A Guide to Gear Manufacturing
Production processes are designed to create added value. A gear manufacturer's objectives are defined by product costs, volumes, and deadlines. As such, the production of gears involves a combination of processes. Process used in the manufacture of gears include blanking, forging, powder metallurgy, extrusion, and casting. Various types of gears are available to suit different needs. The various kinds include worm gears, bevel gears, gear racks, spur and helical gears.
To classify gears; manufacturers look at the positioning of the gear shaft. Differences between gear types depend on the particular mechanical configuration of how force is transmitted in its application field. The gear selection process requires the evaluation of factors such as the gears dimensions, precision grades, the number of teeth, its torque, and efficiency.
Due to advances in gear manufacturing technology, producers can easily manufacture gears of varying complexity. A variety of machines are available that facilitate the manufacture of gears. The gear manufacturing process can be automatic, semi automatic, or manual. As such, machining is the most populate gear production process involving two main methods: shaping or hobbing. Large volumes of gears are manufactured using machine based techniques. Hobbing employs dedicated machines to make gears. In this process, a gear blank is fashioned on a rotating hob. After the right gear depth is attained, the blank is then passed through a hob cutter. The grinding process utilizes a multi-point cutter on a grinding wheel to create the desired gear type. Typically, the grinding process is used in the manufacture of hardened gears. Gear grinding is slow and is only utilized for the manufacture of high quality hardened gears. Know more about Custom gears Cleveland.
Gear manufacturing requires the application of specialized knowledge of mechanical properties of gears. This is particularly the case even when using standardized designs. This knowledge encompasses a variety of formulas for creating gear sizes and strengths, an understanding of the various gear types and technical vocabulary, train speed ratios and rotational directions. Other factors to consider are backlashes, teeth forms, and thicknesses, ISO and AGMA precisions classes, gear assembly accuracy, heat, and materials treatment.
Accordingly, the gear design process relies on industry level standards to improve the quality and performance of gears. To ensure the production of high quality gears, assessment of production facilities and techniques is necessary. A major techniques used to benchmark manufacturing standards is reverse engineering gears. Reverse engineering gears entails the computation of design parameters for the specific gear type. However, the standardization process is much more complex than calculating gear parameters and application variables. Typically, results obtained by reverse engineering are normally accurate. As the process is iterative, it requires the performance of repetitive measurements. Obtained measurements provide guidelines on gear deviation from design requirements, inaccuracy of measurements, and the effect of the application environment on a gear's integrity.
