Q&A with Don Ortmann
What’s a typical day like for you at Iosso?
I oversee the production of different departments. We have two departments: One is a production department...
Achieving zero-backlash worm-gear pairs
Life is full of opposing views. If you are heading to the beach, then you want to have the “perfect” beach body. This requires...
Back to basics: Quenching, tempering as heat treatments
This article describes the most common type of heat treatment of steel. This includes austenitizing, quenching, and tempering. In this process, the part is...
Q&A with David Jones
How long have you been involved with Emuge precision workholding products?
I have worked at Emuge Corp. in the precision workholding group since 1997 and...
Standards in terminology for gearing
LOL, BRB, and LMAO are some of the terms that you might text to your teenager if you want to seem cool with their...
Q&A with Matthias Reimann
What are your duties at SONA BLW?
I have been with SONA BLW and its predecessor for more than 15 years in various functions. I...
Parallelism, perpendicularity, and misalignment
Sometime around your 12th birthday, the trip to the dentist resulted in a discussion about the misalignment of your teeth and the need to...
Magnetic particle testing and evaluation of AMS AQ test samples
Aircraft quality (AQ) testing of steels per AMS 2300, 2301, 2303, and 2304 requires specialized sampling and specimen preparation prior to final evaluation using...
Getting back to basics with tempering
Once a part has been quenched, it must be tempered. This accomplishes two things: First, it relieves the thermal and transformational stresses from quenching....
Understanding the different types of heat treating
In the last article, we discussed many different types of annealing, and the reduction of distortion by application of stress relief annealing. In this...
Q&A with Mike Finn
What are your responsibilities with Mazak?
I work in applications engineering. We work with customers to basically size a machine or select a machine appropriate...
Clever sampling techniques highlight AMS aircraft quality testing
In this edition of Materials Matter, we review the sampling and test piece production required for the AMS aircraft quality (AQ) testing methods specified...
Heat-treating gears improves surface durability
A common question asked of gear manufacturers by their potential customer is, “Is this gear strong enough for my application?” Without qualifiers, this question...
Q&A with Mary Ellen Doran
Your position is fairly new. What happened in the industry to move the creation of that position forward?
It was a board directive as part...
When someone gives you the shaft
Did you ever have someone “give you the shaft”? This insult is defined as ignoring or putting someone down. In gearing, giving you the...
AQ (aircraft quality) testing requirements
Much has been written about the critical nature of steel cleanliness as it relates to the performance of highly stressed, cyclically loaded gear components....
Understanding different types of heat treatment: Annealing
In the last few installments we discussed the use of Time-Temperature-Transformation and Continuous Cooling Transformation diagrams to understand the phase changes that occur during...
Continuous Cooling Transformation Diagrams
In the last column, we discussed the construction and application of Time Temperature Transformation or Isothermal Transformation diagrams. It was shown how these diagrams...
Q&A with Pawel Naporowski
What does New England Gear bring to the table that makes it unique among other gear industry companies?
New England Gear is approaching its 25th...
The key to a proper fit for keyways
Did you ever have someone tell you that you cannot fit a square peg into a round hole? This common phrase is misleading because...
