Before we leave our study of materials, I want to share a few thoughts on heat treating, lab tests, and hardness testing. When you start working wi...

Right up there with the dreaded “blank sheet of paper” is the inevitable question of “Can we use this instead?” It came as a real shock to me the f...

Material Grade in Gears

Material Grade in Gears

The reason not all gears can be made from the same material grade has to do with hardenability. We have long unde...

If my last posting prompted you to look at a copy of a material cert, you probably noticed that the cert has much more information on it than just ...

So, what exactly do we mean when we say “use good material” for your gears? Once again, the answer is “it depends.” Even the “best” steel may be wr...