Charles D. Schultz -- Gear Technology Author

Charles D. Schultz

Chuck Schultz is a licensed engineer, Gear Technology Technical Editor, and Chief Engineer for Beyta Gear Service. He has written the "Gear Talk with Chuck" blog for Gear Technology since 2014.

Articles by Charles D. Schultz

VOICES | 2024-05-10

Escaping the Dark Ages

The inaugural issue of Gear Technology marked a significant change in the industry. I was 13 years into my career, working at my third company and in my fifth year on AGMA’s Helical Gear Rating Committee. Back then, few engineers moved around; you started at a gear company, were indoctrinated in their way of doing things, and hoped to advance by making very incremental changes to the “old family recipe.”

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-03-03

That's All, Folks!

All good things come to an end. Sadly, that is the case regarding Chuck Schultz’s blog, whi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-02-24

Lessons Learned

No one succeeds in any field without help. Fifty years ago, I filled out a job application, took a physical, and counted t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-02-17

Thinking Big

With only a few blogs left to write, I have been thinking about the highs and lows of fifty years in the gear business. Lo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-02-10

Trust the Future

"How sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me; I have not the time to listen to such nonsense."

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-02-03

Can We Make It Here Anymore?

There has been renewed discussion of the “Buy American” mandates recently. AGMA has a long history on this topic and succe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-01-27

New Tools, Same Challenges

An online forum I occasionally visit recently posted a photo of a vintage drafting board and joked about younger people no...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-01-20

No Stupid Questions

One of the pleasures of being Gear Technology’s official blogger is receiving the occasional phone call or e-mail...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-01-15

Papers Please!

If you receive the AGMA e-mails you already know that the annual call for...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2021-01-06

Short Timer's Stick

Long before Star Trek’s “red shirt” was a pop culture reference for a doomed minor character, many war movies and police dramas created a ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-12-30

Wrapping Up a Project

One of my customers had a ship’s bell in their lobby to ring whenever they got a new project; a very neat idea. Sales departments are great about c...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-12-28

Don't Forget the Follow-Up!

One of the cardinal rules of design engineering is that you will never overcome physics. It is an applied science so misunderstanding or ignoring m...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-12-16

Some Help From Your Friends

Making great products is a team effort. It annoys me when the host of a certain house remodeling show claims credit for how wonderful her project t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-12-09

The Book of Knowledge

Gears are wonderful things. Unfortunately, they require support from shafts, bearings, and some sort of housing to be useful. Without these things,...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-12-02

The Fun Part

In the last blog posting, I covered the importance of developing a Product Specification and getting all the “stakeholders” to agree on what a succ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-11-24

Next Step

Once you have an idea what your device will look like, the urge to start designing is strong. Before you start calculating gear ratings, however, t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-11-18

First Steps

As mentioned in my last posting, blank sheets of paper present a huge challenge to any machinery designer. For the beginner, it is even a higher hu...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-11-11

The Terror of an Empty Sheet

Today’s title does not refer to writer’s block. After 660 contributions to the magazine and blog, I still have a few things to cover ahead of my pl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-11-04

Facing Down Contact Ratio

Before we move on from helix angle restrictions, I want to say a few things about face contact ratio. Soon after the appearance of the first helica...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-10-28

But What About ...

Some of you are probably calling forth the gear deities to smite me for promoting a “free thinking” approach to helix angles; I understand complete...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-10-21

It All Depends ...

Regular followers of this blog know whenever I say “it all depends,” that I am compelled to credit industry legend Ray Drago for stealing his catch...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-10-14

Closing the Gap

We left the gear tribe arguing over how to solve the problems that were cropping up with the new-fangled double helical or herringbone designs. Fas...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-10-07

Playing the Angles

When we cannot even agree how to pronounce “helical” it should not be a surprise that there is so much confusion about “proper” limits on helix ang...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-09-30

Job Change Tales

Writers are often advised to “write about what you know.” My recent postings on recruitment, employee development, and fitting in was informed by a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-09-23

Team Chemistry

Recent posts have covered finding new employees and how the supervisors and new hires can make the “adoption” work smoothly. Now we get to the real...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-09-16

Learning the Ropes

Ever wonder about the origin of common phrases? As the son of a sailor, I have always enjoyed maritime history and nautical fiction, although some ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-09-09

Fitting In

Despite my horror stories about new hires gone badly, there are ways to welcome new team members and help them become solid contributors quickly. I...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-09-02

Assimilation

One of the reasons I strongly advocate for “promoting from within” is that many recruitments fail. Real life is not Star Trek, your compan...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-08-26

Finding Good Candidates

Once you commit to developing the talented team members your business needs, how do you decide who to invest in? The “washout rate” at professional...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-08-19

Ladder Shopping

You will be relieved to hear that I am temporarily out of youth soccer analogies. I could switch to “American” football analogies but am mourning t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-08-12

Stay in Your Lane?

It was a major moment in my youth soccer coaching career when the kids finally understood the concept of “staying in your lane.” Mob ball was enter...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-08-05

Basic Training

So how do you go about becoming the confident and versatile professional these trying times require? I remember getting all the standard “work hard...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-08-01

IMTS Future Tech

The Digital Manufacturing Revolution Evolves in 2020 IMTS will offer two comprehensive digital programs, IMTS Network and IMTS Sp...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-07-29

Are You Experienced?

Few of you are old enough to know why today’s title resonates with us old timers. Back in 1969, long before the kneeling protests, Jimi Hendrix peg...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-07-24

Help Wanted

Northwest Pennsylvania’s Oil Region has a long history in manufacturing. Many of the widgets that made oil extraction and processing possible were ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-07-15

Maintaining Connections

My hometown once had dozens of corner grocery stores. Two years ago, a long-shuttered one was reopened by the family of its founder. Some observers...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-07-08

Striving to be Essential

We have all gotten a harsh lesson in exactly what “essential” means from an invisible enemy that does not care about degrees or bank balances. Thos...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-07-01

The Nature of Work

As a guy who once time studied church services, I was trained to believe in efficiency; as in reminding civilians of the backstory of the classic f...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-06-24

Mid-Game Adjustments

People of a certain age well remember The A-Team, a television show about a team of ex-military guys who went around righting wrongs and b...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-06-17

Hitting the Refresh Button

Around the world, athletes are finally being allowed to start training ahead of their teams resuming play. Some fans are unhappy with the proposed ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-06-10

How Do We Fix This?

No political commentary today; just trying to get your attention! Although the headline is “on topic” for me. I am in my 50^th year in th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-06-04

Have You Taught Them Enough?

One of the things that has surprised me about my consulting work is how the unusual projects find me. Unique applications, tooth forms, drive arran...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-05-27

Family Recipes

My last post on helix angles and the constraining theories adopted at some shops reminded me that younger readers might not be aware that there was...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-05-20

Ask the Expert: 5/20/20 Edition

From time to time I’ll be doing some brief Ask the Expert questions and answers. These questions will be on topics that might be very familiar ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-05-13

Visiting Old Friends

Seven weeks into the lockdown, we are all looking for “new content.” Even with a full cable “package” there are times when it seems there is nothin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-05-06

Developing Your Superpower

Many people find themselves with lots of “spare” time on their hands these days. This was not a planned vacation or a retreat to recharge the batte...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-04-29

A Life Without Deadlines

After years of battling deadlines, the COVID-19 crisis has cleared my personal calendar of all deadlines except this blog posting. If you are “shel...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-04-22

Happy Earth Day!

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It was fairly big news for me back in 1970 as one of its founders was a U.S. Senator from my home state...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-04-15

Keeping the Gears Turning

NY Governor Cuomo just used a gear analogy in his daily coronavirus briefing and it seemed to baffle many of the reporters present. It was in the c...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-04-08

This Changes Everything

Ready for things to get back to normal? Unless you were already a recluse, this time of “social distancing” is an uncomfortable and awkward experie...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-04-01

Making the Most of a Bad Situation

These strange times will not last forever. All around the world, people are hunkered down to flatten the curve of hospital admissions. Medical prof...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-03-25

Working from Home

Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis

Many of you are working from home this week, some for the first time. As a veteran of this challenge, I ho...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-03-18

Developing the Farm Team

If you think your operation is the “big leagues”, what are you doing to develop your “farm team?” American readers know all about our baseball team...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-03-11

Finding Future Superstars

Fans of American football have moved on to the next phase of their pre-draft preparation: digesting the advice of hundreds of experts on which play...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-03-04

Scouting for New Talent

American football fans are currently assisting the human resource departments of their favorite professional clubs in evaluating potential employee...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-02-26

After Further Review

Unless it is your team being robbed, you probably hate having a live broadcast interrupted by a video review. We sometimes feel this way during a d...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-02-19

Known Unknowns

In my last posting I mentioned the need for humility and skepticism. Before anyone think this is heading off into political commentary, let me expl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-02-13

Moving Targets

Before we move on from the topic of role model/mentors and their students, I think it is important to note just how fast our industry is changing. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-02-04

Worthy Apprentices

I have been posting about role models and mentors this year; now it is time to change the focus to the best ways to leverage the mentor/mentee rela...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-01-29

Following in a Giant's Footsteps

There are no self-made men or women in the gear trade. I frequently told my children that “all generalizations are wrong” yet I will stand by that ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-01-22

The Perks of Being a Role Model

If you have been a long time “individual contributor” you may wonder why you should accept the un-requested “promotion” to role model within your o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-01-15

Reluctant Role Models

It has become commonplace for athletes and celebrities to insist that they do not want to be role models. They say this even when announcing millio...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2020-01-08

Role Models

“Who’ll be my role model now that my role model is gone? [You Can Call Me Al, by Paul Simon] We have star...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-12-19

Year in Review

This will be my last blog posting for 2019. Our holidays fall on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year so office hours are somewhat irregular. Back whe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-12-17

Listen Up!

Did you struggle to stay awake on New Year’s Eve as a child, expecting something exciting to happen at midnight? When you got older did you try to ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-12-12

Communication and Keywords

I used to be a Boy Scout leader. One of the important components of the “Trail to Eagle” is the Communications merit badge. In our troop, we made i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-12-10

Little Misunderstanding

My far better half’s difficulties with getting her “circle” of church women to embrace modern communications is a cautionary tale for the workplace...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-12-05

Words to Avoid this Time of Year

Continuing from my previous post... Perhaps I should have started this weeks’ blogs with these thoughts. But that may have allowed some of you e...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-12-03

A Sprint to the Finish?

You take your eyes off the calendar for a moment and find yourself with only a short count of days before 2019 comes to an end. This seems to be tr...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-26

An Attitude of Gratitude

I apologize to our international readers if you find this posting a bit “North American”- centered. Americans are celebrating our annual Thanksgivi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-21

We Can Help You Help Yourself

Do you want to know a secret about every one of our authors? At one point in their lives they decided to step out of their comfort zone and write s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-19

Content Request

Have you seen our “help wanted” ad? Gear Technology is look...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-14

Building on Solid Ground

Continuing my rant on over-reliance on commercial software The gears are the easy part. My clients and students have grown tired of my ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-12

Behind the Curtain

Regular readers know of my concerns about the over reliance on commercial gear design software. Some of what you are about to hear may sound famili...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-07

The How vs. Why Balance

We have faced this How vs. Why balance before in both the magazine and the blog. The technical papers published tend to be at the cutting edge of g...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-05

Why is Different Than How

Last time I quoted a university professor equating the teaching of “why” with education and the demonstrating of “how” with training. Some may find...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-11-01

Education vs. Training

My son Derrick is a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design. He completed the five-year, mandatory co-op program at a tim...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-30

What Do You Want to Know?

AGMA’s acquisition of the assets of Randall Publications LLC, the company responsible for both

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-24

Finding the Leading Edge

I had planned to attend the MPT Show in Detroit last week and participate in Gear Technology ‘s Ask the Expert panel, but...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-18

That Competitive Edge

The exhibition is torn down, the displays packed away, and tired exhibitors and guests are looking forward to a relaxing weekend before planning st...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-10

That Blank Sheet of Paper

Does nature hate a vacuum more than a designer hates a blank sheet of paper? We will never know for sure because nature is too busy to write a blog...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-08

So, Where Do I Start?

The last blog posting cautioned against over reliance on reference books for design guidance. A perfectly logical follow-up to that caution is “Whe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-03

Toying with Old Recipes

A consultant’s code is similar to a medical doctor’s; e.g. — Rule #1 is to “do no harm.” Sometimes I feel like a real buzz kill while explaining to...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-10-01

The Things You Learn Along the Way

Long time readers of this blog know that my “gear career” has included plenty of non-gear-related assignments. Of course, if you are a deeply entre...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-26

Thoughts on Team Building

The last post suggested constructing a fighting robot machine as a team building exercise. As a sole proprietor for the last eleven years, I am a b...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-24

Robot Fighting Time?

We watch lots of reality shows on cable television. Home remodeling shows, veterinary medicine shows, game warden shows, and car rebuilding shows a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-19

Group A or Group B?

An Internet meme that is making the rounds concerns a college pottery class. On the first day of the semester, the instructor divides the group int...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-17

Pursuing Perfection

I missed an important point in a product specification this week. Fortunately, my client caught it and I was able to submit another design in time ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-12

Where Did All the Dealmakers Go?

An old business associate called the other day with a training request. To the best of my knowledge, he’s among the last “manufacturer’s representa...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-10

Patience in a World of Overnight Delivery

A consultant gets used to receiving emergency calls. Typically they are requests for help in getting a wayward project back on track or to fill in ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-05

Company Pride

This belt buckle found its way to me recently when my daughter’s in-laws moved into a new house in the Chicago suburbs. The couple emigrated from P...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-09-03

Public Education

A friend asked me how I could have kept busy designing gears for so many years because; all of those needed were certainly designed by now. This co...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-29

Appreciating the Gory Details

Big equipment often requires special processing equipment. Those 300-ton locomotives used unique heat treatment on the gears which required the des...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-27

Honoring Anachronisms

Who hasn’t imagined themselves on the deck of a magnificent sailing ship? (On the deck; only crazy people dream of risking life or limb up in the r...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-22

Situational Ethics

Recalling Solidarity protests while watching the Hong Kong Airport occupation reminds me that change is messy. As much as we Americans would like t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-21

Expanding Your World View

Thinking about the Solidarity movement reminds me of just how limited my world view was in 1981. I read several newspapers every day during my trai...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-15

A Global Gear Community

Roman Cisek’s journey from Poland to the United States is an example of how the gear trade has become one big international community. A few weeks ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-13

Gear Origins: Roman Cisek

I was lucky to get a job as a design engineer – drive train department with a big construction equipment manufacturer (HSW) in Poland, right after ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-08

Polishing the Crystal Ball

Few people enjoy cost estimating and pricing exercises. I have blogged about this topic before but thought it was worthy of another look ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-06

Finding New Vendors

Record low unemployment rates have some unforeseen consequences. My home county’s rate has not been this low in many years, yet the residents do no...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-08-02

What Makes a Classic Design?

...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-30

Pieces of a Puzzle

One of the things I most enjoy about teaching newbies is the need to come up with different ways to explain important concepts. Today’s high school...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-26

Timely Course Corrections

Mrs. Curtis’ account of their family firm’s transition from general machining to noted gearbox manufacturer is an important reminder that success o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-25

Gear Origins: Reinventing the Family Business

Sometimes the old family recipe needs updating… My husband’...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-18

Science Experiments

More than once, I got in trouble with management over o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-16

Watching the Chips Fly

It was a real treat to spend a day at a gear shop this week. After all these years, I still enjoy watching a round blank get transformed into a gea...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-11

Different Countries, Common Needs

Graham Penning’s career in gears began around the time mine did, the early 1970s, and although our paths have never crossed they are very similar. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-05

Gear Origins: Graham Penning

For the last few years I have delivered a gear foundation course to both young and experienced engineers wanting to understand gear technology, and...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-03

Half of 2019 is Gone

We’re celebrating a big national holiday here in the United States so this post is a day “early.” Our summer really gets cranked up now and it is o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-07-02

Same Sad Story

It happened again yesterday afternoon. I was getti...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-27

The Wide World of Gears

Geoff Ashcroft’s wonderful account of his odyssey from the United Kingdom through India and on to the United States illustrates just how different ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-25

64+ Years of Gears—Geoff Ashcroft

1955. Fresh out of high school, (actually grammar school), 16 years old, unqualified academically and financially to continue full time education. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-20

New Thinking on Old Topics

Claude Gosselin’s origin story reminds us that not everyone shares our enthusiasm for these ubiquitous but complicated artifacts. Just showing an i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-18

Claude Gosselin: Gears — Why Not?

When I graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1978, I landed a job in the “cold section” at Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) in Montreal. In those d...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-13

Rockford: Should it be Renamed Gear City USA?

Rob Swiss’ origin story reached me the very same day his new hometown, Rockford, Illinois, ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-11

Rob Swiss — The Accidental Engineer

Another young man discovers you need not be an expert machinist to succeed as a gear engineer. Spoiler alert: never tangle with a grinding wheel; they are undefeated in all time.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-06

History for a Worldwide Audience

Baby Boomers (as American kids born between 1946 and 1964 are called) learned a lot about World War II. From Pearl Harbor thru the atomic bomb drop...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-06-04

And may you have the joy of passing something on…

One of the reoccurring themes in our “origin stories” project is the willingness of people to school us in the sometimes confusing world of gears. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-30

Traditions Adapt

May 30 is our traditional Memorial Day here in the Unit...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-28

Planting Good Seeds

We are enjoying the origin story project very much and ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-24

Finding the Limits

Jim Richard’s account of his journey from youthful experimenter to designer of cutting edge gear processing equipment illustrates the amazing thing...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-21

My Origin Story: James Richards

James Richards’ entry int...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-16

Rocket Scientists are Gear People Too!

Dr. Handschuh’s origin story reminds us that the future...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-16

Free Agents Welcome

Mr. Hinz’s “transfer” from hydraulics to gearing points...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-09

My Story – Bob Handschuh

Most of us only think of NASA with regard to the “S” [Space] in its acronym. The first “A” [Aerospace] is just as important to its mission of s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-07

Dave Hinz — My Story

Sometimes there is a “gear guy” lurking inside an ordinary engineer. Risking the embarrassment of a poor result on an unexpected “pop quiz” was...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-05-02

A Fresh Set of Eyes

Hanspeter Dinner’s account of his “baptism by fire” into the gear industry contains a number of important lessons for other “newbies”; some reminde...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-30

Hanspeter Dinner—My Story

It was the middle of December — rainy, dark, late, cold. My job with a roller coaster company was the wrong choice. I had a job interview with KISS...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-25

Applying the Fundamentals

Yefim Kotlyar’s origin story is a great lesson to anyone entering the o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-24

Yefim Kotlyar — My Story

Yefim Kotlyar is a wonderful example of how gears unite the world. His background is much different than mine, yet we share a deep appreciation...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-19

The Personal Touch

Our most recent guest blogger, Joe Arvin, demonstrates the importance of the personal touch in business. As I mentioned in my introduction to his s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-16

Joe Arvin — My Story

Today’s origin story is by one of the true “good guys” in our trade. I first met Joe in 1989 when I was job hunting. He could tell I was in a b...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-11

Humble Beginnings

Ed Kaske’s origin story illustrates that it does not matter how you get into the gear t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-09

Ed Kaske — My Story

Ed Kaske was one of the first to respond to our request for origin stories. I apologize for the delay in getting this to print; we liked it so ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-04

Gear Technology Hall of Fame?

Cleveland has always seemed a rather odd location for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Hollywood, on the other hand, is the logical place for that W...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-04-02

Don't Let Them Fade Away!

It occurred to me that some readers may be unfamiliar with Darle W. Dudley, author of many respected gear reference books. A quick on-line “name ch...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-28

What Does Dudley Say?

Another giant of the gear industry — Darle W. Dudley (1917-2003) — is still influencing new engineers today through his writings. The very first ge...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-26

Remembering the Giants

While writing about the “degrees of connection” between current industry leaders and th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-21

My Story: Ernie Reiter

In the last semester of my senior year of mechanical engineering, I recall having a discussion with my study group friends about the purpose of our...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-19

Six Degrees of Gears ...

Our next “origin story” author is another consulting en...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-14

My Career in Gears: Ray Drago

When I was in high school (Manual Training High School in Brooklyn, NY) I had a general science teacher, Mrs. Gaudiello, who recognized something i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-12

Combating Gear Ignorance

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-07

Coaching Trees

March Madness is upon us once again, that wonderful tim...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-03-05

Fitting the Pieces Together

It occurred to me recently that my request for “origin stories” may not have been inclusive enough. As an engineer, I tend to focus on the technica...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-28

Gone but Not Forgotten

Continuing our discussion of veteran machine tools, it occurs to me that many of our younger readers may not be aware that the United States was on...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-26

Old Soldiers

Almost every week, it seems, we read of the passing of ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-21

Be Ready to Change Roles

One of the common threads in the origin stories we have posted is the frequency with which the person had to change roles. Specialization is for in...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-19

One That Got Away

Like many fathers, I once had hopes of one of my children follow in my footsteps. When my son was four years old he even publicly declared his goal...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-14

Reluctant Road Warrior

Most of my business travel over the years was while living near major airports. Being “...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-12

Adult Education

Origin Stories Needed

How did you get started in the gear trade? We are interested in sharing your “origin story” as a way of helping hum...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-07

Seeing Through the Spin

Two different high-profile news stories have really flipped my “curmudgeon” switch this week. It irritates me that the general public is distracted...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-05

Many Ways In — But Just One Way Up

We’ll get back to our “origin story” project soon. One thing I have noticed about the guest blogs so far is that the people kept moving up the ladd...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-31

The Importance of Dirty Hands

My dear friend Octave’s account of his co-op experience (see Tuesday’s 1-29 post) reinforces my belief that no one should trust an engineer or desi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-30

From Co-op to Vice President: Octave A. LaBath

I was attending the University of Cincinnati in the college of engineering. After my freshman year in 1960, I started my co-op job with the Cincinn...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-24

Old Methods to Teach New Technology

For most of human history, skills were passed from one generation to the next by some form of apprenticeship. Only in the last couple of centuries ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-22

Retail Management Career to Gear Manufacturing: Who Would Have Guessed?

In 2012, Rj Link International hired Matt Rossiter as a gear machinist and entered him into the Rock River Valley Tooling & Machining Associati...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-18

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Chris’ account of p...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-18

Getting into the Gear Trade: Chris Trochelman

Here is the first of our guest blogs on the topic of how you entered the gear trade. Chris Trochelman (pictured above, fa...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-10

The Journey Continues

An apprentice ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-08

Luck of the Draw

Forty-eight years ago, I was fini...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-01-03

How Did You Get in Here?

Happy New Year! In just a few weeks we will begin our SIXTH year of this blog. While it has been great fun posting about the gear trade with you, w...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-27

Another Year in Gears

We hope you enjoyed the many posts to fundamental topics during 2018. Our magazine has long been the “newspaper of record” for the gear industry an...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-20

Don't Go Chasing Superstars

There is a great deal of buzz these days around the shortage of skilled workers for our manufacturing operations. Almost as much as there is concer...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-18

Why Would I Want to Work for You?

Why are some jobs more attractive than others? Why are some organizations able to succeed with “players” cut from other companies? Why are some pla...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-13

Pulling Back the Curtain

While there have been big changes on the design side of the gear trade, they are overshadowed by the improvements in the manufacturing processes. F...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-11

Handling Changes

It is the solemn du...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-06

Out With the Old

No technology ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-12-04

Dealing with Obsolescence

Emerging technology gets lots of coverage in all forms of media; obsolete technology is still the backbone of our economy. Self-driving vehicles ex...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-29

Industrial Strength Good Deeds Part 2

The last post ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-27

Industrial Strength Good Deeds Part 1

The end-of-year hol...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-20

A Time for Gratitude

An early winter storm has knocked out our Internet connection as I write this. A startling reminder of just how much we rely on the world wide web ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-15

What Should You Save?

While we are on the...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-13

What Do You Really Need to Know?

I am pretty certain I told this story before, but it is worth repeating in the context of preserving corporate memory. When AGMA first offered ISO ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-13

Marking the Trail

Anyone who has moved understands the importance of marking boxes with both contents and location. One of the great things about our online

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-06

Permanent Records

Avoiding corpo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-01

Institutional Memory

There is an old joke that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch in order to tell you what time it is. Unfortunately, there is an element o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-30

New Things in an Old Box

To conclude our loo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-25

Changing Bearings

Just as “conventional thinking” h...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-23

Appropriate Improvements

“Resto moding” a gearbox is not t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-18

How to Upgrade a Classic

If you are a f...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-16

Is it Worth Upgrading?

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-11

Thinking INSIDE the Box

Is the world ready for a reality show about a gearbox repair shop? They seem to be running out of real estate-flipping ideas — at least until the e...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-09

Where to Next?

We have devoted this year to going over fundamentals of gear and gearbox design and manufacture. Before we move on to other topics, I would like to...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-04

Repairing Gears

Deadlines and budgets do not always allow for “first class” gearbox rebuilds. The challenge for rebuild shops is to find the fastest and most econo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-10-02

Necessity as the Mother of Invention

When you offer rebuilding service...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-27

Acceptable Fixes

You do not always have to say “no” when confronted with non-conforming parts. Here are a few “fixes” I have been comfortable authorizing:

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-25

Reworking Questions

The most important consideration in deciding whether to rework or scrap and re-make a nonconforming part is functionality. Can the part be made to ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-20

Frequently Asked Questions

Backlash “adju...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-19

Adjust Tolerances or Expectations?

There is a great deal of science involved in measuring things, but considerably less on what the baseline dimensions and clearances should be. This...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-14

The Usual Suspects

Once you accept that “stuff” happens in even the best of machine shops, you can begin to assess where the problems are likely to occur and start th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-13

Custom Work: Nonconforming Realities

In the world of custom manufacturing you have to deal with less-than-perfect parts. There is just not enough time or pieces to dial in the producti...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-07

Something is not Right Here

Another benefi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-04

Gearbox Design: Let the Fun Begin

It is perfectl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-30

Gearbox Design: Checks and Double Checks

We have been devoting this year’s blogs to fundamentals. I frequently remind my clients that the gear geometry is the easy part of gearbox design. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-28

Gear Design: More Than Pretty Pictures

No one has a drafti...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-23

Exploding the Study Layout

In the old day...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-21

Gearbox Design: Refining the Study Layout

A critical step in designing a gearbox is refining the “study layout” and securing the necessary approvals so that detail design can begin. Althoug...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-16

Gear Design: What is it Going to Cost?

You may not ev...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-14

Finding the Right Combination

One of the hal...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-09

Getting Started on a Design

You finally have th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-07

Checking Off the Boxes

Checklists are a gr...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-02

Gearbox Specs: Connecting to the System

Your specifica...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-08-01

Competitive Analysis

Designers love...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-26

Gearbox: Defining Loads

There was a time when no thinking person drove a car with more than 100,000 miles on a long-distance trip. A standard warranty was 12 months or 12,...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-24

The Gearbox: Known Unknowns

A product spec...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-19

Gear Design: Defining the Goal

A critical ste...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-17

Gear Design: Putting Knowledge to Work

We have now sp...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-16

Planetary Gears: A Few More Things

Before we move...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-11

Maximum Power Density

For some applications, maximum power density is worth the cost and difficulty of a complex epicyclic or “planetary” design. If, like me, you prefer...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-05

Planetary Drives: The Same but Different

Those ancient planetary drives I first got involved with in 1979 (

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-03

Planetary Gears: Inside Information

The Story So Far

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-28

Suns and Planets

The first planetary drive I helped take apart had three stages of through hardened spur gears encased in a simple cast iron tube with plates on both ends. Both input and output shafts rotated on taper roller bearings, but everything else had simple bronze bushings.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-26

Planetary Gearboxes: A Wheel Inside a Wheel

We will never ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-21

Gear Materials: More Inside Heat Treating Trivia

In our last bl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-20

Gear Materials: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

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...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-14

Options for Material Selection

Disclaimer: This is the policy I follow for material selection. Your situation may call for a different decision. You should not adopt this pol...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-12

Can We Use This Instead?

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...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-07

Hardenability 102

Material Grade in Gears

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-06-05

Hardenability 101

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...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-31

Parsing the Fine Print

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 ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-29

Read the Label Carefully

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...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-24

The Right Stuff

Even the most brilliant gear design will fail if the wrong material is used to make the parts. Our understanding of metallurgy and alloying element...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-22

Further Modifications

You might be thinking this conversation would logically move to other tooth modifications. Gear Technology has and will c...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-18

Parametric Design

One of the scariest things a gear designer can face is a blank sheet of paper. This is why most of our products are “derivative” rather than “revol...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-17

Computer Games

You kids are spoiled! Back in my day it took at least a day to see the results of computer modeling, longer if the courier dropped the box of input...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-10

What’s Your Angle?

Hulet self-unloader image courtesy of ASME. Interesting things happen when you start using “non-standard” gear geometry. As early as th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-08

Making Things Work

There is an old saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Imagine that you are tasked by your employer to de...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-03

That X Factor

Our international readers are no doubt chuckling over this silly, American “long addendum” terminology. The “civilized world” has long relied on a ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-05-01

Bending the Rules

In my last posting I advised designers to avoid relying on “rules of thumb” or computer coding when confronted with tough decisions. This admonitio...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-26

Actions Have Consequences

The initial motivation for changing outside diameters was the avoidance of undercutting. Designers, engineers, and theoreticians quickly discovered...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-25

The Long and Short of It

One of the problems with “tribal knowledge” is that the terminology can confuse those who are not fully immersed in that community. I have lost ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-19

Hunting for a Solution

Most of you are excused for missing the attempted humor in the above headline. So, I will violate the first rule of comedy and explain the joke. An...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-17

How Many Teeth Do You Want?

Designing gears is somewhat of a mathematical puzzle. You have lots of interconnected factors to play with in hopes of finding the “best” overall s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-12

Moderation Instead of Modification

Few designers would feel comfortable with a face to pinion pitch diameter ratio of 2.00 anymore. Some still prefer to select face width by face con...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-10

What About Face Width?

The second component in that face contact ratio equation is the face width. There are almost as many “rules of thumb” for determining the “proper” ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-05

In Search of True Helical Action

I was trained in the cult of the integer face contact ratio. A few adherents to this belief are still above ground, but the introduction of persona...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-04-03

How Much Helix Angle?

The most obvious difference between a spur gear and a helical gear is the presence of that “helix” angle. Civilians will call them “straight-cut” a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-29

Back to Basics: Helical Gears

Most of the gearboxes I have been involved with use single helical gears. Its excellent power capacity per mesh makes it the default system for man...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-27

Filling in the Gaps

A few weeks ago, I admitted to not knowing much about the Klingelnberg system of bevels. Terry Edwards, chief designer at Pacific Star Marine in Br...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-22

Worm Basics - Part 2

Continuing our discussion of the “least you need to know” about worm gearing: 5. Efficiency is highly variable for worms. If it is critical to y...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-20

Minimal Worm Expertise

Worm gearing has long been a big part of the mechanical world. If you work in the gear trade, “civilians” will rightly expect you to know things ab...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-15

What About Worms?

It is difficult to know where to start when writing about worm gears, because this market segment has defied “standardization” within the United St...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-13

Bevel Buzzwords

Does technical lingo confuse you? If so, welcome to the bevel gear sector and its special kind of hell. The same “system” that benefited from stand...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-08

The Old Family Recipe

Continuing with bevel gears… As a beginning gear guy, I was very content to leave the bevel gear design to the experts...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-06

Nothing Remains Constant

We cannot leave our lesson about tooth depths without covering bevel gears. There is a tendency to think of bevels and worms as being best left to ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-03-01

Out of Your Depth?

How did that over pin calculation work out? My congratulations if you managed to work your way through it without tearing your hair out. Guess what...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-28

It Gets Complicated

Why did something as simple as a standard tooth form fail to get traction? While the old joke about the number of opinions at any meeting of engine...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-22

If Only It Was That Simple

In my last blog we went over “pitch” descriptions for spur gears. Engineers being stubborn individuals, it has not been possible to reach a consens...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-20

My, What Big Teeth You Have!

When I get a call from a new client, one of the first things I ask is “How big are the gears?” One person’s “big” parts may be laughably tiny fo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-15

Starting Your Book of Knowledge

A big part of the consulting business is reminding people of what they already know. Of course, your consulting career will be rather short if you ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-13

The Final Step

So, you have put in your time, you have done the heavy lifting, you are ready to take that final step to the peak of Gear Mountain. Very few people...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-08

More Steps up the Ladder

My last posting covered the beginning stages of the path to gear expertise. Your “Jon Snow” days of knowing nothing won’t last long. Very quickly y...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-07

Seven Stages of Expertise

There is no “gear expert” merit badge for you to earn. I have posted before about the limited amount of gear education included in the standard eng...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-02-01

Understanding Spur Gears

Spur gears have been around “forever.” That ancient astronomical device recovered from the Mediterranean Sea a few years ago shows the antiquity an...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-30

Appreciating the Spur Gear

When the average civilian hears the word “gear,” if they think of mechanical things at all, they envision a big spur gear, perhaps in a clock or wi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-25

One Step at a Time

Regular readers know that I am a big fan of both the Boy and Girl Scout programs. My children were scouts. My wife and I were scout leaders. One of...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-23

The First Step is Easy

When I started writing my gear book back in 1986, the mission was to provide enough information for a person new to the gear trade to tell if someo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-18

Avoiding the Potholes

No one becomes a gear expert overnight. You might be abruptly assigned the title by your employer, but it takes some time before you can really ful...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-16

The Company You Keep

Learning about gears is much easier in a group setting. Anyone who suffered through a tough high school or university class without study buddies w...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-11

The Beginning of Wisdom

Faithful followers of this blog can complete that mantra without prompting, but for new readers — the beginning of wisdom is calling things by thei...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-09

How to Begin?

So, you want to teach people about gears. It is a huge topic with many interesting and complicated facets to it. A person could spend their entire ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-01-03

New Beginnings

As a kid, it annoyed me that nothing really seemed to change with the new year. It was still dark and cold most of the day, and if the sun did shin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-28

Brushing up on Fundamentals

Gear Technology is proud to publish technical papers that cover the leading edge of our field. We are also, as our esteemed publisher remi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-27

Trying to Reason with the Holiday Season

I am a big fan of randomness; to me living in a place where the weather was the same everyday would be a real trial. Given the need some of our spe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-19

The Importance of Scut Work

At the risk of permanently cementing my curmudgeon status, today’s blog is a defense of scut work as a necessary tool for training young engineers....

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-14

Engineering Safety (Part Two)

To an engineer there are no accidents, only unanticipated consequences of situations that need to be better understood. We even have a rule about i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-12

Engineering Safety (Part One)

Watching the movie Deepwater Horizon got me thinking about current attitudes on workplace safety. (Full disclosure — I am a bit of a cr...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-06

The Future of Books

Moving required getting rid of lots of books. My much better half is also a reader and we made about a dozen trips to the resale shop to put our su...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-12-05

I Know It Is in Here Somewhere

A question came to me recently in an e-mail that I could not answer from memory. It seemed like something I had read in a book once so the long-del...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-30

Still Pumped About Herringbones

I rambled on about herringbone gear in my last posting but still have more to share on these once commonplace gears. Today we’ll cover the use of c...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-28

Department of Corrections

It was brought to my attention that the graphics used in my recent “herringbone” postings actually show double helical gears. I have a great suppor...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-22

What Are You Thankful For?

We have many international readers here at Gear Technology who may wonder about this most American of holidays — Thanksgi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-21

Where Have All the Pumpjacks Gone?

The last stronghold for herringbones was — and remains — the venerable oil field pumpjack gearbox. Although known by a variety of other names, noth...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-16

Herringbones 102

Imagine for a moment that your boss invented the herringbone tooth form and tasked you with building machines to cut them. This was the situation P...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-14

Herringbones 101

I try to avoid technical matters here in the blog on the grounds that we have an entire magazine to cover the “hard stuff.” Besides, very few topic...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-09

Write it Down

Gear Expo was a wonderful opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. While I was out collecting swag, purely in support of my reporting dut...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-07

Discouraging Change

One of the neat things about the Gear Expo is seeing people you once worked with. Sometimes though, they remember your interactions in greater deta...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-11-02

Swag of the Expo Awards

My last blog covered the motivation for the Swag of the Expo award and my inspiration in creating it. Top contenders that did not quite qualify for...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-31

Gear Expo Swag Report

Soon you will be reading lots of stories about the 2017 AGMA Fall Technical Meeting and Gear Expo in our magazine and online reports. BUT, the info...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-27

Staying Engaged

I recently got a phone call with questions about a drawing from 1981. The caller saw “Schultz” in the signature block and thought it was me. Flatte...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-27

Storage Problems

One of my favorite science fiction books is A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr., originally published in 1960. This post-ap...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-22

Automation, Regulations and Job Creation

Robots, self driving cars, and artificial intelligence are popular topics in business publications. Depending upon the writer’s perspective, they a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-12

Thinking Big

My local newspaper’s lead story today concerned the explosive demolition of a highway bridge in nearby Tionesta, PA. As luck would have it, our mos...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-10

Appreciating the Shiny Stuff

I lament the rise of the “Service Economy.” This past Friday was National Manufacturing Day; I did not know that until my editor brought it to my a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-05

How Much Education is Enough?

My last posting may have left you thinking I was anti-intellectual. Far from it; my point is that education is fundamentally different than trainin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-03

Education vs. Training

Buried deep within the never ending debate on job growth is a fundamental misunderstanding on the difference between education and training. I am a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-28

Is There a Future in Gears?

I have several vivid memories of my first week as an apprentice back in 1971. One was the shock of getting a printout from Human Resources in my fi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-26

Where Did All the Big Projects Go?

Remembering the “good old days” too often or too fondly is an occupational hazard for a veteran blogger like me. I try to temper “story time” with ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-21

Who Do You Think You Are?

My last posting recommended preparing an “elevator pitch” ahead of attending the AGMA Fall Technical Meeting and Gear Expo. I have gone through thi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-19

What is Your Elevator Pitch?

Networking is an important part of business life these days; it always has been. Internet sites like LinkedIn promise to connect us to other like-m...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-14

Developing Resilience

For many years, “robust” was a popular business buzz word. The idea was to make certain your procedures and processes were “strong” enough to withs...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-12

Mini Disasters

My last blog highlighted the need for disaster planning. With three hurricanes churning up the Atlantic Ocean as I write, that advice may be a l...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-07

Fundamentals

I mentioned succession planning in my last posting; most of the senior gear engineers I know are planning to retire in the next few years and their...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-05

Planning for Disaster

The massive flood damage in Houston will take years and billions of dollars to repair. Even with plenty of warning, there was no way to evacuate mi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-31

Cost Reduction Ideas

A commentator recently asked for “real world” examples of how he could reduce costs and win more orders. Improved technology is often cited as the ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-29

Fact Checking Legends

The much better half returned from her first beauty shop appointment in Oil City, shaking her newly coiffed head. Her stylist was an Oil Country li...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-24

Effective Instructions

Have you ever tried to assemble something with poorly written or translated instructions? The classic image of a befuddled father on Christmas Eve ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-22

Two Way Communication

One of our disappointments with this blog is the inability to have effective two-way communication via reader comments. We tried it for a few month...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-17

Does it Pay to Advertise?

My father was a life-long employee of the Pabst Brewing Company. He was also a bit of a dumpster diver and he frequently retrieved “collectable” de...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-15

Are You Open for Business?

On our third attempt, we finally had lunch at a local landmark. A survivor of the 1870s oil boom, its Victorian architecture is a real eye catcher ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-10

Where Have All the Contests Gone?

My hometown is abuzz with anticipation over the completion of the Milwaukee Bucks’ new arena. This is the THIRD new arena since I participated in a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-08

Taking on the Impossible

Those multi-trillion-dollar figures thrown around for infrastructure repair make progress seem impossible without huge tax increases and a long com...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-03

Aging Infrastructure

After seeing the fallen Kinzua railroad viaduct (see Aug. 1 posting), my vacation continued into some of the scariest bridges and tunnels ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-08-01

Failure as Tourist

Civil or transport engineering failures are very public. They tend to get investigated far more thoroughly than typical mechanical engineering prob...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-28

A New Quoting Model?

Anyone actually enjoy quoting? For such an important part of daily business the process of establishing prices to offer a customer seems universall...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-26

Changing Business Models?

A few weeks ago I blogged about a disappointing shopping experience at a once-pre-eminent retailer. I must not have been the only unhappy customer ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-20

Authority and Responsibility

We all got a lesson in leadership from that unfortunate collision between a U.S. Navy destroyer and a container ship off the coast of Japan. The Na...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-19

Dangerous Waters

When a consultant’s phone rings they never know what the client or potential client may need. Sadly, calls frequently involve sorting out messes th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-13

Continuous Improvement

Much of my gear career has involved the oil patch, so it was a treat to tour the Drake Oil Well Museum near Titusville Pennsylvania recently. Colon...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-11

Origin Stories

Once in a while we need to take a break from the “honey do” list and start becoming familiar with our community. A trip to a nearby state park that...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-05

The Internet Never Forgets

Another one of those graduate student requests turned up in my e-mail inbox this week. This one referenced one of my AGMA Fall Technical Meeting pa...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-07-03

Happy Independence Day!

Other than the fireworks, it is a quiet day for most of us here in the United States. We need this annual holiday to remind us that, despite the ve...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-29

Listening is an Act of Love

I have been listening to Story Corps on National Public Radio for many years. The program shares audio recordings made in booths that trav...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-27

Tribal Memory

What a treat it has been to spend a few days with a group of young process engineers; sharing lessons learned alongside other gear industry veteran...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-23

A Calling, Not a Job

In driving around my new hometown, I am struck by the grandeur of some of the older homes and buildings. Oil City, Pennsylvania was once home to gi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-20

Good, Better, and Best

Setting up in a new location requires far more shopping than I am used to. Daily trips to the home improvement store will continue for the foreseea...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-15

Relocation Time

Today I moved for the seventh time in my career. It is the first time on my tab though so I am probably paying more attention to the process than i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-13

Reconsidering Unwritten Rules

The recent brawl in baseball reminded me that despite the ability to Google almost anything, many people are unpleasantly surprised by the “unwritt...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-09

A Lesson Learned and Acted On

I have been getting lots of windshield time this year between business travel, house hunting, relocation, and even a few days of vacation. Our fabu...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-06

Leadership in the Ranks

As a history buff, certain dates stick in my mind and prompt reflection when they roll around. I first learned about D-Day when they showed The...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-01

Leadership in Action

I was a Boy Scout in my youth and served in a variety of leadership positions as an adult. One of the important skills — drilled into us as boys, a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-30

Leadership or Management?

My last post mentioned the big changes in the gear industry during my 47 year tenure, and the importance of visionary leadership. I have come to un...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-25

Rallying Cries

Continuing my rant on “mission statements by committee,” Memorial Day is around the corner here in the United States — a time for recalling our hon...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-23

Why Are We Here?

Back when getting ISO 9000 certified was “the thing,” companies were expected to have a mission statement. I retroactively confess to not being a “...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-19

Exploring New Methods

I have been following developments on gear making in general-purpose CNC machines with great interest. The advent of affordable gear grinding seems...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-18

Summer Jobs

Recent reports indicate that business is picking up in the gear sector so I hope your firm is thinking about bringing on some summer help. The curr...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-11

Here There Be Dragons

On the AGMA Helical Gear Rating Committee we frequently deal with how to warn users away from potentially dangerous designs. Some years ago our won...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-09

Life is Uncertain

I love pithy statements of advice. If someone starts out with “Life is uncertain,” I will immediately add “so eat dessert first.” Call me the short...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-04

Are You Worrying About the Right Thing?

“I used to worry about rich and skinny until I ended up poor and fat…” ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-05-02
Invisible Activity
Are you familiar with the “Law of the Farm?” The Law reminds everyone that there are some activities that cannot be rushed. No matter how many trac...

ADDENDUM | 2017-05-01
The Guy Who Put the Gearbox Up Front
As the Indianapolis 500 begins its second hundred years, it is a good opportunity to recall the guy who put the gearbox "up front."

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-25
Lessons Learned
Don’t confront me with my failures. I have not forgotten them… From These Days by Jackson Browne

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-20
Innovation in Mature Products
Many people look back fondly on the days of the annual model change in the automobile market. Car dealerships would cover their display windows and...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-19
Convergence in Design
One of the old car magazines I subscribe to has had an ongoing discussion on left-hand- threaded wheel studs. At one time the engineering community...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-13
Fundamentals of Maintenance
Modern cars and trucks are wonderfully reliable and durable. As much as I love old cars I cannot cleanse my memory of the heartbreaking behavior th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-11
Why Things Break
I used to tease our maintenance staff that there were only two reasons a machine went down: it went down because we worked on it or because we did ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-06
Good Product Specifications are Critical to Good Design
History is full of great ideas that did not succeed — frequently because they did not meet the “needs” of the marketplace. One of the first things ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-04-04
What Makes a Good Design?
In my last post I insisted that good design wins in the marketplace. As a student of automotive history, I am compelled to admit that some very gre...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-30
Open Source Part II
One of the things I mention when teaching about gears is the long history of great minds who have contributed to our field. Early readers of Ge...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-28
Should Gear Technology be Open Source?
One of the few things I miss about my old commute is all the great content I heard on public radio. Ten hours a week of news, in depth features, an...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-23
10 Questions About Your Work
Few things are as terrifying as a blank page. As a follow-up to my suggestion about writing a personal history I offer these leading questions:

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-21
Every Story Matters
One of my favorite car enthusiast publications, Hemmings Classic Car, has a monthly feature where readers submit a personal essay on their...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-16
Why Not Teach?
This past week I had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful seminar for process engineers. My fellow presenters were all industry veterans w...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-14
Shared Knowledge
If you think you know something, try teaching it. Putting aside the average engineer’s aversion to public speaking, the prospect of organizing your...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-09
Is This Change Necessary?
Ranting about needless software upgrades got me thinking about why we love “new” things. Aren’t there some things we should leave well enough alone...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-07
Change for the Sake of Change?
One of the great things about social media is the opportunity to keep up with what is going on with family and friends. Sometimes you can offer an ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-03-02
The First Steps are the Hardest
Apprenticeships are frequently mentioned as the key to rebuilding America’s manufacturing sector. The people who usually say this often have limite...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-28
Starting a Life in Gears
“The gypsies know my future, the angels know my past, I roll around this big wide world to find a love that...<

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-23
Operator Error
The backlash discussion posted previously was inspired by the comments posted on a hobby website I frequent. The commentator was of the opinion tha...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-21
Unreasonable Backlash
Not to worry — no politics here. The “backlash” I want to talk about is the “lost motion” in gear systems. It sometimes seems to rile people up alm...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-16
Lowering That Overhead, Part II
How many of you have any idea what your company spends on perishable tooling? Working for small companies with tight wad owners perhaps made me mor...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-14
Faster is Not Always Better
That old “Overhead” article reminded me of what a shock it was when we first moved into cellular manufacturing. After years of investigating ways t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-09
Engineering Economy in 1912
In the same issue of Industrial Engineering that Percy C. Day published his treatise on herringbone gears, Sterling H. Bunnell offered

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-02-07
Gear Technology in 1912
Continuing with that January 1912 issue of Industrial Engineering magazine … Imagine the courage it took to present a seven-page articl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-31
History Lessons
An eye exam got me wondering about how things were designed and developed before the computer age. The office I visit has all the latest medical eq...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-26
Way Waaay Back
Writing about my now cumbersome reference library prompted a bit of consolidation and reorganization. Unfortunately, my resolve diminished when I c...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-24
Setting the Wayback Machine
I have often touted the Gear Technology archives as your ready source of reliable information. A recent question was reso...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-19
Gears That Time Forgot
My consulting practice covers a very wide range of products — from 4-inch circular pitch mill stands to 180-NDP handheld medical devices — I see th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-17
In Praise of Old-School Technology
A wise man once pointed out that everyone drives a used car. We hear many reports on self-driving cars, electric cars, hybrid cars, and other plane...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-12
The Essential Gear Book?
Continuing our discussion of gear training… What one book would you advise a newbie to purchase, read, and keep handy in the years ahe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-10
Language Barrier
I have great admiration for people who can speak multiple languages, a skill that had eluded me despite two fairly serious efforts to learn a secon...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-05
Preserving Our Stuff
Continuing my rant on important things carelessly trashed by idiots… A favorite joke in the old car hobby is “My widow will ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-01-03
Reflections on a Blog
This posting is the start of our fourth year of blogging on the gear industry. When the idea was first presented to me I did not have a firm idea o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-12-22
Holiday Wishes
Most of the world has a big holiday or festival around this time of year. After today many companies will be down to skeleton crews until January. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-12-20
The Power of “What If?”
As mentioned previously in this space, I get many e-mails and phone calls from people with gear “problems.” Or should I say “Gear Opportu...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-12-15
Repair, Replace, or Rebuild?
I enjoy watching car auctions on cable television. Some of my enjoyment comes from the commen...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-12-13
Job Satisfaction
Every once in a while you need a reminder of why you enjoy your work. This week I got to witness final testing of a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-12-06
It’s a 24/7/52 World
This curmudgeon recently got a good lesson on how the Internet has changed the world. My adult children have been trying to get...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-12-01
Flexibility and Capability as a Goal
My last blog discussed the age-old question of specialization vs. adaptability. You do not need a long memory to understand just how powerful speci...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-29
Specialization vs. Adaptability
Darwin posited that life on earth evolved to make the most of its environment. Too much competition for low hanging leaves, he concluded, prompted ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-22
Thanksgiving
I was going to reflect on how November 22, 1963 changed so many things, but decided it wasn’t an anniversary ending in a five or a zero and I would...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-17
Energy Policy Thoughts
Our industry makes parts for all different types of energy and transportation. AGMA, our national trade association, was formed, in part, because t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-15
Friends in High Places
U.S.-based motorsports have had a lot to cheer about in Formula One this season with the debut of the first American team in thirty years. Haas F1,...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-10
Change Begins at Home
From reports I have gotten, 2016 is proving to be a challenging year for the gear industry. Traditional markets such as mineral extraction and gas/...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-08
Now the Work Resumes
With the election distraction finally behind us, we can hopefully get back to the very challenging job of building a better world for ourselves, ou...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-03
What Would You Like to Know?
The call for abstracts for the 2017 AGMA Fall Technical Meeting went out months ago. While it seems early to many readers, this schedule has to be ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-11-01
Wither Manufacturing?
In a recent episode of my favorite zombie apocalypse show, SyFy’s Z Nation, a character celebrates the restarting of a hydroelec...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-27
The Limits of Genius
There is an old saying that “the fools always win in the end because stupidity has no limits, while genius does.” Occasionally we see this acted ou...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-25
Good Ideas Before Their Time
Leonardo DaVinci famously sketched helicopters long before the technology needed to make them fly was developed. The American Motorcycle Associatio...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-20
Non-Traditional Manufacturing
While 3-D printing looks for its place in the manufacturing world, other non-traditional methods are finding their way into our gear shops. Some, s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-18
Does New Technology Require New Companies?
Our society seems enamored with new technology and the fortunes that can be made through a startup company. This has always puzzled me; a number of...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-13
Teach Your Children Well
For the second year in a row I find myself writing a blog post around the International Day of the Girl (October 11^th). One pa...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-11
The Birth of an Industry
Do you know your company’s origin story? I have worked at seven different gear companies and have visited dozens more; all of them seem to have an ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-06
Happy Manufacturing Month!
Somewhere someone is busy assigning months to celebrate various topics, and we have recently been informed that October is “Manufacturing...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-04
Business or Art?
Continuing with the Manufacturing Month theme… Darle W. Dudley referred to the gear trade as an “art.” This reminds me of the early days of Ge...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-29
One Step at a Time
My first drafting class involved a lot of pencil sharpening. It was a boring exercise that the students found somewhat insulting. There were pencil...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-27
Each One Teach One
I have posted before about the many people who helped me along the way to becoming a productive member of the gear community. Today I would like to...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-22
Articles Wanted
In a short chat in the Gear Technology booth at the International Machine Tool Show the topic came up of what sort of articles o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-20
Book Reviewers Needed
Every gear engineer ends up with a shelf full of reference books. Depending upon your age and experience level these may be books you bought or boo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-15
Important Travel Skills
A cable TV movie brought a chuckle here at the world headquarters for an opening scene of two soon-to-be-dead characters arguing over a road map. A...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-13
Reinventing the Factory
McCormick Place will be transformed into a wonderland of machinery and tooling this weekend for the 2016 version of the International Machine Tool ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-06
What if God Were One of Us in Sozhou China?
The familiar words of Joan Osborne’s “What if God Were One of Us?” wafted out of the lounge when we returned from a long day of touring s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-09-01
Contingency Planning
I got caught up in a messy but foreseeable travel delay coming home from my first trip to China. Foreseeable because airplanes are machines and mac...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-30
Hear it First at FTM 2016
Gear Technology has a long history of publishing and archiving important technical papers from the American Gear Manufacturers’ Associatio...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-25
Gear Toys
My recent blog on educating kids on gears coincided with a birthday party invitation for a great nephew. Not having grandchildren of our own — I da...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-23
Time for the Clan to Gather
Has your e-mail inbox been full lately? It is a sure sign that the International Machine Tool Show (IMTS) is rapidly approaching. This ye...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-18
Sarcasm Font Needed?
The metaphor post got me thinking of just how much miscommunication occurs because people do not speak or write directly to the point. Aside from t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-16
Speaking in Metaphors
As one of our trade’s more accessible “experts,” I am happy to field questions from the general public, too. This week one of the more un...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-11
Reboots
A commercial touting the reboot of MacGyver just appeared on my office TV screen and I recall with fondness its tales of improvi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-09
Personal Milestone
Today begins my ninth year as a consulting engineer! It shocks me that I have now worked for myself longer than as an employee at any oth...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-04
Unknown Geniuses
Following up on my last blog concerning the now-defunct giants of mill building…the geniuses who designed those machines never got the individual a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-08-02
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Our Facebook page recently displayed some great vintage photos of the old Mesta Machine shop. Back when American firms built the biggest ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-28
Starting Them Young
We were delighted to get a blog comment that did not involve cut-rate sunglasses! To wit: “How would you promote gear/transmission technology...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-26
Making Manufacturing Cool Again
Can you remember the first time you saw a gear? I remember seeing gears on a cousin’s erector set crane when I was six or seven. A friend got a slo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-21
Churning the Continuing Education Dollar
Our magazine publishes hundreds of high-quality technical articles every year. Considerable effort has gone into maintaining a searchable archive o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-19
Continuing Education
Gear Technology has a major interest in educating its readers. Cutting-edge technical papers are a primary component of o...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-14
Visit Us on Social Media!
Gear Technology and its sister publication, Power Transmission Engineering, have FaceBook pages...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-12
Be Careful What You Wish For
We used to warn our children to “be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” Recently I blogged in favor of jump starting the econom...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-07
Recycled Materials
Continuing with the environmental theme of the previous blog, an impressive change has occurred in the recycling industry since I was col...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-07-05
What if We Save the World Anyway?
In the midst of a heated discussion on the environment fifteen years ago, my son asked a thought provoking question: “What if we saved the world an...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-30
Spare Parts
Thanks to the Internet we have come to expect the instant availability of everything needed for daily life. The prospect of unmanned delivery drone...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-28
The Importance of Record Keeping
Very rarely does a gearbox designer have the opportunity to see his or her products at work many years later. Recently I was as...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-23
Revisiting the Bad Old Days
Unless you are involved with rebuilding old equipment, it may be entirely possible to never see a tooth flank with “progressive pitting.”...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-22
When Do You Trust Computers?
As mentioned previously in this blog, I am active in motor racing as a car owner, mechanic, and public relations representative. I first became a f...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-21
Missing the Geek Squad
One of the things I miss most about full-time work is the presence of knowledgeable, in-house technical support for my comput...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-16
Training vs. Education
The high cost of college and the crushing weight of student debt are seldom far from the headlines these days. Community colleges and technical sch...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-14
Daily Chores
A current project has reminded me just how difficult it is to pull cost estimates together. You would think that with business being slow due to th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-07
Training Days
What a pleasant surprise this week to get a request for information on training rookie gear machine operators! It is easy to get caught up in the n...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-06-02
TSA Trouble
Here in Chicago we are blessed with two big airports and the best connections to destinations around the world. While no longer the busiest airport...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-31
Animal Trouble
Although the official astrological start to summer in the northern hemisphere is still three weeks away, the Memorial Day weekend just concluded ma...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-26
100th Running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing
This weekend marks the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 motor race. While it no longer dominates the news cycle as it once did, the event ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-24
Unforgettable Characters
One of my favorite features in the old Reader’s Digest magazine was the Unforgettable Character column. Each featured person would be celebrated fo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-19
Barter Time?
Another week — another interesting conversation with a concerned company president. Bookings are down and he has been thinking of ways to broade...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-17
Community Dues
As a lifelong blood donor I am frequently amazed at the advanced technology in use for what was previously the most simple of tasks. When my father...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-12
Down on the Farm
My last posting discussed the problem of finding a technical leader for a gear company. Except in a few emergency situations, such as the sudden de...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-10
Farm System or Free Agents?
I had a great conversation with a dedicated company president recently. Rather than get bogged down in the current market slump, he was f...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-05
Alumni Responsibilities
It happened again this week — a phone call from a friend reporting a rumor about a former employer. I have blogged previously about the duty owed t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-05-03
Improved Navigation
An inspection of a gearbox as old as me required a trip to Boston and a drive north into New Hampshire this week. I had been to Boston se...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-28
In Praise of Museums
The summer travel season is rapidly approaching, and here’s hoping your adventures include stops at a few museums. My wife and children tended to l...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-26
No Fantasy Draft
Chicago will once again host the National Football League draft for former college players. Millions of fans will tune in to see where their favori...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-21
Importing Technology
My last posting on soccer mentioned the industrial sports leagues in Milwaukee. A city of ethnic neighborhoods much like other rust belt towns was ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-19
What the Heck is “Relegation?”
Becoming a parent changes you in many unexpected ways. In the 1990s, one of those ways was to learn about soccer. Now, I was never as ignorant of “...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-14
Complex Antiques
I have a wonderfully complex gearbox to reverse engineer. It is a critical component for a thriving company that is the only known gearbox of its t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-12
Observations on Health Care
A lot has been written on the American Health Care System. Proponents tout the amazing cutting-edge technology; detractors lament our poor standing...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-07
Slow Times Don’t Last
A number of people have contacted me recently, seeking ideas for new markets. If I knew where the work was hiding, I would go g...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-04-05
Gone but Not Forgotten
Recently I visited an old workplace and learned that a much admired former co-worker had died several months previously. This is a small industry a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-31
The Dreaded Schedule Slip
What better time to talk about schedule slip than at the end of the month. Every place that I have ever worked or worked with has a “month end cris...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-29
Avoiding Mission Creep
It may be difficult for younger readers to imagine, but we once got our instructions verbally from our supervisors. Yes, in a time before e-mail an...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-24
Malicious Obedience
After posting about the difficulty in keeping my “inner engineer” under control outside the workplace, several readers admitted to the same troub...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-22
The Beginning of Wisdom
Aphorisms, pithy statements of fact, are a favorite of mine. They appeal because when you need to remember things you cannot always count on ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-17
St. Patrick: Patron Saint of Engineers!
I do not recall this being brought up during my years at Marquette University’s (MU) engineering school, but the night school crowd was p...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-15
The Curse of an Engineering Mind
There have been a few times in my life when I wished I could turn off my internal engineer and just be a regular guy. If you ask my wife she could ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-10
Your Results May Vary
We have all seen the Internet meme of politicians wearing corporate logos so the public will know who their backers are. I would like to ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-08
What Good Are the Leading Indicators?
"Wall Street predicted nine of the last FIVE recessions," Paul Samuelson, Nobel Prize winner in economics, 1966. We get a lot more economic news...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-03
When Do We See the Gears?
In 1971, the American gear business was far different from today. I am unaware of any modern company with a formal gear cutter’s apprenticeship; at...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-03-01
Stumbled into Gears; Built a Career
After my first year of college I decided it was time to get a real job. My grades were great but full-time school and 40 hours of restaurant work h...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-25
New Ideas in Gears
One of the perks of being a “public” gear person is the opportunity to interact with interesting people in and around our industry. Gear Techno...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-23
Reviving Old Ideas
My last blog may have sounded like I didn’t think there was anything really new to be found in the gear trade. Actually I think there are numerous ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-18
Something to Look Forward to
With Super Bowl 50 behind us, the sporting public can turn its attention to basketball and hockey while baseball teams start spring training. Those...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-16
Cold Weather Designs
Growing up in Milwaukee I learned about cold weather early and got a refresher course every winter. These lessons served me wel...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-11
The World before Wikipedia and Google
I have a lot of books. Like old friends, they sit on shelves and in boxes waiting for me to need them. It has been pointed out to me that books are...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-09
Discovering Gears
Recently, an attorney told me that his eleven-year-old daughter had “discovered” gears in a science class and was excitedly learning all she could ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-04
Super Bowl Week Reflection
It may surprise some people that there was football before the Super Bowl. I know this because back in those dark ages we wat...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-02-02
Tight Belts, Restricted Vision
Regular unleaded gasoline prices dropped below $1.50 a gallon in the Chicago suburbs this week. That hardly seemed possible when prices peaked well...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-28
Room for Improvement
Previous blogs here have celebrated the great advances made in gear industry design capabilities and machine tools. As the “paper of record” for th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-26
Observations on Air Travel, Continued
My first airline trip of the New Year ended like the last one of the previous year: in a middle seat of a fully loaded plane fighting a respiratory...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-21
Nostalgia Time
I am less of an airplane fan than most engineers, but the news reports of Air France scheduling special “last flights” for its retiring Boeing 747 ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-19
A Wide World of Gears
Blogging from an American perspective can sometimes make me forget that the gear industry is active around the world. I get occasional reminders in...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-14
Better Tools, Better Gears?
Previous blogs have discussed how fortunate we are to live in an age with the very best in gear making technology. Modern gear grinding m...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-12
Storage Capacity
The management here at Beyta Gear Service’s world headquarters has ordered a clean-up of certain storage areas. Our now adult children left quite a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-07
Who Offered the First Enclosed Gearbox?
Let’s start 2016 off with a joint research project. While visiting a client late last year we got to talking gear history and he recounted a story ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-05
Happy to be Back to Work?
As much as I enjoy a bit of time off it gets boring if I am away from gears for too long. Since I have been in the consulting trade the lull in act...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-31
One Last Blog for 2015
This blog completes our second year of blogs for the Gear Technology

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-29
One More Story
I recently celebrated my 33^rd wedding anniversary and want to share a favorite story of my wonderful wife’s baptism into the trials of t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-24
Happy Holidays!
Many different holidays are celebrated at the end of the calendar year and we at Gear Technol...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-22
Last-Minute Shopping
Not being much of a shopper, I dread holiday gift lists. Fortunately my wife takes care of most obligations on that front, so I only have to come u...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-17
Holiday Shutdown Duty
I have posted before about how much I enjoyed working and supervising holiday shutdowns over the years. Unless travel plans took the family out of ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-15
Holiday Traditions
Among my fondest memories at my various stops in the gear industry are the holiday traditions. Some places had well organized off-site events; othe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-10
Doing Nothing is Not Without Risk
One last thought before we leave the subject of evaluating incoming quotes — doing nothing is risky. The gear business may seem like a stable, well...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-08
All Sales Considered
Regular readers of this blog know that I am not one of those engineers who disrespects salesmen and saleswomen. I have pointed out frequently that ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-03
If the Job Fits
When business slows down it is common for management to request that the Sales Department cast a wider net in hopes of landing some new account...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-12-01
Evaluating Risk
Every order a company takes involves risk. Even after they ship, products are subject to warranty claims and, in the event of customer bankruptcies...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-26
Thanks!
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday that needs to go global. Local conditions need not be “perfect” to celebrate the good things in our liv...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-24
Evaluating Opportunities
Almost every conversation I have with gear industry friends these days seems to start with “How’s business?” When incoming orders are slow it helps...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-19
The Importance of Prompt No Quotes
Before going on an extended blog series on my “points system” for evaluating business opportunities, I want to talk about the importance of issuing...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-17
Partners — Not Adversaries
Continuing my rant on the difficulties in getting quotes…
Not all the b...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-12
The Price Disconnect
Traditionally, cost estimating is the basis for pricing. I was very surprised the first time a mentor pointed out that the two are often quite disc...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-10
Another Type of Veteran
We interrupt this blog to salute all our VETERANS on this national holiday set aside to remember them. The gear industry as we know it really got i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-05
You Are Lost Without Records!
The guys who taught me to estimate all had great memories for part shapes, features — even part numbers. It takes years to develop that kind of tal...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-11-03
The Task No One Enjoys
What task has to be done at every gear shop that no one enjoys? If you’ve followed this blog with any regularity you know how much I admire the uns...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-29
Train to Gain
One thing that struck me during the Gear Expo was the large amount of grey hair on the heads of those in the exhibit hall. While it was great to se...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-27
Open For Questions
Our “Ask the Expert Live” presentations at 2015 Gear Expo were a big success. Good crowds gathered at the booth to hear our volunteer experts answe...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-22
3-D Printing Follow-Up
My initial skepticism about 3-D printing’s place in the gear industry took a solid hit during a recent visit to a client. I am used to seeing color...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-20
Each One Teach One Follow-Up
Regular readers know that I am a big proponent of internships for college students. It is a great way to develop future gear industry talent withou...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-15
Family Reunion Time
The AGMA Fall Technical Meeting (FTM) has been called a gear industry family reunion. This year’s gathering gets underway Sunday (Oct. 18th) in Det...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-13
Teach Your Children Well
For the second year in a row I find myself writing a blog post around the International Day of the Girl (October 11th). One part of my brain says i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-08
Old School Technology Boosts High Technology
A popular cable car customizing show recently featured a segment on using 3-D printing to produce a prototype part. There wasn’t anything original ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-06
One World Now
My Saturday morning routine now includes watching a bit of “futball” from the English Premier League. The next day an American football game was br...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-10-01
LESSONS LEARNED
“There’ll be better days, but I’m getting by with these…” ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-29
Honorable Data
The huge flap over the Volkswagen “defeat code” for diesel EPA testing is a cautionary tale for all engineers and executives — regardless of produc...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-24
Representing Our Trade
Ever get random gear questions thrown your way? As a rather public “gear guy” I am used to questions coming in via e-mail and try to answer promptl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-22
How Reliable is Our Information?
How much can we trust our understanding of how things work? There was a special joint web ex meeting this week between two AGMA committees that got...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-17
Questions Should Not Be Disruptive
Continuing my rant on disruptive employees: a few posts ago I mentioned the ill will I engendered early in a new job by questioning the large perce...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-15
Disruptive is Not Necessarily Bad
There has been some discussion on-line recently about how to deal with “disruptive employees.” As a charter member of this group I feel compelled ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-10
A Century of Gears
The American Gear Manufacturers’ Association [AGMA] will celebrate its 100^th Anniversary in 2016. The party will begin with the Fall Tec...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-08
Ratio Analysis
For many years my employers participated in AGMA’s Statistical Analysis Program. Member companies would fill out monthly reports on sales and vario...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-03
When Good Employees Screw Up
A friend of mine is the inspection department for a custom machine shop. He is also the process engineer and, occasionally, a machine operator. Rec...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-09-01
Keeping Impossible Promises
Ever been handed a completely impossible promise by your boss with the expectation that you will find a way to “make it happen?” If so, you are in...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-27
Has School Started Yet?
Based on television ads, Facebook posts, and the number of school buses on the road it appears school has started for the fall term. It seems a bit...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-25
Oil Price Quandary
Like most curmudgeons, I can do a five minute ramp on how cheap gasoline was when I was a kid and how outrageous the price is now. Living in Chicag...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-20
Specialization is for Insects
A few more thoughts on Alexander Graham Bell; he was so much more than the “inventor” of the telephone. Like many other creative people, he had a w...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-18
Behind Every Great Man…
I have been traveling quite a bit lately and that means lots of waiting time in airports. My Kindle is loaded with many books and during my most re...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-13
Sprucing Up Content
Back in 1987 I wrote a book about gears aimed at the novice engineer or purchasing agent. An Introduction to Gear Design was originally a work assi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-11
Butterfly Effect
I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately, and wonder if perhaps we take the convenience of air travel for granted. Who would have expected an hour to...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-06
Customers? Or Fans?
My last posting concerned finding the right customers for implementing new technology. Many great ideas failed in the marketplace because of bad ti...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-08-04
Waiting for the Right Customers
Are you ready for self-driving cars? Apparently they are going to be a big thing, but I have yet to meet anyone interested in turning their steerin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-30
New Ways to Make Old Parts
My last post discussed reviewing the ratings and designs of “legacy products,” those venerable parts and gearboxes still being ordered twenty, thir...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-28
Brainstorming to Better Products
Many gear companies are not in a position to develop new products but most of them could make their current products better. Business schools may p...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-27
Of Swamp Coolers and Window Vents
Mr. Carrier did not invent modern air conditioning until 1902 but he was just another in a long line of inventors to seek relief from the summer he...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-21
A Long Hot Summer
We are having a bit of a heat wave in the Chicago area, not the deadly type of 1996, but uncomfortable for much outside activity. I marvel at the t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-16
The Next Big Thing?
My last post covered the importance of enthusiasts in keeping technology alive. For many of us the “crazy bug” came from wandering through Radio Sh...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-14
Different Kinds of Crazy
One of my favorite musicians, Delbert McClinton, has a song about his true love being the “same kind of crazy as me.” I have often thought of that ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-09
Passion is a Good Thing
I wrote in my last post about the passion our technical experts feel for the gear trade. Passion, in my opinion, is an underappreciated factor in a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-07
Expert Advice

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-07-02
Is Selling for Dinosaurs?

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-30
Echoes of My Past

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-25
Fact Checks Needed

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-23
Peer Review Time
October may seem a long time from now, but preparations continue for the AGMA Fall Technical meeting. I’m not presenting a paper this year, but I j...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-18
How Do You Learn?
We hear a lot of chatter about the “crisis in education” — as if this was a completely new and unexpected situation. My home state, long proud of i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-16
Reclaiming a Word’s Meaning
One of my “beefs” with sports terms taking over business discussions is the annexation of perfectly good words. A few days ago a national sports ta...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-11
Decisions, Decisions
Twenty years ago, a colleague devoted many hours to developing an all-inclusive computer program that would convert a twenty-question form into fin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-09
When Do You Trust Computers?
As mentioned previously in this blog, I am active in motor racing as a car owner, mechanic, and public relations representative. I’ve first became ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-04
Things We Don’t Know
Noted gear consultant and gear educator Ray Drago is fond of saying that a consultant’s best answers usually start with “it depends.” Those of you ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-06-02
Areas of Expertise
One of the first things you hear upon becoming a parent is that “children keep you young.” Once, I foolishly thought this referred to your physical...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-28
Formula 1 Gearbox Designs
As mentioned in my last blog, Formula 1 gearboxes are now highly integrated into the overall car design. The days of a “spec” transmission from a t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-26
Short Lived Gearbox Designs
“All memorable quotations referring to gearboxes involve expletives.” Peter Wright The author of Fo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-21
Applied Science, Part Two
My previous posting on engineering vs. science reminded me of a professor who insisted “real engineers” had to be able to reason things back to “fi...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-19
Engineering vs. Science
History shows that engineering (using an idea without necessarily understanding it) usually gets the drop on science (understanding an idea wit...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-14
Final Points...
W.Edward Deming’s quality management system was credited with resurrecting and changing Japan’s manufacturing economy after World War II. Experts t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-12
Business of Sports, Cont.
Picking up from last week on W. Edwards Deming… We’re constantly hearing sports terms and metaphors used in business c...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-07
Applying Business Metaphors to Sports
We suffer through lots of sports clichés in business articles and motivational speeches. What if the reverse were done to sports teams? I am a big ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-05-05
Building Your Team
The National Football League (NFL) held its annual draft of college players here in Chicago this past week. It is probably the most publicized huma...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-30
What is Your Foundation Story?
I wrote last time about family and company history because it is fascinating to see how things came to be what they are. Some of the “movers and sh...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-28
Who Do You Think You Are?
I watch too much television. My excuse is that most of it is what was classified as “educational” back before cable exploded to 500 channels plus m...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-23
Standards of Excellence
Cadillac once proclaimed itself the “Standard of the World” and did its level best to back that claim up with high levels of product quality and cu...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-21
Play Through, Old Friend
One of the consequences of growing older is saying good bye to friends you have made along the way. Word reached me this week that one of the best ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-16
Economic Priorities
If you occasionally buy a lottery ticket, you probably enjoy speculating on what you would do with the money. The only assured value of a ticket is...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-14
The Importance of Follow-Up
Job creation has been a popular platform for politicians for as long as I can remember. What seems to be lacking is any sort of “after action repor...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-09
How Much is Too Much?
My inner curmudgeon got loose in the last blog and I want to assure you that I, too, love big horsepower. My concern is that it be applied safely. ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-07
Horsepower Race
[starbox]As the Tool Time host used to say, “The answer is more power.” My little lathe/mill combo has a whopping .75 horsepower and I’ve managed t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-04-02
Evolving Equipment
[starbox]How long should gear manufacturing equipment last? I posted before about some very “veteran” gear cutting machines that are still earning ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-31
Fighting the Future
My computer repair people advised tossing one of my computers in the trash recently. This loyal travel companion had become so “buggy” from public ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-26
March Madness
[starbox]At my height basketball was never going to be a major part of my life. During the Al McGuire years at Marquette it was hard not to become ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-24
What Gear Trade Milestones Have You Witnessed?
[starbox]Last week’s blog on the Century of AGMA Timeline brought to mind a humorous story of our now adult daughter’s first “play store” set. If y...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-19
Gear Milestones Needed
[starbox]The American Gear Manufacturers Association (www.agma.org) will be celebrating its centennial in 2016. In preparation for the big party, t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-17
Time to Update Our Clichés?
[starbox]Evolving language and out-of-touch “seniors” not understanding it have been popular topics with stand-up comedians for many years. Growing...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-12
Long Lasting Gear Designs
[starbox]It is time to start preparing for the racing season so I have finally been spending some time in the garage. As a follow up to my last blo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-10
Paying it Forward
[starbox]Sometimes we cannot really anticipate the positive future effects of something we do today. This was illustrated to me this winter as it h...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-05
Where are Future Gear Guys and Gear Gals Coming From?
[starbox]Social media allows us to keep in touch with a much wider range of people than ever before. Recently one of my wife’s cousins posted a cop...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-03
Secret Weapon: Checklists
[starbox]One of the first things I learned in the Boy Scouts was the use of checklists to make sure things weren’t forgotten for camping trips. The...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-26
Sleeping on It?
[starbox]Do you lose sleep over your work? I have blogged previously about being troubled over employee evaluations but have to admit the real “sle...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-24
Why is this Stuff Still so Complicated?
[starbox] Much of my engineering practice is working with companies that design machines only once in a while. I enjoy working with the people on ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-19
Asset or Liability?
[starbox]In encouraging young people to consider a career in engineering, I think it is important to be honest about the current “status” of engine...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-17
It Isn’t a Job. It’s a Passion
[starbox] February 22-28, 2015 is the 64th annual National Engineers’ Week — as established by the National Society of Professional Engineers. The...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-12
Where is My Flying Car?
It was great fun reading news stories on the Back to the Future anniversary, and which inventions actually happened. Sorry, but a Hover Board jus...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-10
Uncertain Times
[starbox] While the news media is heralding improved job and income growth, people in gear manufacturing are worried about the security of their j...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-05
Alumni Groups
[starbox] I wrote last time about how the Internet has made it easier to reconnect with people you used to know. It has also been a boon to the fo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-02-03
The Sage of the Sales Department
[starbox] One of the great things about our Internet Age is the ability to reconnect with old friends and associates. Apparently I have left qu...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-29
Microgeometry
[starbox] Much of my design work involves “math modeling” gearsets to determine the lowest-cost components which will meet the requirements. Over ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-29
Feedback and Comments
[starbox] We are starting our second year of this blog and are pleased that it was named one of the Top 50 Design and Development Blogs on the Int...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-22
Trust, but Verify
[starbox] Lest you come away from my last posting thinking I am completely trapped in the past, I’ve invested a fair amount in new software during ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-20
Questioning New Techniques
[starbox] In my last blog I mentioned the great analysis tools available to today’s gear engineers. On a current project, we are eagerly awaitin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-15
Studying the State of the Art
[starbox] A few years ago I presented a paper on reverse engineering at the AGMA Fall Technical Meeting. I heard through the grapevine that some f...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-13
Do You Know Your Design DNA?

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-09
It is Nagging Time Again
[starbox] One of the first posts of this blog encouraged participation in AGMA’s Fall Technical Meeting (FTM) “paper” program. Our magazine reprin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-01-09
It’s All About Context
[starbox] I was one of those kids that loved reading the dictionary to learn new words, and that interest has continued into my golden years. Th...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-30
Another Year Passes

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-23
Anticipation
[starbox] A lasting memory from childhood is how long it took for future events to occur. We started looking forward to Christmas when...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-18
Holding Down the Fort
[starbox] With only a few days before the Holiday Break, gear shops big and small are diligently trying to get important projects completed. Peo...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-17
Recreating History

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-11
The “Friendly Skies” Rely Upon Friendly Passengers
[starbox] I haven’t flown much this year, so it was with some apprehension that I booked two trips in a single week recently. My wife warned me ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-09
A Day That Changed the Future
[starbox] I didn’t start working in the gear business until 1971, but the events of 30 years earlier affected me from the moment I walked into t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-04
Overcoming Adversity
[starbox] My last blog concerned project management and the problems of staying on schedule. I thought it only fair to pass on some techniques I...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-12-02
Deadlines
[starbox] I have posted before about how much I enjoyed seeing my projects finally reach the shipping dock after months of sales negotiation, de...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-28
Thanksgiving
[starbox] Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It remains one of our least marketable celebrations — unless you count the intrusion of Chris...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-25
Unknown Heroes of Engineering

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-20
One Man’s Treasure

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-18
In Praise of Tinkering
[starbox] My most recent post told of less than optimum gear making under extreme conditions. It reminded me of the incident that got ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-13
A Good Waste of Time

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-11
The War to End All Wars
[starbox] As the son of a World War II sailor, I was raised with an honest respect for our nation’s veterans. The massive size of WW II and its ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-07
The Importance of Perseverance

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-11-04
Catalog Season
The holiday gift catalogs have started to arrive at my house. Over the years our gift list has been pared down, but we occasionally see something unique that is just perfect for someone on the list.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-30
Moving the Goal Posts
[starbox]

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-29
History Lessons

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-23
Preserving Gear History
One of the initiatives now in progress since the close of the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) 2014 Fall FTM was building a detailed timeline of the organization’s history since its founding in 1916.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-21
Fall Technical Meeting Report

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-16
Publish or Perish
[starbox] My very first posting in this space was a call for papers for the 2013 AGMA Fall Technical Meeting. I had just gotten home from Arlingto...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-14
Not a Boys Club
[starbox] This is a belated post in support of the International Day of the Girl. Around the world girls have to risk abuse, sexual assault, and e...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-09
Bad Career Moves
My e-mail correspondent was worried about making a bad career move. Since it is unlikely that people starting out in the gear trade today will work...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-07
Spamsters be Damned — We're Bloggin' Here
[starbox] The anticipated, two-way dialog for this blog has been hampered by persistent spammers trying to scam their way onto t...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-02
Adding it All Up
[starbox] So now you’ve seen my “20 Questions” method for employee performance reviews. I’ll make the spreadsheet available through this blog; ple...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-30
Creativity Makes Us Human
[starbox] The final quarter of my performance review system measures the creativity a person brings to their job. Some might argue that many jobs ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-24
Attitude is Important, Too
[starbox] I don’t know many people who enjoy working with crabby co-workers. Attitude is a key element in team chemistry, so my evaluation system ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-23
E is for Effort
[starbox] The second step in my performance evaluation procedure looks at the effort a team member puts into his or her job. From our first day ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-18
Productivity
[starbox] If the work isn’t getting done, every job on the team is at risk. This is why my evaluation system starts by looking at productivity v...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-17
Uncomfortable, but Necessary
[starbox] I seldom dreaded report card day while in school, but found the annual review process in the workplace to be uncomfortable but necessa...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-12
A Day We Can Never Forget
[starbox] Yesterday marked a day 13 years ago on which the world changed for all of us. Time forever more to be marked as “before” those terribl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-09
Have You Been to the Circus Yet?
[starbox] As mentioned before in this space, the bi-annual International Machine Tool Show (IMTS) is back in Chicago (September 8 – 3th). I’ll b...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-04
A New Season; A Fresh Start
[starbox] September has traditionally been a time of new beginnings. We were programmed for this from our first days in school and, like salmon im...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-09-02
Shared Responsibilities
[starbox] Coming off the Labor Day weekend, I had time to reflect on what the holiday means beyond marking the end of summer, retiring (for the ...

VOICES | 2014-09-01
Leading by Example - Remember When
In January of this year we at Gear Technology got hip to the fact-in un-hip, belated fashion - that we needed a Blog Site and someone to do the blogging. Lucky for us, we already had that someone right here - in plain sight. That someone was Charles D. Schultz, P.E.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2014-09-01
Getting the Right Tools
So there is little chance that they need the same software to assist with their work. Gone are the days when companies wrote their own code and process engineers thumbed the same tattered reference book.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-28
Specialization is for Insects
[starbox] The sports world was abuzz recently over a girl pitching her Little League team into the World Championship Tournament. For some this ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-26
Disneyland for Engineers
[starbox] After living in the Chicago area for 10 years I have made peace with the congestion, high prices, long commute tim...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-21
The Pitfalls of Quoting
[starbox] “What will this cost?” is often the most important question in whether a project can move forward. And it is a question every custom man...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-19
The Challenge of Maintaining Excellence
[starbox] I blogged earlier about best-selling business books trumpeting rapid growth schemes rather than sustainable performance. Building a succ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-14
The Problem of Certainty
[starbox] In writing about unforeseen consequences there is a risk of inspiring such conservatism in design that the resulting product is no lon...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-12
Unforeseen Consequences
[starbox] For something that causes so much trouble for so many people, you would think there would be lots of consideration given to the unforese...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-07
Calmness Under Fire
So far, I expect my ideal “leader” to have commitment and vision. A third requirement is calmness under fire. While my life has been blessedly free...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-08-05
Make No Small Plans
[starbox] “Make no small plans” has been attributed to a variety of people over the years, but that doesn’t undermine its importance to fledglin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-31
Management vs. Leadership
[starbox] Recent posts about the management training “movement” of the late 20th century got me thinking about why those efforts — no matter how...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-29
Management, Leadership, and Character
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“Leadership is the practical application of character.” — R. E. Meinertzhagen

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-24
Leadership 101 — Commitment
[starbox] Much of what I believe about leadership I learned from the scouting program. I was a scout as a boy and when my children reached that ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-22
Happiness is a Full Shipping Dock
[starbox] A young engineer I know broke new ground on Face Book today by posting photos of his most recent project on the shipping dock. Anyone wh...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-17
Reader Outreach
One of the objectives of this — or any — blog is to encourage two-way communication with its readers. Which reminds that Gear Tech...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-15
Our “Common” Language?
[starbox] Watching the World Cup final reminds me of that old adage about Americans and the English being divided by a common language. For exam...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-10
If You Are Going to Make Buggy Whips…
[starbox] If you are going to make buggy whips, they better be good ones. That is the lesson I took away from reading about hundred-year-old Wis...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-08
Better to be Lucky than Smart
[starbox] The special 30th Anniversary Issue of Gear Technology magazine represents a lot of extra work on the part of...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-03
Rework or Scrap?
My last posting on surface temper inspection prompts me to think about the problem of non conforming components. It is never fun to throw valuable ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-07-01
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
[starbox] If ever a situation cried out for a short, texting-friendly acronym it is the unavoidable problem of “You don’t know what you don’t kn...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-26
The Lure of Nostalgia
[starbox] I love old cars but have no desire to drive one on a daily basis. The appeal of a powerful muscle car or winged 1950s convertible i...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-24
Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future
[starbox] There is a new commercial airing that shows flashbacks of a young girl enjoying a family road trip from the rear facing seat in their ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-20
The Invisibles: People Who Keep Shops Running
[starbox] I happened to catch an interview with author David Zwieg about his new book, The Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Workers (...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-17
School’s Out for Summer?
[starbox] June has always been a favorite month for me because it signaled the start of summer vacation. In the many years since I graduated hig...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-12
The Error of Hiding Failures
[starbox] The General Motors ignition switch fiasco remains in the headlines, having cost many lives, millions of dollars, and a number a career...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-10
Regrets, I Have a Few
[starbox] Like many Baby Boomers, I have a strong attachment to the music of my youth. I don’t suppose many people under sixty remember folk sin...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-05
Is the 10,000 Hour “Rule” a Myth?
Malcomb Gladwell popularized the notion that 10,000 hours of repetition could make you a virtuoso in his 2008 book, Outliers: The ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-06-03
Failures Need Not Be Permanent
[starbox] The mailman delivered some used books to my house this week, so I expect to be blogging a bit about their content in the coming weeks....

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-29
What Defines Success?
[starbox] The last of my uncles died this week. In my parents’ generation he was considered a successful man, despite not having a college degre...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-27
The Arsenal of Democracy
[starbox] The Memorial Day holiday means different things to different people. To some it is the official start of summer, although the erratic ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-22
Failing Boldly
[starbox] Aside from the pure mechanical beauty of it, my favorite thing about the Indy 500 is the tradition. What’s more, few events can match ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-20
Ideas Ahead of Their Time
[starbox] The magazine is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and many special features will be published about technological breakthroug...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-15
The Journey or the Destination?
I belong to a number of online technical forums besides contributing to the occasional “Ask the Expert” column here at Gear Technology.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-13
A Sure Sign of Spring
[starbox] Over the years, some of the luster has come off the Indianapolis 500, but it remains a major cultural influence. I caught the racing b...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-08
Treasured Gear Books
[starbox] This week’s Helical Gear Rating Committee meetings included a much hoped for improvement: a new member! Not only that, a new member un...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-06
The Peer Review Process
[starbox] I began this blog with an appeal for abstracts for the 2014 AGMA Fall Technical Meeting. For those of you who had an abstract accepted...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-05-01
So How Much is This Going to Cost?
[starbox] Estimating is a necessary evil in every shop. Nobody wants to do it, but if it doesn’t get done there is no business. Fortunately, we ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-29
A Good Guy Exits
[starbox] We would like to add our voice to those congratulating AGMA Technical Division VP Charlie Fischer on his retirement. I didn’t meet Cha...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-24
Working Dinosaurs
[starbox] Reflecting upon “transformative technology,” I remember the sadness I felt at the Cincinnati Gear Company auction when a group of pris...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-22
Different Consequences
[starbox] In the most recent issue of Gear Technology, the Publisher’s Page recounts the inaugural issue’s coverage of “transformative ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-17
More Adventures in Modifying Machines
[starbox] In my last posting I wrote about some of the projects I have been involved with to squeeze a bigger part in an existing machine. Most ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-15
If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit …
[starbox] Blogging about emerging 3-D printing technology reminded me of occasions when it was necessary to “stretch the envelope” to get things...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-10
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
[starbox] My last post may have been too hard on the emerging 3-D printing technology. We’ve always celebrated inventors in this country and per...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-08
A Tool Looking for a Task?
[starbox] I have been hearing a lot about 3-D printing and how it will revolutionize manufacturing in the United States. Millions are slated to ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-03
In Praise of Deadlines
[starbox] It is only April 2nd, but I can already predict that local TV cameras will have the post office staked out 13 days from now as thousan...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-01
An Appreciation of Gray Hair
[starbox] While driving from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to a new client’s factory, I listened to a very troubling story on PRI’s Marketplace. It ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-28
What Happened to FEA?
[starbox] Thinking back on my experiences on the Helical Gear Rating Committee, I am a bit shocked at what hasn’t happened. As AGMA 218 was bein...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-26
Where Do Allowable Stresses Come From?
One of the most important aspects of a gear rating standard is the allowable stress charts. For spur and ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-24
Great Moments in Gear Rating
[starbox] By now readers of this Blog are aware of my interest in gear trade history. The more I learn about how we got to this point in our und...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-21
Action Items for the Gear Trade
[starbox] Recently I learned that it took over 20 years for the gear industry to agree on its first “standard” tooth form — and that was after s...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-19
Limited Opportunities for One-Trick Ponies
When you work as an engineer for smaller companies you get to wear a lot of hats.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-17
Lost Technology
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GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-14
The Beginning of Wisdom

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-12
Frequently Asked Questions (and Other TLA or FLA)
[starbox] The advent of texting naturally leads to a desire for reduced typing. I like websites that have a “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ta...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-10
Hunting for an Argument
[starbox] One of the first things I learned about gears was the importance of having a “hunting tooth” combination. This was not open to discuss...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-07
What Did They Know and When Did They Know It?
[starbox] No, I am not launching a criminal investigation. The title of this posting summarizes my ongoing study of the history of gear ratings....

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-05
Dr. Faydor L. Litvin: 100 Years a Genius
[starbox] The Gear Technology gang wishes to congratulate Dr. Faydor L. Litvin of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) on celebr...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-03-03
Time Flies When You Are Making Gears
[starbox] On Saturday I began my 44th year in the gear industry. I remember way too many details of my first day as a drafting apprentice at the...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-28
Internships: How Does the Employer Benefit? Part II
[starbox] In my previous post I talked about the official ways an internship program benefited our company. Today I’d like to talk about a coupl...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-26
Internships: How Does the Employer Benefit?
[starbox] The first question my boss asked me when I suggested we start an intern program was “What’s in it for us?” Fortunately I had done my h...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-24
Is It Summer Yet?
[starbox] With the extreme weather much of the country has been having it isn’t too surprising that many people are daydreaming about summer vac...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-21
Times Haven’t Changed That Much

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-20
Each One Teach One
[starbox] I have posted previously about the need for mentors and teachers in the gear trade. Once a year the National Society of Professional E...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-18
100 Years of Four Wheel Drive?

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-15
Time for a Gear Industry Mount Rushmore?

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-12
Everything Old is New Again
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GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-10
All Hail the Internet
While it is customary for people of a certain age to decry the decline of civilization resulting from the Internet, this is one old guy who wonders...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-07
Many Hands Make For Light Work
[starbox] As mentioned in my last posting, the AGMA Helical Gear Rating Committee ([HGRC)] was in Chicago this week for two days of work on the ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-05
Practical Magic
[starbox] Today I have t

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-02-03
Time for a Gear Awards Show?
[starbox] It is that time of year when some of our favorite television shows are pre-empted by awards shows. Every facet of the entertainment bu...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-31
Barn Find Gearboxes

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-29
Unsung Heroes of the Gear Industry - Metallurgists

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-27
How Did You Become a Gear Expert?
[starbox] Some months ago I got a call from a young engineer asking how he could get into the consulting business. It was a flattering call but a ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-24
Better Living Through Machinery
[starbox] Here in the Midwest we are going through a nasty winter. Between the relentless snow and bone-numbing cold, it has been a challenge keep...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-22
Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks
[starbox] I am happy to report that I survived my first Skype teleconference today. This amazing technology may be old hat to some of you but as a...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-20
How Old is Your Machinery’s Handbook?

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-17
Gear Training Then and Now
[starbox] Blogging about gear training brings to mind the widely attended Illinois Tool Works Gear School that Bob Moderow operated on behalf of h...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-14
Who Taught You About Gears?
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"The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their proper name" -- Chinese proverb
Who taught you about gears...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-13
LAST CALL for AGMA Fall Technical Meeting paper abstracts!

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-01-13
Introduction
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ASK THE EXPERT | 2014-01-01
Planet Carrier Design
With all the advantages of building float into a planetary gear system, what advantages are there to using a carrier in the first place, rather than simply having your planets float in the system?

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2012-10-01
Center Distance Variations for Internal Gears
While external involute gears are very tolerant of center distance variations, what are the center distance constraints for internal gears?

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2006-03-01
What's the Right Tolerance
Charles Schultz of Brad Foote Gear Works discusses some of the finer points of engineering tolerances--and muscle cars.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2004-11-01
Understanding the Application: A Key to Economical Gearbox Purchases
On a highway, a compact pick-up truck struggles to tow a 30-foot boat up a steep grade. Inside the pick-up, the owner curses himself. He saved money leasing a smaller truck but sees now that he really needed a bigger, pricier vehicle, one suitable for this job.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2001-05-01
Gearbox Field Performance From a Rebuilder's Perspective
The major focus of the American Gear Manufacturers Association standards activity has been the accurate determination of a gearbox's ability to transmit a specified amount of power for a given amount of time. The need for a "level playing field" in the critical arena was one of the reasons the association was formed in the first place. Over the past 85 years, AGMA committees have spent countless hours "discussing" the best ways to calculate the rating of a gear set, often arguing vigorously over factors that varied the resulting answers by fractions of a percentage point. While all that "science" was being debated in test labs and conference rooms all over the country, out industry's customers were conducting their own experiments through the daily operation of gear-driven equipment of all types.

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