Gear Solutions Online

In the last year or so that I've been contributing my thoughts on safety in this column, I've pretty well stuck to the accepted definitions of safety as we all think of it. This month I would like...

Everyone knows that a pair of gears needs some backlash so that the teeth aren't "pinched" (running with both flanks touching). Many people, though, firmly believe that the amount of bac...

This column will focus on recent activities for the development of an international wind turbine gearbox standard and report on an organizational meeting of a Joint Working Group (JWG) formed to d...

GS: How long has your company been in business, and how did you get started?ZC: My brother, Jerry, is the vice president, and the two of us started the business in 1995. We'd worked together at an...

It's a simple economic fact: A large company locates in a particular area, operates for a number of years, and dozens of smaller companies are spawned as a result--often by employees longing to st...

There comes a time when every manufacturer should consider attaining ISO certification. Not only can it lead to greater market penetration--specifically reaching those companies who require ISO ce...

Take a peek into the machining cells at progressive large-volume gear manufacturers these days and you'll likely see more measuring devices cropping up on the shop floor right next to the machines...

Cylindrical die worm rolling is a proven high-speed process which can produce precise worms with excellent surface finish and high fatigue strength when correctly applied. In this process, a surfa...

Editor's note: In this special feature I've decided to depart from our usual format and allow Joe Franklin to speak in his own words about AGMA's international advocacy of its member's concerns a...

What is the single most important issue that affects all of us who are involved in this industry? Is it the work environment, or dealing with sharp cutting tools? Or maybe it's weight issues durin...

A favorite gear engineer's saying is "if the input shaft turns and the output shaft doesn't, the gear drive has failed." That "definition" implies that something is broken, pro...

GS: How long has your company been in business? RJ: I spent 34 years working for a division of Allied Signal, and when they had the big layoffs in 1991 and so many of my coworkers lost their jobs,...

At the age of 79, most people--if they're still around at all--have adopted a fairly sedentary lifestyle. They've retired to the fairways and their front porches, maybe doing a little gardening, b...

In recent years, environmental safety requirements have been raised around the world, and many companies are seeking to acquire ISO14000 certification to meet international environmental standards...

Power transmission gear manufacturing for critical industrial applications (Figure 1) requires an understanding of many factors, including both heat treat process-related variables (pretreatment, ...

We don't usually associate the word "advantage" with the concept of "working through" someone else when it comes to purchasing equipment. Instead, we instinctively attach impre...

I tend to be forgetful. I like to tell the story that there are three sure signs that you're getting old. The first one is that you start to forget things, and I don't remember the last two. The r...

Sometimes there simply is no easy fix for a misalignment problem. Maybe the box is bored out of line, the gears weren't matched originally, or the parts are so slender that they bend under load. I...

In my earlier columns, the role and continual development of AGMA and ISO standards was discussed, in general, as a contributor to reliable gear products through progressive changes and refinement...

GS: When was MicroCheck gear software first developed, and what does it do? GT: We launched MicroCheck about 10 years ago, and it's a software program that encompasses everything you need in a dou...

The world was at war, and as men swelled the ranks of the U.S. military fighting overseas, many women stepped in to fill the positions they had vacated. "Rosie the Riveter" became a fami...

A sagging economy and the fierce demands of global competition are unfortunate realities that all manufacturers have been faced with in recent years. The fallout has come in the form of lost reven...

Cast iron is generally thought of as a weak, dirty, cheap, brittle material that does not have a place in applications requiring high strength and defined engineering properties. While gray cast i...

Direct Digital Simulation (DDS) is a universal method for computer modeling of gear design manufacturing and analyses. Unlike the commonly used differential geometry, the DDS method is based on Bo...

Introduction A 25 to 35 percent increase in power density and a markedly lower operating noise are two major performance advantages that a new type of helical gearing, called "OptiGearing,&qu...

Last month we discussed data retrieval in this column. I thought it might help if we discussed what the courts would be looking for in the circumstance that we would have to defend our company in ...

When gears are worn, they lose their accuracy. Like an engine camshaft, gears need a smooth, accurate shape to carry their load. When the correct profile is lost to wear, the mating gear tends to ...

Just as it is with most things in life--including marriage and military operations--both clear communications and the collection of the right information are essential to getting maximum results. ...

GS: How long has your company been in business, and what are your primary activities? RH: We've been in business for the past nine years, and we basically provide executive and management services...

Nearly three decades ago, in 1976, a man by the name of Yong Bae, Chun decided to start a company of his own. He wanted to call it the Dragon Precision Tools Co., in part because his name, "Y...

Deciding on the benefits of in-house hob sharpening depends on a number of factors that gear manufacturers are faced with when determining the allocation of resources to indirect labor dollars. A ...

In the past five years, dry-cutting technology has steadily moved to dominate production of automotive hypoid gearsets in the United States, while a parallel trend has occurred in Europe. The sign...

Ever-increasing demands on manufacturers to improve productivity and quality have led to the need for faster and more accurate machine techniques. Face driving arose to help meet these demands. Or...

Two-dimensional and 3D CAD programs have continually lessened the role of the engineer in the actual process of designing gears, gear mechanisms, and mechanisms in general. This unilateral phenome...

Is a safety program an income producer? Of course not, but it does contribute to our infamous "bottom line." An active, documented safety program can and does contribute to a drastic low...

Most gear tooth failures provide clues that help us make replacement gears that outlast the originals. Sometimes it's simple, like "no oil," but more often a little detective work is nee...

GS: I would assume that Fairfield's wide range of capabilities, including its design/build services, allow you to feel fairly confident when you call on a customer. GT: It really does. There are v...

How ISO Began International standardization began with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1906. Work in other fields, by the International Federation of National Standardizing A...

It was the early 1940s, and the war was raging overseas. Back on the homefront, hundreds of thousands of scientists, researchers, and engineers were training their knowledge and expertise on suppo...

In an age of information systems, we have immediate access to everything from our e-mail to the Internet. Gear manufacturers now have a system that will provide them with immediate access to their...

Introduction In modern-day gear technology, the lube oil used is an important element of the gear's overall design. Increasingly stringent requirements for large enclosed gear drives--of the kind ...

Petroleum oils may always have a place in the world of gearing, but as mechanisms run hotter and faster, quality demands increase, and extended warranties push service life, interest in synthetic ...

Splines are necessary for many reasons. In addition to transmission of torque, spline profiles are used to find and centralize the axis between a splined shaft and a splined hub located in the mat...

While splines have been manufactured for decades, they still seem to perplex the manufacturing engineer who is trying to insure the proper assembly of two mating components. The case frequently ar...