable prophy angles are made of plastic and won't hold up. On the other hand the metal ones will or try contra-angles or latch angles. The metal prophy angles have a threaded part that the rubber prophy cup threads into. Contra/latch angles have a thru-hole chuck that a burr shaft will fit into.

So I can rule out that avenue since a Dentists drill would be costly

I wouldn't rule them out entirely. A lot of offices have gone to using disposable prophy angles. Which leaves a lot of the metal ones in a drawer somewhere collecting dust. Also check the phone book under dental handpiece repair, they may have some old ones laying around too.

I don't want to sound like a smart-a__ here but what the general public refers to as the dentists drill is actually the high speed handpiece and what the hygenist uses to clean your teeth is refered to as the slow-speed handpiece. There is about 200,000 RPM difference.

Just explain to the Dr. what you are trying to do and you might be suprised what you might get. Besides it doesn't hurt to ask.

Yes, I know a modeler that got a lot of used tweezers and forceps that were great for modeling but no longer suitable for surgery from his Dr. friend.

When you say "too small dia tubes," are you referring to the tubes in your model being smaller than the Graupner or the Graupner tubes being smaller than you need for your model. If your tubes need to be smaller, I have seen a windshield washer pump hooked up to a manifold to shoot water out of either side of the bow to very good effect in small models. If the Graupner thruster is too small, it looks as if you have a little more room to work with.

Pete G.

try

http://www.mfacomodrills.com/gearbox...cessories.html

specifically

Pt.No.919D24. Bevel Gearbox. which is listed towards the bottom of the page...

i have no idea how much it costs, however.

in addition to the above listed gearbox, they have quite a few items that you could use to build your own gearbox, including bearings and bevel gears in plastic and metal. i would check out their entire site...

Tim