We are currently experiencing wear on the bull gear on our converter at the steel plant. We want to be able to draw the original gear profile to compare this with the worn tooth before we decide on the next steps. I have attempted this, but there is a correction factor given and I am unsure how to apply this. Could someone give advice on this? Please find attached the PDF’s for the bull gear and the pinion gear. They are old drawings! The wear is on the wheel.

Our experts comment on reverse engineering herringbone gears and contact pattern optimization.

Dear Editor: In Mr. Yefim Kotlyar's article "Reverse Engineering" in the July/August issue, I found an error in the formula used to calculate the ACL = Actual lead from the ASL = Assumed lead.

Whether gear engineers have to replace an old gear which is worn out, find out what a gear's geometry is after heat treatment distortion, or just find out parameters of gears made by a competitor, sometimes they are challenged with a need to determine the geometry of unknown gears. Depending on the degree of accuracy required, a variety of techniques are available for determining the accuracy of an unknown gear. If a high degree of precision is important, a gear inspection device has to be used to verify the results. Frequently, several trial-and-error attempts are made before the results reach the degree of precision required.