Last issue, when I went over the results from our annual State of the Gear Industry survey, I was being too nice. Sure, there's still a lot of optimism about the business climate. Gear manufacturers are mostly busy. For
most, 2018 looks like it will be at least a little better than 2017. But there are dark clouds ahead, and they've been building for some time.
As you might imagine, I talk to many gear industry people through the course of my day-to-day activities. And there is one question that I hear over and over again. "Joe, we need an experienced gear process engineer. Do you know anyone who's available?"
It's probably no surprise to anyone that the majority of the gear industry had a pretty good
year in 2017, and that most gear manufacturers are expecting a pretty good 2018 as well. After
all, most major economic indicators - including the ones that focus on the manufacturing sector - have been positive for some time.
This paper presents a new approach to repair industrial gears by showing a case study where pressure angle modification is also considered, differently from the past repairing procedures that dealt only with the modification of the profile shift
coefficient. A computer program has been developed to automatically determine the repair alternatives under two goals: minimize the stock removal or maximize gear tooth strength.