A reader asks: We are currently revising our gear standards and tolerances and a few questions with the new standard AGMA 2002-C16 have risen. Firstly,
the way to calculate the tooth thickness tolerance seems to need a "manufacturing profile shift coefficient" that isn't specified in the standard; neither is another standard referred to for this coefficient. This tolerance on tooth thickness is needed later to calculate the span width as well as the pin diameter. Furthermore, there seems to be no tolerancing on the major and minor diameters of a gear.
Finding capable, dependable machinists is one of the great challenges of modern manufacturing. Most gear manufacturers we talk to would hire more machine
operators - if only they could find them. They lament the fact that their workforce is getting older and grayer, and they don't know what to do.
With increasingly smaller returns from improving the speed of the actual gear grinding process, improving your setup time has become a primary way to keep improving efficiency. Here's the latest on how you can do that today.