Conversation with Greg Maisch
Why is accurate gear inspection vital to ensure gear components meet stringent design specifications and functional performance requirements?
In the world of precision manufacturing, the...
Driving into the future
UGRacing is the University of Glasgow’s Formula Student team. Founded in 2005, the team has grown to more than 160 members, with many alumni...
Empirical Methods of Determining Hardenability
In this column, I will discuss a few different methods of empirically determining the hardenability of a steel.
As discussed in my last few articles,...
Q&A with Amanda Lucas & Kimberly Upton
What are your roles at Tormach?
Amanda Lucas: I’m a technical writer. I create and maintain all of the customer-facing instructional material like operator manuals,...
Calculating the hardenability of steels
In the last article, I discussed the concept of hardenability of steels. Hardenability is not to be confused with the achievable hardness of an...
Keys and Keyways
Keys and keyways serve as fundamental mechanical mechanisms for transmitting torque between rotating shafts and power transmission components, such as metric spur, helical, or...
Hardenability in Steels
One of the concepts that always causes trouble in the field is the concept of hardenability. Hardenability is not to be confused with the...
Tapered vs. Uniform: Tooth Depth in Bevel Gears
The question of choice between tapered or uniform tooth depth in bevel gear design persists in engineering discourse. In straight bevel gears, the tooth...
Q&A with Rick Yan
You spent nearly a decade leading Star-SU in China. How does that experience influence your approach to global product management?
I’ve been in the gear...
Q&A with Heather Curtis and Craig Foucht
Tormach is expanding a partnership within the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) to help schools structure coursework so students can have the right...
Part orientation during quenching
In this column, I will discuss the effect of gear orientation as it enters the quench. This is a critical part of controlling the...
Ohhh, gears. For cars?
I was recently at a conference outside of the engineering world and was repeatedly asked, “So, what do you do?” I offered that I...
Controlling gear distortion by press quenching
Quench presses are widely used in the heat treatment of carburized and through‑hardened steel gears to control distortion. In this article, I will review...
Independent profile shifts and Occam’s Razor
One issue that periodically arises in gear discussions is independent profile shift in bevel gears. Standard practice for such gears uses zero-sum shifts, meaning...
Q&A with Greg Maisch
Why is accurate gear inspection vital to ensure gear components meet stringent design specifications and functional performance requirements?
In the world of precision manufacturing, the...
Developing residual stresses in quenched steels
Recently, I had a question via email regarding the development of residual stress in steel during quenching, and the stress-reversal that often occurs. In...
Q&A with Michael Zulauf
What is heavy mill scale, and what problems can it cause?
Mill scale is a thin, flaky layer of bluish iron oxides that forms on...
What is my temperature?
The harsh environmental conditions of winter make many of us think about the upcoming change of seasons. Soon, the frigid temperatures, black-iced roadways, and...
Q&A with Tom Zelickman
Tormach recently introduced the 15LX CNC Lathe. What makes this machine tool unique among its competition?
The 15LX is a very capable, compact lathe...
Flame hardening of gears
Flame hardening is a cost-effective method of providing a hard case on the teeth of gears without changing the surface chemistry. It is widely...
