how to get ahold of whipper?

[midwestmadness775]

My father and I have been trying to get ahold of member Whipper to have some 60 sprockets made for a t20. He emailed back one time but havent heard from him since. Anybody on here friends with him and have a phone number or anything?

[Model Citizen]

[philipatmaxfour]

Best Friend

Ya I'm his best friend. He's eating dinner right now. I'll have him pm you soon as he's done.

Bridget

That's nice Bridget.

[lewis]

That was a good one!

[midwestmadness775]

still didnt get a pm from him :/ really need these sprockets. we have all the 60 chain and idler sprockets and everything for our tracked machine we are making but need the sprockets for the transmission before we can build more

[kghills]

still didnt get a pm from him :/ really need these sprockets. we have all the 60 chain and idler sprockets and everything for our tracked machine we are making but need the sprockets for the transmission before we can build more

Don't know your capabilities but If you have your T20 apart and look at the output shafts you will see the gears are pressed on. The gears are easy enough to press off with a hyd. press.

You can purchase hubbed gears with hardened teeth from Fastenal pretty reasonable in the tooth count you are after and bore the gear to press on the output shafts of the T20. Just place a shim under the gear to get the right depth and insure it is pressed on square then tig the gear afterwards to the shaft. That's how I did it at least and it seems to work just fine. You will need a press, lathe and tig welder however but it is doable if you do not hear back from member Whipper (who does very good work by the way).


Keith.

[midwestmadness775]

Have a press and lathe. No tig welder though. Have a mig and arc but no tig.

[midwestmadness775]

The transmission isnt torn apart anyways

[Model Citizen]

[jpswift1]

There's a big downside to permanently welding the sprockets on the output shafts though. When your sprockets eventually wear out after a lot of use (or if you forget to keep the chains tensioned properly), you'll need to replace not only the sprockets, but also both output shafts, and they're certainly not cheap. And it seems as though getting transmission parts isn't an easy process for many people lately. Whipper has a broaching machine to do it properly so if you use your machine a lot and a sprocket eventually wears down and you want to replace it, simply press it back off, just like how the original one was installed. Call Whipper and Bridget directly at their shop and I'm sure they'll get back with you. (623) 934-7144

[midwestmadness775]

Whipper did send a message but I didnt know that. Happy to have his number now. Would have sucked to use 50 chain instead of 60. Thanks guys

[phabib]

I turned a welded sprocket off my right side output shaft. I replaced it with a sprocket from RI, which was knurled on the inside so it cut its way onto the shaft and I'm sure it will be as strong as new. Just in case though, I TIG welded 3 short beads. The sprockets came from RI within about a week of my placing the order so that wasn't a big deal either.

[jpswift1]

I turned a welded sprocket off my right side output shaft. I replaced it with a sprocket from RI, which was knurled on the inside so it cut its way onto the shaft and I'm sure it will be as strong as new. Just in case though, I TIG welded 3 short beads. The sprockets came from RI within about a week of my placing the order so that wasn't a big deal either.

You probably ordered your sprocket when Recreatives was still in Buffalo, correct? I didn't think about turning the sprockets off on a lathe when I posted that last message, and yes it could be done, if done carefully. I've seen a couple instances where turning a worn piece off another on a lathe didn't work though. Hydromike turned some welded on hubs off some bent axles for me and it worked well. Output shafts are too expensive to risk it though, in my opinion. I'd just have them put on a broaching machine and then put tack it in two small spots just for some extra holding power, but this way they can be cut off with a small die grinder if they need to in the furure.

[phabib]

I was able to substitute care for skill in turning my sprocket off the axle and it worked out well for me. After I removed the sprocket I could still see the remaining knurl marks on my axles. I'm pretty sure I couldn't get it that close again in a zillion tries. Is a broaching machine what is used to do that internal knurl? Is that a single point tool with the sprocket indexed over after each cut?

I ordered about 2 weeks ago. I talked to Galen who quoted me a price and told me he wasn't sure if they were in stock or not since stock wasn't in Buffalo anymore. I called about 10 days later to ask if I'd need to wait a long time for more to come in or if it would be a short wait. He said he had no idea, it could be months until RI placed an order for more, and that I should talk to Whipper about getting new ones made if I didn't want to risk a long wait. At that point, I asked him to cancel the order so that they didn't show up in 3 months and when he looked up my order to cancel it, it was marked shipped. Sprockets were waiting for me when I got home that day.

So the price was good, the delivery time was reasonable, but visibility into the process could use some work. It also seems that shipping/handling starts at $16 or so, which takes a big bite out of a small order.

With new sprockets and Speedi-sleeves where the seal rides, I doubt that I'll be having to deal with those shafts again for as long as I own the machine.