I need to come up with a right angle gearbox (example)

I’m not a blacksmith and local hardware stores are coming up empty apart from selling a right angle drill attachment (which would work but they’re a bit pricey for my purpose).

The purpose: to hide a water valve (positioned upright) & control it from the other side of a wall. (back story)

My ideas so far:

  1. find a broken angle grinder that someone threw away (seems unlikely) & cannabalize the gears
  2. build right angle gears out of wood
  3. harvest worn down bicycle cassettes from the trash and orient them at right angles against each other. They are designed to mate with a chain, so I’m not sure how well it would work. The valve is only turned on/off a couple times per year, so maybe I can get away with it.
  4. go to a toy store and find a kid’s Capsela set (do they still make these?); though I imagine it might exceed the cost of a right angle drill accessory anyway and it would possibly break under stress.

What other tools or appliances should I look for on a dumpster dive which would likely contain a right angle gearbox?

  • @DownwardSpiral
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    21 year ago

    Could you use some hose mounted in a couple of bearings, fixed to some brackets mounted at right angles? Kinda like the same way you use a flexible drill bit holder?

    • ciferecaNinjoOP
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      1 year ago

      @DownwardSpiral Thanks for the suggestion. I’m not sure if a rubber hose (like a garden hose) could take the pressure without kinking. A flex shaft did occur to me, which is in some Dremel kits and also sold for drills. I think a flex shaft accessory would work but then I’m probably approaching the cost of a right angle attachment anyway. I’ll keep it in mind though. It would indeed be cheap to use a small section of garden hose if it can handle the torque. Perhaps a hose inside of a hose to add strength and resist the hose getting twisted.

      (edit) I have an old plumber’s snake that’s in rough shape. Perhaps i could cut a bit of that off and run it through a garden hose, and use the snake as a flex shaft. Though it might not do too well in the counter-clockwise direction of rotation.