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by **steven1981** on Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:25 pm

I have some Marbelite cycle gears I acquired from Phil a while back, and it is interesting to know they are made from plastic.

For a while, I generally assumed cycle gears for dial timers were made of metal. I would think that plastic is less durable and would cause more wear and tear, due to continuous contact with the smaller gear attached to the actual dial.

Were there any other companies that manufactured plastic cycle gears? Would they be ideal for long term usage?

by **mcha9797** on Mon Aug 26, 2013 6:25 am

I'm not sure of other controller's with plastic dial gear's, but my Econolite has a full set of brass gear's.

by **EagleSignalFan** on Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:23 pm

The cycle gears in both of the dials in my GE/Econolite Type F controller are brass; however, on one of the dials (which I'm assuming is newer) the piece to which the motor is mounted is plastic. I have also seen a Type F dial where the entire dial housing was plastic, only the motor, dial, and gears were metal.

by **Macsignals** on Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:09 am

Something tells me the plastic gears are made by GTE on the cheap to replace the old metal gears. The metal ones will probably last 1000x longer.

The old school Ford and Chevy inline-6 engines share a similar flaw, one timing gear is metal while the other is metal with plastic teeth. Right around 175K they tend to stop running!!

by **steven1981** on Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:44 pm

Macsignals wrote:Something tells me the plastic gears are made by GTE on the cheap to replace the old metal gears. The metal ones will probably last 1000x longer.

Well, they are compatible with actual G.T.E. dial timers, since I have one of these installed in the one I have at home. I did dip the gear into a little bit more of oil, and the drum seems to rotate well. The signal controller is not on 24/7, so I am not necessarily concerned about wear and tear.

I just find it interesting to think that such a material would be used in a set-up like that. I'd think brass is the only way to go.

by **notMUTCDcompliant** on Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:50 pm

Nylon on nylon gears have a very long life in low torque applications... it's when you start meshing nylon or plastic gears with metal gears that there can be major issues.

by **2070** on Tue Aug 27, 2013 5:28 pm

Macsignals wrote:Something tells me the plastic gears are made by GTE on the cheap to replace the old metal gears. The metal ones will probably last 1000x longer.

Marbelite stock item in the end...... :hello:

by **Macsignals** on Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:42 pm

2070 wrote:
Macsignals wrote:Something tells me the plastic gears are made by GTE on the cheap to replace the old metal gears. The metal ones will probably last 1000x longer.

Marbelite stock item in the end......

Thanks for the info! :hello:

by **steven1981** on Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:42 pm

Macsignals wrote:
2070 wrote:
Macsignals wrote:Something tells me the plastic gears are made by GTE on the cheap to replace the old metal gears. The metal ones will probably last 1000x longer.

Marbelite stock item in the end......

Thanks for the info!

Likewise.

by **LarryC39** on Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:36 pm

RC cars often use a steel pinion (small) gear with a large composite "plastic" gear driving the axle. Fairly good life for the amount of RPM's and power being driven. I'd imagine in a 60-second timer it'd last a good long time.

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