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Tormach makes CNC machines and automation tools that offer precision across a range of materials without the need for expensive industrial three-phase power.

Much like in any industry dealing with manufacturing parts, a lot of those parts, including gears, need to be prototyped or produced in small quantities. So, using powerful, industrial-strength machines and tooling is often not economically feasible or efficient. Enter Tormach and its line of machines and tooling specifically aimed at companies and facilities looking […]

New England Gear celebrates 30 years of supporting the gear
manufacturing industry.

New England Gear president and founder Jeff Barnes grew up as a gearhead. Today, the company he founded 30 years ago focuses on remanufacturing Fellows gear shapers. “I was heavily involved with short track modified racing in the Northeast growing up as a kid with my dad,” Barnes said. “Basically, I was a mechanical guy. […]

Piselli Enterprises has served the gear industry with high-quality new and used gear machinery along with the expertise and knowledge to help customers quickly assess their needs and find solutions.

For upwards of 30 years, Piselli Enterprises has helped its clients find and rebuild used gear manufacturing equipment. Adding to that continued success, the company has opened a facility in Mexico in order to further keep its finger on the industry’s pulse. A big part of that success means that the machines in Piselli’s inventory […]

By using robots, a workable and sustainable solution can be developed to accurately post-process metal parts that use additive manufacturing, a task that has often been a manual one.

It is not really that much of a secret any more that the post processing stage of the additive manufacturing (AM) workflow is a challenge for many applications of AM. “Challenge” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, for the record. For metal AM applications in particular, the post processing of the parts remains […]

Mass finishing and shot blasting are two distinct industrial processes used for surface finishing of components, each with its own unique method and application.

In the precision-driven realms of the medical and aerospace industries, the roles of mass finishing and shot blasting technologies cannot be overstated. These processes, crucial for achieving the high degree of surface perfection required in these sectors, are instrumental in ensuring both the reliability and safety of critical components. This article delves into the intricate […]

Several strategies have been developed as to how machine, software, tool, and process design must be adapted to reach an optimal balance between productivity, surface quality, and form deviations within e-mobility applications.

While the quantity of gears within drive trains for e-mobility has drastically decreased compared to drive trains for vehicles with combustion engines, their design has changed significantly and alongside the geometrical tolerances were massively sharpened. The reasons for this are twofold: With the omission of the noise emission of the motor, the gearboxes’ acoustic behavior […]

Ty Miles Inc. has more than 60 years’ experience building high-speed broaching machines with more than a thousand systems working in the field.

 Successful businesses often start off at square one with humble beginnings. In the case of Ty Miles Inc., those origins were literally in the house of the company’s founder. “Tyrus H. Miles was my grandfather, and he was born in 1911 and grew up in Detroit,” said Ty Miles Inc. President Steve Mueller. “Ty Miles […]

The low-pressure carburizing and high-pressure gas quenching process offers a significant potential for advanced distortion control where the gas-quenching process provides a more homogenous heat-transfer coefficient on the surface of the quenched components when compared to quenching with liquids such as oil or polymers.

In many applications the high demands regarding fatigue properties of transmission components can be reached only by the application of customized case hardening. This case-hardening process results in a wear resistant surface layer in combination with a tough core. However, as a side effect, the components get distorted during heat treatment. This distortion has a […]

The problem of determining the envelope surface in gear design and in gear machining processes has been around for decades, and even though this problem was intuitively realized by proficient gear experts, it could not be correctly formulated.

This article deals with envelope surfaces used in gear design and in gear-machining processes, those using the gear generating principle when rotations of two gears in mesh or of a gear and the gear cutting tool are timed with one another. The key features of this conventional approach of generation of envelope surfaces [developed in […]

As the demand for energy efficiency increases, gear-measurement technology will be required to be advanced as the machining method of gears and the inspection standard also advance.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there have been efforts to combat climate change with environmental measures. In that vein, the improvement of energy efficiency is in constant  demand in the automobile industry as well as other industries. When it comes to manufacturing gears, in order to improve their performance, it is necessary to […]

Expanite offers an innovative technology that prevents wear, galling, and corrosion of components in stainless steel or titanium by hardening the material in a pure-gas environment without using harsh chemicals, leaving no toxic waste and with a low carbon footprint.

Hardening of parts such as gears and other essential products made from stainless-steel alloys is a vital and necessary process to ensure those parts perform optimally. Expanite, a company that was born from research at The Technical University of Copenhagen, has grown its innovative process of hardening stainless steel more efficiently than previous methods. Besides […]

This digital twin predicts gear and bearing fatigue and reliability, accounting for all the same influences on component fatigue as are included in state-of-the-art design analysis, but in a process that runs automatically, requiring no human interaction or intervention.

Technological trends tend to attract convenient phrases whose usage “goes viral,” picking up more and more references across the world. In particular, the “Digital Twin” is something that has been spoken about widely, yet it has rarely (if ever) been seen — for gearboxes at least. For sure, the “Design Twin” exists — a simulation […]

Case study: New optimized machine concept enables individual response to customer requests and sets advanced standards in useability.

Finishing gears and profiles more efficiently is the goal behind any company’s push for innovation. This has led to the development of a sophisticated modular system, providing a uniform basis for various machine concepts. Thanks to three different configurations for the tool and workpiece drive, Kapp Niles, a globally operating group of companies providing solutions […]

Working with an experienced supplier of open die forgings, seamless, and contoured rolled rings, and complex forged parts that prioritize the ‘end use’ of the part form in the early stages of the process can help ensure quality, performance, safety, and compliance in critical applications.

When forging seamless rolled rings for diverse sectors such as industrial machinery, pulp and paper, turbines, and oil and gas exploration, it is crucial to tailor components for their specific applications or “end use.” In the realm of metal parts, this term commonly denotes the ultimate form and state of the final machined part, along […]

In this article, the angular velocity ratio and the gear ratio in parallel-axes gearing in both geometrically-accurate gearing and approximate gearing are discussed, and a novel measure of variation of the angular velocity ratio in gearing is proposed.

This article deals with the angular velocity ratio in gearing. In the introduction section, it is stated the following discussion pertains to gearing of any and all designs, namely: parallel-axes gear pairs, intersected-axes gear pairs, and crossed-axes gear pairs. Attention should focus on parallel-axes gearing, as this kind of gearing can serve as an example […]

Gear skiving on machining centers offers manufacturers a relatively
new option with several key advantages.

Producing many slots on a gear is a challenging process that requires high accuracy. Manufacturers need to achieve high accuracy while being as productive as possible, cutting slots fast. Traditional gear-cutting processes include broaching, shaping, hobbing, or using a specialized end mill. Although effective, each of these methods has disadvantages. Broaching requires special broaching machines […]

Case study: Coordinate measuring machine still capable of aerospace-standard quality control after 26 years.

At one of two factory units in Devizes operated by sealing specialists Cross Manufacturing (www.crossmanufacturing.com), two coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) built by LK Metrology (www.LKmetrology.com) in 1997 and 2007 were recently given a new lease of life following an upgrade. It involved the OEM future-proofing operation of both machines by retrofitting multi-wired NMC300 controllers with […]

Originally established in 1995 as purely a service organization, Machine Tool Builders (MTB) has since evolved into a single-source solutions provider offering the best of both worlds: rebuilding and re-controlling all types of older gear manufacturing machines, and now offering a fast-growing line of world-class new gear machines.

In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, gear manufacturers are often faced with a difficult choice: either replace their older CNC machines with expensive new equipment, or gradually lose the race for more productivity, quality, and reliability. For many in the gear manufacturing industries, Machine Tool Builders offers a compelling alternative. Over the last three decades, Machine Tool […]

The AGMA J-factor is calculated in four different ways by considering the maximum total stress and minimum curvature radius of the trochoid fillet, the maximum total stress and curvature radius at the corresponding tooth section, the maximum total stress and circular fillet, and the maximum total stress obtained from FEM analyses.

The Geometry Factor for Bending Strength, J, also known as AGMA J-factor, is used to assess the tooth- root stress of spur and helical gear teeth. The Information Sheet AGMA 908-B89 presents a calculation method for the AGMA J-factor based on the Lewis’ parabola and computes the stress concentration factor from the minimum curvature radius […]

How 5-axis machining is modernizing bevel gear cutting at Milwaukee plant.

A few short years ago, producing the bevel gearset for the Falk® V-Class® gear drive at Regal Rexnord’s Milwaukee-based plant looked like this: A technician would spend about two hours setting up a cutter. Then, the technician would spend about another hour on the fixture setup. Once “set up,” the technician would spend an hour […]

Jorgensen Conveyors and Filtration Solutions offers an extensive line of conveyors, coolant filtration systems, material handling equipment, and chip processing equipment built to serve the machine tool, metalworking, and other industries.

During the cutting process for gears, the chips that are stripped away from the final piece need to be transported from the machining process. The same can be said for the lubricants and cooling agents that may get contaminated by the gear’s leftovers. The experts behind Jorgensen Conveyors and Filtration Solutions have been providing conveyor […]

Seamless, contoured rolled rings are often critical components in a variety of industries, including gear manufacturing, which is why specialty forgers are needed who can quickly manufacture custom, high-quality, seamless rolled rings in a variety of materials and finishes.

A wide range of industries such as aerospace, automotive, mining, oil and gas, machinery manufacturing, and power generation rely on seamless rolled rings, which are critical components used for gears, turbines, bearings, clutches, couplings, drives, flanges, valves, machines, robotics, and other forged shapes. Seamless rolled rings have a greater lifespan than other products due to […]

With demand ramping up worldwide, working with an experienced OEM to rebuild equipment is often the fastest, most cost-effective way to increase production.

Today, global demand for rebuilt forging equipment is surging, driven in part by a dramatic rise in the need for military ordnance spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As in past wars and conflicts, the demand for forged parts often increases as governments seek to replenish depleted stocks of artillery shells, tanks, aircraft parts, and […]

This article provides evidence that with minor numerical effort, the tangential stresses for any profile shape can be correlated with the standard reference and hereby a factor defined to take into account a higher stress level in the tooth root area.

Various numerical methods have been suggested for validation of tooth root bending strength. In these approaches, it has always been a challenge to consider local strength — as determined by hardness and residual stresses — in numerical calculations. Therefore, the analytical approaches as described in standards such as ISO 6336-3 prevail in gear rating. This […]

Horsburgh & Scott engineers and manufactures a wide range of small to large gears and gearboxes, then supports them with value-added services to keep its customers up and running.

Gears, by their very nature, are complex structures that have inserted themselves quite literally into almost all aspects of everyday life. And as the gearing industry constantly evolves to fit the needs of a changing technical environment, it can often become a challenge to ensure those essential gears are performing optimally. The experts at Horsburgh […]

Although the Coniflex cutting system is widely applied for SBG production because of its design and manufacture, no mathematical model of its tooth surface has previously been available. This article establishes such a model by building coordinate systems between two interlocking cutters and a work gear on a straight bevel Coniflex generator.

Coniflex cutting, a popular mass production method for straight bevel gears, employs two giant interlocked circular cutters to generate tooth surfaces. By controlling the tool pressure angle, Coniflex cutting enables profile and lengthwise crownings that result in advantageously low assembly sensibility. Coniflex gears are therefore widely used in the manufacture of a variety of gearboxes. […]

Power skiving has revolutionized the gear manufacturing industry by enabling the production of high-precision gears with complex geometries.

Gears are fundamental components in various industries, ranging from automotive to aerospace, where precise and efficient power transmission is crucial. Power skiving has emerged as an innovative machining method for the production of high-quality gears with complex geometries. Sandvik Coromant, a leading provider of cutting tools and solutions, has been at the forefront of advancing […]

Production and application of gears with conjugate tooth flanks enables one to increase the gear accuracy and to reduce the noise emission that originates from gear transmissions.

This article deals with conjugate gear tooth flanks. An evolution of the gear tooth flank geometry is briefly outlined, and the key accomplishments in the field are indicated (with the names of the corresponding researchers who deserve to be granted with a certain discovery in the area of interaction of conjugate tooth flanks). Gearing of […]

Federal Broach and Machine offers a complete selection of custom broaching machines, broach-cutting tools, and gear-cutting tools engineered to meet the industry’s most challenging production demands.

When a company gets so good at making an essential product that other companies take notice, it only reinforces the need of that company’s unique place in a competitive industry. Federal Broach’s innovative strides in doing helical broaching put the company on the map, and, serendipitously, gained the attention of Mitsubishi Heavy Industrial (MHI), which […]

This project successfully initiates the development of a calculator designed to predict how positional offsets applied to the tool in the power-skiving process affect the geometry of the produced gear within a limited design space.

Within this article, the power skiving process of gear tooth machining was evaluated and developed with respect to cutting tool orientation. The impact of minor variations to the orientation of three factors related to the cutting tool were explored to determine the effect of cutting tool orientation on the output metrics of finished gear geometrical […]

Lubrication experts share guidelines on how to determine if an additive is sustainable.

The ongoing trend to sustainability is prompting lubricant manufacturers to determine how their products are sourced, manufactured, used, and then, hopefully, recycled, so they can continue to provide benefits even in a different application. This “cradle-to-cradle” approach provides the best opportunity for lubricant manufacturers to minimize their carbon footprint and achieve carbon neutrality. The hopeful […]

Since 1993, Euro-Tech Corporation has provided German-engineered solutions for the aerospace/aircraft, automotive/transportation, gear-manufacturing, and small-engine industries.

As the gear industry continues its march toward specialty projects and products within the automotive and aerospace industries, it becomes an absolute necessity that companies think outside the box to develop methods that create those essential high-precision parts. Euro-Tech Corporation, along with its sister companies Frenco and MyTEC, has been busy over the last few […]

It is important to have analysis tools capable to detect potential noise issues and to distinguish between manufacturing and design reasons.

E-drive gears differentiate from other automotive gears by two essential points: higher quality and the need for an excellent noise behavior. Gear noise can have many causes. When gear noise issues occur, many people start to look for the causes in the manufacturing process only. However, this is not always the root cause. In order […]

An alternative approach for the inspection of the accuracy of gear tooth flanks is discussed; the approach is based on the evaluation of the variation of the angular base pitch of the gear (and that of a mating pinion) from the operating angular base pitch in the gear pair.

This article deals with inspection of accuracy of functional portions of gear tooth flanks. The functional portions of the tooth flanks are those that interact with one another when the gears rotate. Deviations of the actual gear tooth flank, Gact, from the desirable tooth flank, G, in geometrically-accurate gears are considered below only within the […]

With enhanced AI capabilities, computers can be trained to accomplish specific tasks by processing and recognizing patterns in vast amounts of data.

Few technologies have changed the gear-manufacturing industry as much as ERP software. From automated scheduling to precision inventory management, automated purchasing, real-time job costing and more, ERP simplifies production processes so gear manufacturers can work faster and more efficiently while delivering a quality product on time every time. The next transformative technology — artificial intelligence […]

Speedgrip Chuck Company designs and creates workholding products for customers in every industry where metal cutting is a part of the manufacturing process.

Workholding is an essential part of manufacturing accurate gears of all shapes and sizes. That’s why it’s important to have the best high precision workholding solutions available. To that end, Speedgrip Chuck Company has been offering those workholding solutions for 75 years and counting. “We’ve held every imaginable gear type/profile from spur and helical to […]

Laser-deposition brazing is a reliable production technology for the manufacture of bimetal components where very high quality can be achieved.

Bronze has proven itself as a highly functional material in tribological systems for numerous applications. The different bronze alloys offer an adaptation of the material properties to a wide range of loads. Bronze can be used as a solid material in the component or applied locally only as a functional layer in bi-metal components. The […]

Different materials make gears suitable for the desired application. The key involves identifying the right recipe.

If you have ever sat down for Sunday dinner in a traditional Italian-American home, you know not to question the red sauce known as “Grandma’s Gravy.” This tomato-based elixir coating your pasta is a gift from heaven itself. But the ketchup served with your French fries at the local fast food drive-thru is also a […]

The Department of Energy funds new center that will develop a cost-effective method for decarbonized manufacturing for steelmaking without a blast furnace.

Steel has a major impact on everyone’s lives and our economy. It is crucial to cars, trucks, airplanes, buildings, and more. However, there is a significant issue with its production process. Globally, it accounts for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $19 […]