Removing a Gib Key

That key is an absolute bear to remove, they way I got one out was by drilling and tapping it then threading a stud into it then I used some machinist blocks and a steel bar with a hole in it to pull it out.

Can you post a bigger pic? These “heads” were often heated, either in an oven or on an electric single burner hot plate. Heat, acetylene heat, will help alot. Welder’s gloves. Enough heat, and this whole thing probably slides right off.
Bigger pic so to see your situation better. If shaft and head are out of machine, a machine shop with “H” press could push shaft out.
Drilling, threading, and pulling will probably work, but need to heat first. A lot of heat.

Ericm it’s the eccentric on the left side of c&p or kluge.

To press that out you would need to pickup this press rotate it 90deg to get it into an h press.

I assume the person posting this is attempting to dismantle a press and has just discovered your can’t take the side apart without separating this shaft and its two gears from the press.

Both the gear and this eccentric are interference fit, they are an absolute nightmare to remove.

I have an extra large gear hydraulic puller that once I was able to extract the gib was able barely pull mine off.

Heat in this situation may or may not help, it can be useful if there is rust between the two parts to break it loose. But during the actual removal you want to do the work at room temperature, steel expands more in heat than cast iron, if you heat everything in the system up the joint pressure will actually increase.

If you could get hold of an electric strip heater such as is used to protect exposed pipes from freezing, and wrap it around the wheel rim and let it heat the wheel from the rim in for a while, a few hours maybe, the disc ought to expand enough to pull it off the shaft, key and all. It looks in good clean condition so just heat should do it.

After building kluge presses for 5 years and repairing them for 45, I can say that heat will help. A lot. These “Head Cams” are heated on a single burner hot plate for an hour or 2. We grease the shaft and slide them on. Align quickly and hammer in the key.
To remove, I used 2 people. I made a big brass block(4x4x1/2, drilled and tapped), hanging from a 3/8” threaded rod. After heating, person 1 hangs the block next to the cam. Person 2 then slams it off with a Sledge hammer, working from the delivery area out. Enough heat and it should come off easily. A 3rd person, wearing welders gloves, is handy to catch the thing. It will start to “cock” on the shaft when it gets close to coming off. Can usually switch to a smaller hammer.
It is a tough job yes, but done in the field quite often.

Friends,

In an effort to disassemble at 10x15 C&P we struggled with everything imaginable to to remove the gib key from the bull (small) gear on the shaft. After searching online I found this gib key remover tool that worked well. We used a grinder to shape the back side of the key to be more pitched so that the tool wouldn’t slip off as the pressure pushed against it.
Pictured is a shot of the ebay source.
See the video at
SouthpawPrinters.com
https://www.southpawprinters.com/southpaw-galleries
Steve V.

gib key remover tool .jpg

gib key puller tool.jpeg

That tool will definitely remove a “Gib Head” key. The one in the Head Cam however is a square key, with no head.

Absolutely correct. And unless you can get behind the wheel or gear to punch it out from behind I don’t know of any way to get it our.
I used this a few days later on a second press we need to move and it worked like a charm.

If you watched the video on my website it looks pretty easy.
The video was a reenactment. It took about 5 minutes with a sledge hammer and the tool.
:)

Normally with keyed pulleys and gears etc, they are pulled off the shaft with a 3 legged puller.

Frank,
That is correct. We tried both a 3 legged gear puller and a more robust gear puller set(see pix below) but couldn’t get behind the gear since it fit so tight up against the press frame.
The gibb key being wedge shape only gets tighter as you pull against the gear anyway.

Heavy Duty gear puller.jpeg