| Gear Technology Magazine

Coffeegate

January 1, 2015

The other day I went to Starbuck’s and ordered my usual four shots of espresso, straight up. I know what you’re thinking: that’s a lot of caffeine, especially for someone as naturally energetic as I am. But after years and years, I may have built up a tolerance to the caffeine. I picked up the espresso habit as a much younger man, when I worked for Daldi & Matteucci (DEMM) in Italy back in the ’70s. And I’ve stuck with it ever since.

Robots are a Mans best Friend

January 1, 2015

Pretty much everyone old enough to utter the familiar, dual syllabic refrain of “beep boop” in the electro-mechanical, monotone pitch from every sci-fi movie ever made has the same idea of what a robot looks likes.

On the Cutting Edge

January 1, 2015

Sentences that start off with some variance of “I don’t want to brag, but…” are generally a good indicator that it’s precisely what the speaker intends to do and typically end with bold proclamations that are immediately and eminently quotable — the kind of quotes perfect for beginning a feature story with an eye-catching artistic flourish.

Hub of the Gear Industry

January 1, 2015

The name Gleason is practically synonymous with gear manufacturing. Since the company was founded in 1865, the technology of gear manufacturing has been its focus, its core and its competitive advantage.

Getting in Gear with the Chain of Innovations

January 1, 2015

Frank Burke

At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, so-called mechanics were tasked with devising the precise methods that would make mass production possible. The result was the first generation of machine tools, which in turn required improved tooling and production methods.

Non-Involute Gearing, Function and Manufacturing Compared to Established Gear Designs

January 1, 2015

Introduction The standard profile form in cylindrical gears is an involute. Involutes are generated with a trapezoidal rack — the basis for easy and production-stable manufacturing (Fig. 1).

On the Correlation of Specific Film Thickness and Gear Pitting Life

January 1, 2015

Timothy L. Krantz

The effect of the lubrication regime on gear performance has been recognized, qualitatively, for decades. Often the lubrication regime is characterized by the specific film thickness defined as the ratio of lubricant film thickness to the composite surface roughness. It can be difficult to combine results of studies to create a cohesive and comprehensive data set. In this work gear surface fatigue lives for a wide range of specific film values were studied using tests done with common rigs, speeds, lubricant temperatures, and test procedures.

Quality and Surface of Gears Manufactured by Free-Form Milling with Standard Tools

January 1, 2015

The recently available capability for the free-form milling of gears of various gear types and sizes — all within one manufacturing system — is becoming increasingly recognized as a flexible machining process for gears.

Little Gears, Big Picture

January 1, 2015

If there wasn’t such a thing as air (seriously, who even needs it?), gears might stand alone as the most ever-present entities on earth. They are literally everywhere you turn — a universal, inescapable part of the world we live in, sort of like Justin Bieber but with less hair gel and electronic synthesizers.