September/October 1987

Keeping Ahead by Keeping Up

A commitment to boost United States' industrial competitiveness in future years must strike beyond legislative action and economic debates.

Invest in the Future--Now!

It is with great anticipation that we move closer to AGMA's Fall Technical Conference and Gear Expo '87, which is being held on Oct. 4-6 in Cincinnati, OH. This bold undertaking by both AGMA and the exhibitors in the Expo's 160 booths is an attempt to make a major change in the industry's approach to the exposition of gear manufacturing equipment. By combining the Expo with the Fall Technical Conference, those involved in gear manufacturing will have the opportunity to review the latest equipment, trends, and most innovative ideas, while keeping up with the newest technology in the industry.

Effects of Hob Quality and Resharpening Errors on Generating Accuracy

The modern day requirement for precision finished hobbed gears, coupled with the high accuracy characteristics of modern CNC hobbing machines, demands high tool accuracy.

The Interrelationship of Tooth Thickness Measurements as Evaluated by Various Measuring Techniques

The first commandment for gears reads "Gears must have backlash!" When gear teeth are operated without adequate backlash, any of several problems may occur, some of which may lead to disaster. As the teeth try to force their way through mesh, excessive separating forces are created which may cause bearing failures. These same forces also produce a wedging action between the teeth with resulting high loads on the teeth. Such loads often lead to pitting and to other failures related to surface fatigue, and in some cases, bending failures.

S1 Units Measurements and Equivalencies

Throughout the history of civilization attempts have been made to limit the number of the measuring systems in use with the result that today only two systems, English and metric, are practiced in the industrial nations. Globally, the metric system has been gaining ground, and the English system has been losing it. As of 1986, only the United States, Burma and Brunei remain uncommitted to metric conversion in the sense that no government controlled deadlines for the conversion have been established.

Selection of a Proper Ball Size to Check an Involute Spur or Helical Cear Tooth

A much-used method for checking the tooth thickness of an involute gear tooth is to measure the dimension over two balls placed in most nearly opposite spaces in the case of external gears, and the dimension between the balls in the case of internal gears. This measurement is then checked against a pre-calculated dimension to denote an acceptable part.