The AGMA Foundation’s trustees are reinvigorating the Foundation’s efforts to shape the future of the gear industry. During my first year as Chairman in 2011, we undertook an important and thorough examination of the Foundation’s mission, projects and donors’ interests. As a result of this analysis, the Foundation will focus on preparing tomorrow’s workforce with educational opportunities and practical results of scientific research. The new mission statement is: to support and strengthen education, training and research for the gear industry. The Foundation also updated the infrastructure and “look” of its web site in order to better communicate with donors.
The following are examples of recent foundation projects:
Year-round Opportunities to Learn from Experts
Two popular gear courses are now available for manufacturing employees right at their computers, and on their schedules: “Detailed Gear Design,” taught by Ray Drago; and “Gear Failure Analysis,” taught by Bob Errichello. Donations to the Foundation made it possible for the live courses to be videotaped and made available in segments with supporting training documentation. These courses are invaluable to anyone who needs to better understand and optimize gear design and avoid gear failure.
Scholarships to Help Build A Pipeline of Skilled Workers
If you have manufacturing employees or interns who are completing an undergraduate or graduate-level degree in mechanical engineering – and they are particularly interested in gear technology or gear research – please let them know about the Foundation’s $5,000 scholarship. You can encourage them by offering to support their application with a letter of recommendation. A promotional brochure about the scholarship program is available on the Foundation’s web site.
Information on How to Diagnose Ghost Tones
The Foundation provided a grant to Penn State to publish a book on the mathematical relationships between gear tooth surface deviations and their associated vibrations. Using the technology described in the book, spot checks can be made during the production run to avoid undesirable ghost tones and errors. The book, titled Performance-Based Gear Metrology, by William D. Mark, PhD, will be available this fall.
Understanding Micropitting Phenomenon
The Foundation is supporting a three-year investigation of micropitting at Ohio State University. Study results, expected in 2013, will provide models and contact patterns that describe the conditions when gear micropitting occurs and does not occur.
Details on all of the above programs are available at www.agmafoundation.org.
The AGMA Foundation board of trustees acknowledges the continued need to address the gear industry’s workforce preparation needs. We appreciate your financial support of our work.
AGMA Awards First Recipients of New Certificate Program
Over the past seven years AGMA has steadily added to its advanced gear engineering course offerings to create the AGMA Advanced Gear Engineering Academy. In that time more than 1,200 individuals have participated in those courses, with some completing at least five of the six courses offered.
For these dedicated individuals, taking the Academy’s classes represents more than 100 classroom hours. It is quite an achievement and demonstrates real passion for continuing education in the gear industry. AGMA and the AGMA Education Advisory Council are pleased to recognize those who have accomplished this with an AGMA Advanced Gear Engineering Certificate.
The first recipients to be recognized are:
David A. Hamilton, Engineering Manager, Unigear David Brown Systems (Canada), Inc.
“I began my career at UniGear fresh out of university and was fortunate enough to be part of a dynamic forward thinking company… Ron Mehra and Peter Zurcher, our company founders, always found it important that we learn and stay current. This is where AGMA and its training has been an invaluable asset to our success. The quality of the courses and teachers is outstanding and this truly makes learning about the gear industry very interesting and rewarding.
Frank E. Sultzman, Manager, Product Engineering & Quality Assurance, Boston Gear
“I have attended five AGMA advanced gear training classes so far and plan to continue to attend other AGMA educational events. These have always been led by industry experts and were presented in an engaging and professional manner. The breadth of knowledge of each class goes far beyond my current product requirements, which gives me great insight into new possibilities for product development. Also, the range of courses covers most every aspect of gear design and manufacturing. I recommend these classes to any industry professional wanting to maintain a solid foundation of gear industry knowledge. This is not available anywhere else.”
Robert F. Wasilewski, Manager, Design Engineering, Arrow Gear Company
“Where else can an engineer receive advanced training about gears? The AGMA seminars are so informative; you will want to take them over again. In my 35 plus year career, I have attended the Gear Failure Analysis seminar three times. Always something new.”
The six AGMA Advanced Gear Engineering Academy courses cover a large body of knowledge in gearing.
Gear Failure Analysis has been presented by gear failure analysis expert, Robert Errichello, for the last 20 years to sell out sessions. The seminar brings together a vast amount of knowledge not available elsewhere to help solve everyday problems for a gear engineer, user, researcher, maintenance technician, lubricant expert, or manager.
Gear engineering expert Ray Drago presents detailed Gear Design. This course for advanced students with a good understanding of basic gear theory and nomenclature covers all the factors going into good design from life cycle, load torque, and evaluating consequences.
Gear Manufacturing & Inspection, with Ray Drago, aims to narrow the information gap by providing gear design engineers with a good foundation in both manufacturing and inspection processes and procedures.
Gearbox System Design, with instructors Ray Drago and Steve Cymbala, addresses everything but the gears and bearings. It includes seals, lubrication, lubricants, housing, breathers, and other, very important but less often mentioned, details.
Gear Materials & Metallurgy, with instructors Ray Drago and Roy Cunningham, demonstrates how the gear design engineer and the gear metallurgist can work together to optimize the gear manufacturing process.
Gearbox CSI, with instructors Ray Drago and Joe Lenski, helps gear designers gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Students learn about the limitation and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears that they support so they can properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox, whether simple or complex.
We anticipate the list of recipients of this certificate to be steadily growing, as there are a number of individuals who are very close to completing five courses and you can be among them. For information on the AGMA Advanced Gear Engineering Certificate, the current list of distinguished recipients and the AGMA Advanced Gear Engineering Academy courses please visit the AGMA website www.agma.org or contact Jan Alfieri at Alfieri@agma.org.
Access AGMA Webinars Anytime
AGMA Webinar Series provides a rare opportunity to learn from and interact with the experts in the gear industry. Train your whole office with no travel expense or time away from the office. All you need is a computer with Internet access and a speakerphone to join in the Webinar. Participate alone or with colleagues – all on your schedule and at your pace.
All AGMA Webinars are available for download after the event – make sure you are up on the latest information. Recorded sessions complete with handouts are available as downloads (or on CD) wherever you are – online and on demand.
Past topics include:
• Conditions for Cutting Tools: Determining Hobbing Feeds and Speeds for Mid-Range Module Gears
• Gear Microgeometry Based Load Distribution Analysis for Gear Noise, Dynamics and Design Assessments
• Gear Design’s Stepchild – Root Fillet Configuration!
• Metalllurgy of Gear Materials
• Counterfeit Bearings in the Global Supply Chain: What You Need to Know
• A Review of Economic & Industrial Market Prospects
• Charting the Course through Profound Demographic Change
• Design and Development Procedure for High-Precision Molded Plastic Gear Transmissions
• Introduction to Gear Rating Suite 3.0
• Analytical Gear Chart Interpretation – Part 1: Reading Between the Lines
• Analytical Gear Chart Interpretation – Part 2: Solving Manufacturing Problems
Access your training today. www.agma.org.
