Japanese solutions for broken CD-ROM gears

[Valkyrie]

So I was getting my Japanese practice in for the day by searching for Japanese websites to see what solutions they have for replacing broken gears on PCE CD-ROMs.  And what I found was kind of surprising.

First, there's a guy on Yahoo Japan Auctions who sells exact replacement gears, seemingly on a regular basis.  It looks like he just sells one at a time, with the auctions starting at (and usually ending at) Y1100 (about $11)
Here's the current one http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w100388482
The seller is yaohati33

The other solution I found was two separate pages that shows how to combine two component gears to make a replacement compound gear

http://garakuta.homelinux.org/~nosuke/diary/diary.html?y=2009&m=6&d=3&n=1
This first one gives a source for the gears, kkpmo.com.  He spent about $41 on the parts to make 5 gears.  He drilled out the inside diameter and glued them together with what seems to be some specialized glue.

http://pcerepair.blog.fc2.com/blog-category-1.html
This guy had the same idea, but he went about it a couple different ways. (and this one I didn't try to read much, I just skimmed it.
First, he tried binding them with heat (and a takoyaki cooker?!)
Then he pinned them together with piano wire (looks effective, but difficult)
Then he found the same glue the guy in the first page did.

In later posts, he goes on to show some custom gear setups, including an alternate 3 gear arrangement and a belt drive system.  The latter of which he says came from a foreigner.  Someone here, perhaps?

[Keith Courage]

Yeah, I've seen both of the first two you mentioned before. wish there was a place to order them from directly instead of using yahoo japan auctions. Just cheaper and easier to use the gear I currently stock. Not to mention chops gear method works nice as well.

[wolfman]

I made my middle gears exactly the way described in the last link. Works perfectly for me. Just a little louder than the original, thats all. What you also should do is to change the pinion gear as well from the same seller. That way the gears will mesh perfectly into each other. I used epoxy to glue them together. The piano string method is for people that like to fiddle around with tiny metal pins 
In my case the middle gear sits so perfect that I don´t even need to use the tiny metal shim ring to keep it into place 

Can recommend this mod to anyone who is willing to invest that amount - as it is min 2x expensive than chops gear. You certainly cant get it cheaper, I can tell you from my experience. Those custom made gear wheels are what makes it that expensive.

[Ninja16608]

Interesting use of two separate gears. This pin method seems way over the top when glue works just fine. It seems the hardest part is you need to know what position the two gears need to be glued together.

[wolfman]

It seems the hardest part is you need to know what position the two gears need to be glued together.

Nope, its pretty easy, I can tell.

Just align the two gears in a way that the teeth are in line with each other 

[deubeul]

Used the second method too, works fine.

But it's easier to glue the gears together before drilling the hole.

[BlueBMW]

I did at least one drive with a belt replacement.  It worked and was super quiet, but also a little tricky to do.  Chops or Keiths gears work, are cheap and easy to install.