Posted by JasonB on 11/01/2023 15:51:11:
If you follow the other links it was so the gears worked with their 12tpi racks which were a 55deg V form
That makes sense. Back in the 1960s I wanted a left-hand Meccano worm gear. With my metalwork teacher's help I established that the standard worm gear is actually a 12 tpi Whitworth thread (9/16" daimeter if memory serves), so I cut the equivalent LH thread on a length of brass and made my own worm gears. I even bought my own 5/32" BSW taps to cut the thread for the grubscrew.
The school, for some reason, didn't have a left-hand thread chaser, but the right-hand one did a perfectly acceptable job.
I've still got one of the LH worms knocking around the place somewhere. And the taps…
George