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At a point in time when the truth is hard to find, and “spin” is applied to nearly everything, it’s refreshing to talk to a man like James Cervinka, the 83 year-old cofounder and CEO of the Arrow Gear Company. “I’ll be honest with you, I started this company to get rich, and what’s wrong

At a point in time when the truth is hard to find, and “spin” is applied to nearly everything, it’s refreshing to talk to a man like James Cervinka, the 83 year-old co-founder and CEO of the Arrow Gear Company. “I’ll be honest with you, I started this company to get rich, and what’s wrong […]

Considering certification? Here are answers to your most basic questions, as well as a case study from someone who’s been there.

Avon Gear Company commenced operations in 1974. The company started as a gear manufacturer in a 10,000 square-foot facility in Rochester, Michigan. Today, under the leadership of company President Aaron Remsing, Avon Gear is located in a 60,000 square-foot facility, also in Rochester. Its product line includes high-precision gears, AGMA Class-10–sun, spur, helical, and high-contact […]

Longtime industry leader Philadelphia Gear has taken a new approach to providing service excellence… online!

In 1998, the Philadelphia Gear Corporation — a century-old gearing and power transmission manufacturer — conducted a business evaluation of its operations to determine the long-term profitability outlook for the gear-manufacturing segment of its business. Founded in 1892, Philadelphia Gear had developed a reputation for manufacturing custom-gearing solutions to meet the world’s growing industrial needs. […]

The Sigma Pool—a collaboration between industry giants Klingelnberg, Liebherr, and Oerlikon—is providing solutions to the global gear market.

The Sigma Pool was formed in 1991 to be a market-focused, single-source supplier for gear manufacturers around the world. Alone, each company served a specific niche of the overall gearing field. Together, they were able to expand their offerings to every corner of the globe, while simultaneously cutting costs and sharing technology. Liebherr brought expertise […]

As president and owner of Modern Gearing, Matt Lane has worked hard to uphold—and enhance—the reputation of a company with a long tradition of service and quality.

When Matt Lane tells the story of how he came to be owner of Modern Gearing, his voice takes on a certain incredulous tone … and it’s no wonder. “I’m basically a toolmaker by trade, and I was working for a large valve manufacturing company when a local machine tool dealership hired me to train […]

With a global presence, a reputation for precision, and an aggressive business plan, mG miniGears is poised and prepared to expand on its position as a market leader.

In 1976, Vincenzo de’ Stefani was presented with an interesting opportunity. Founder and owner of a company in Padova, Italy, that manufactured large gearing for marine applications, he was approached by a business associate who was having difficulty obtaining the smaller gears he needed for power hand tools, and who asked him to give it […]

Jeff Barnes knows Fellows gear machines, and those “in the know” consider him the primary source for rebuilt equipment, parts, and service.

Growing up, Jeff Barnes spent his days neck-deep in machinery. He and his father were into racing — circle tracks, with modified cars — and after working on the engines, frames, and bodies in their spare time, they would take to the racetrack on the weekends, putting their work to the ultimate, real-world test. These […]

Reishauer’s RZ 400 is like no other generating grinder on the market today, and it can efficiently grind batches of five—or 5,000.

It used to be that if you needed to grind gears, your decision was limited to a slow-form grinder that was better suited for small lots, but not regarded as competitive for larger production runs or, alternatively, a machine considered to be a production-style “threaded wheel” generating grinder. The latter was well suited for 3,000 […]

Since MAAG machines are known for their precision and durability, savvy owners are upgrading their existing equipment.

Since the last MAAG gear-shaping machine was built and delivered in 1990, it’s safe to say that the many outstanding advantages and capabilities that these machines provide are known and appreciated by only a few people in the gear industry. However, the great number of MAAG gear-cutting machines in worldwide operation — along with intermittent […]

After years of research and real-world experience, Universal Technical Systems introduces the IGS package for comprehensive gear design.

S.M. “Jack” Marathe, the president of Universal Technical Systems, Inc., isn’t exactly modest when he talks about the power and usefulness of his company’s Integrated Gear Software (IGS). “It’s a complete design and manufacturing environment for gears and gear sets,” he says. “IGS will take an OEM or a gear shop completely through the process–design, […]

Modern design, machining, and heat treating amount to huge savings for worm-gearing manufacturers.

Worm designs and manufacturing methods have changed very little over the past half century. Finishing a worm in soft material and then hardening it offers huge savings to worm manufacturers, but has not been considered viable because of distortions in the material from heat treating. Thread grinding has long been used as a finishing operation […]

With global connections, and acres of warehouse space, Rich Piselli has all the gear machinery that his customers need—and if he doesn’t, he’ll find it.

If Rich Piselli were to write a book on running a successful business, it would probably be titled Trust, with chapters such as “Keep Your Word,” and “Stay Focused,” and “Don’t Waste People’s Time.” The conclusion? That would be on the importance of building and maintaining a good reputation. “In this business, all you really […]

A Glimpse into the Future of Grinding and Honing Gears.

When David E. Ross and his associates incorporated Fairfield Manufacturing Company as an offshoot of their existing company in November of 1919, what they couldn’t foresee was that their little venture would eventually become a world-class producer of gears and power transmission products. The Ross family had founded Ross Gear and Tool Company in 1906, […]

From motorcycles to manatees, take advantage of all this special city has to offer.

So you’ve spent the day at Gear Expo, meeting with old friends and making some new ones, and you’re ready to get out on the town and see what else Columbus has to offer. Plenty, as it turns out, with a wealth of restaurants, bars, sporting venues, museums, and other attractions that are sure to […]

The Nachi-Fujikoshi Corporation, and the Nachi Machining Technology Company, are hot on the trail of eliminating coolants from the tool-cutting process.

As with all manufacturing processes, the focus remains on piece cost and workpiece quality. Piece cost is primarily composed of the combined components of raw materials, the initial tool cost, tool sharpening and recoat, and the price of coolant, coolant disposal, machine cycle time, equipment depreciation, and general labor. As can be concluded, the cutting […]

As the master distributor for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in North America, Tom Kelly and Ian Shearing are dedicated to putting their customers “front and center”.

On the showroom floor of the Mitsubishi Gear Technology Center in Wixom, Michigan, is what could be seen as the very embodiment of its purpose and philosophy. Known as the GT06R, it’s a three-station machine that performs hobbing, chamfer deburring, and rolling operations — all in one clean, white-painted, sheet-metal enclosure. And to think it […]

Surface-hardened materials are widely used in manufacturing gears, and carburizing, and sometimes nitriding, is normally used as a hardening treatment, which results in the reduction of macro-pitting–the main failure mechanism of hardened materials. This has to do with the extremely high local stresses due to the roughness of the tooth flanks.

For special applications, PVD coatings are now applied on a small scale. The coatings that are mainly applied so far are: B4C, WC-C:H (or W-DLC), and CrN. Bodycote’s U.S. operations, formerly known as Diamond Black Technologies, has played a pioneering role in demonstrating the capabilities of PVD coatings, especially B4C. In collaboration with Hauzer, Bodycote’s […]

A Glimpse into the Future of Grinding and Honing Gears.

Cost pressures, qualitative increases, and tribological and size-limiting demands are just four of the factors that have clearly characterized the production of transmission components, especially in the last three years. In this process, the grinding and honing system plays a central role because it literally puts the finishing touches on the transmission component. Often, whether […]

From a four-man operation to a thriving business employing some two-dozen experienced workers, Lawler Gear provides an interesting mix of gear-related services.

It was 1952 when a small-town blacksmith by the name of Calvin Lawler was drafted into the Korean War effort. He had just completed basic training when he signed up for a three-month course at an Army base in Atlanta that would prepare him to man a mobile machine shop mounted in the back of […]

At a time when everyone has access to the same manufacturing technologies, the Drewco Corporation is helping its customers stand out with tailored solutions to their workholding needs.

Speed, efficiency, competition, accuracy… all words that fuel the fires of modern-day manufacturing. They are the “why” behind our daily tasks, as well as the reasons for invention and the motivation to compete–and what drives us to compete also forces us to improve. Today’s gear manufacturing arena is filled with obstacles that challenge us to […]

Gleason Cutting Tools’ new superabrasives wheel plating facility is helping gear manufacturers keep pace with increased demand for high-performance hardened and ground gears.

Gear designers around the world are seeking to increase their use of hardened gears to squeeze optimum performance out of smaller, quieter transmissions and gearboxes. After all, highly accurate hardened gears offer greatly improved strength and wear resistance (service life), while at the same time delivering a greater load carrying capacity (higher torque) than larger […]

From humble beginnings, this Houston company is poised for growth.

According to Jack Nowlin, his father was known for his strong work ethic. It’s what led C.B. Nowlin to found his own company, in fact. “He’d get to work in the morning, and everybody would have to take a break,” he says. “And then they’d have lunch, and then they’d have to take another break, […]

M&M Precision Systems’ “unknown gear” software is precise, reliable, and makes solving the mystery as easy as punching a button.

Ever have a gear that you wanted to inspect, but didn’t have drawing data to define the part? M&M Precision Systems has developed a program for measuring gears with unknown parameters, otherwise known as an “unknown gear.” It allows for the input of partial parameters or for a complete inspection, including counting the teeth and […]

Process Equipment has developed new equipment and software that makes finding flaws a breeze.

The conventional CNC gear inspection machine will measure and evaluate helix and involute tooth flank deviations that are relative to a theoretically perfect helix or involute form. Any information relating to the actual mean tooth size, relative to a desired tooth thickness, is lost when plotting the traces. This is because the software is designed […]

From its beginnings in Prague more than a century ago, Havlik International has grown beyond its founder’s wildest dreams—while maintaining a connection to its home country.

The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in the Havlik family — generations deep, in fact, according to John Havlik, Jr. “My great-great grandfather was a blacksmith, and my great-grandfather, Jan Havlik, started out making printing machines in Prague in the late 1800s,” he says. “Then he realized he could save money by manufacturing the gears he […]

It’s no longer a secret that cryogenic processing adds longer wear life and increased durability to gears, tools, and components.

For decades, cryogenic treatment has been one of metalworking’s best-kept secrets. It has become mainstream in recent years, and it is now providing consistent solutions for many areas of industry. Cryogenic processing adds longer wear life and increased durability to gears, tools, and components. Cryogenically treated tools are used to improve machining efficiencies. As a […]

Once thought impossible, this new technology blends medium and high frequencies to create a new induction heating technique.

Inductive surface hardening is an attempt to harden only the surface of a structure without affecting the inner portions of the part so that internal tensile stresses are avoided. This is particularly important when it applies to gears. The tooth and root portions of the part must be surface-hardened in order to provide resistance to […]

Three solid decades of growth and accomplishment.

When Dan Tweed, Jr., left the Army in 1988 to join his father at the helm of Carnes-Miller Gear, he found a company that was rock-solid at its core, but in dire need of a few technological upgrades. “We only had one computer when I got here,” he recalls, “and all it was used for […]

A time-proven process produces powerful bevel gears.

Faced with ever-increasing horsepower and torque requirements, in conjunction with size constraints, High Performance Gear (HPG) began investigating ways to maximize the capacity of transaxle designs while maintaining the original gearbox castings. This led to the conclusion that the gears used would need to be stronger, not larger. An area of particular interest to HPG […]

Examining the methods behind superior manufacturing.

First, the basics. Worm gear sets are used to transmit power between non-parallel, non-intersecting shafts, usually having a shaft angle of 90 degrees, and consist of a worm and the mating member, referred to as a worm wheel or worm gear. The worm has teeth wrapped around a cylinder, similar to a screw thread. Worm […]