Q&A with Zach Fehler
Tell us about Gearench and its core philosophy.
Gearench™ was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1927 and relocated to Clifton, Texas, in 1978. We currently...
Q&A with Anne Miner
What are the origins of the Diablo team?
Most Diablo employees worked in some capacity at BeaverMatic Heat Treating in Rockford, Illinois, before it closed...
Power Density: Why Steel Cleanness Matters
As early as the mid-1980s, the concept of mechanical“power density” was introduced based, in part, on the use of clean steel.
Today, the demands being...
A Brief Overview Of Splines
Splines provide a connection between two shafts or other components that transmit torque and rotation. Splines may be straight sided, tapered, or have an...
Heat Treatment of AISI 52100 For Bearing Applications
Bearings are crucial to our industrial life. They are found in virtually all industrial applications from wind bearings to aircraft engines. They are found...
Common Gear Failures
The strength, toughness, and cost effectiveness of steel make it the most widely used material in gear-making . Different steel compositions offer an array...
Non-Design Engineering Considerations
The function of design interacts with non-design engineering considerations and functions of a product. Four key elements include: design for manufacturing, design for assembly,...
Surface Engineering of Steels
The ASM Handbook defines surface engineering as: “treatment of the surface and near-surface regions of a material to allow the surface to perform...
Q&A with Adam Gimpert
Tell us about yourself and your role at Koepfer America.
I’ve been with Koepfer America about four years. I’m a licensed structural engineer, so my...
Industry Standards For Steel Cleanness
The correlation of steel cleanness to the performance of parts made from steel has been recognized by engineers for many years. This has been...
Designing Quiet Gears
In today’s industrial and commercial environment, gear noise is increasingly undesirable. Conversely, quiet gears are necessary and important in nearly every industry and for...
Metallurgical Reasons for Grinding Cracks and Their Detection
Grinding is often a final machining step to achieve desired surface finish or final dimensions. Grinding is a high-energy process where a lot of...
Q&A with Bill Miller
What’s your role at Kapp?
I’ve worked in numerous roles for Kapp Niles beginning in 1981, including service manager, application engineer, product manager, regional sales...
Steel Cleanness and Why Measurement Matters
In the past, cyclically loaded gearbox components often experienced fatigue failure caused by large oxide inclusions. Gradual improvements to the steelmaking process led to...
Designing High Contact-Ratio Gears
High contact-ratio (HCR) gears are gears defined with a contact ratio greater than 2.0. Standard gears have a typical contact ratio of 1.2 to...
Development of Residual Stresses During Machining and Workholding
There has been much discussion on the development of residual stresses and distortion during heat treatment. There is an entire conference series called “Quenching...
Q&A with Casandra Blassingame
Tell us about your role at AGMA.
My role as AGMA’s director of education is to be responsive to the needs of our member companies...
Q&A with Bridget Dubbert
Tell us about Engineered Lubricants (EL).
Engineered Lubricants is celebrating 50 years this year. Based in Maryland Heights, Missouri, it was founded in 1967 by...
Additive Manufacturing: Challenges, Possibilities, and the Gear Industry
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a technology that has the potential to fundamentally alter manufacturing, specifically metal manufacturing. The ability to design complex shapes, which...
Achieving Gearbox Design Excellence
In this month’s column, general concepts related to design excellence are discussed. The first one is simplicity in designs. Always seek the simplest and...
