Standards in terminology for bevel gearing
If you still are digesting the acronyms in my April 2019 column, I apologize. As mentioned in that article, without a proper understanding of...
I graduated; now I am an engineer!?!
In my previous columns, I tried to connect real-world experiences with concepts of gearing in order to entertain and educate you, the reader. In...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Tolerances associated with gears
Have you ever purchased something that cautioned, “Some assembly required” on the packaging, only to learn later that even with a master’s degree in...
The benefits of converting to helical gearing
The simplest-to-design and the easiest-to-use gearing design is that of the spur gear. It has teeth that are parallel to the shaft axis, and...
A primer on backlash, its purpose in gear designs
If gears are designed with a standard tooth proportion and are operating on a standard center distance, they would mesh ideally and would neither...
Converting to linear motion using rack and pinion
As the summer heat builds, we all look forward to the annual family vacation. Whether the trip takes us to the mountains, or to...
Worms and worm wheels – a primer
First published in 1973, the novel How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell tells the story of Billy and his desire to win...
Increasing surface contact with ground gears
Older drivers probably owned a car during a time when most automobiles in the United States had a manual transmission. For those people, learning...
Cones are not just for ice cream
At this time of year, as we are transitioning from the doldrums of winter through the rebirth of spring and the eventual sunshine of...
Is it Strong Enough?
While walking through a field of wildflowers one might find a feather nestled amongst the flora. The feather is light, airy and delicate. Beneath...
What Are You Made Of?
If you have ever sat down for Sunday dinner in an authentic Italian-American home, you know not to question the red sauce known as...
Making the best selection
In today’s online dating world, you are asked several pointed questions in order to determine your perfect match. Just like human relationships, gears work...
The Zen of Gear Design
The feeling of Zen is one that we all can aspire to. Through practice and self-reflection, we can work toward being centered and grounded....
Pitch-Perfect Gear Design
The pitch of a gear is defined as the distance between two identical points on two adjacent gear teeth. Ideally, it is measured at...
