Shaping

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2019-11-12

Forest City Gear Expands Gear Shaping Capacity

Forest City Gear has expanded its capacity for the shaping of high precision internal and external gears with the addition of the latest ...

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 | 2019-06-11

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 | 2019-05-07

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...

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2019-05-03

Star SU Announces Hobbing and Shaping Machine Lines from Samputensili

Star SU LLC is pleased to announce it has expanded its comprehensive gear manufacturing product offering to include a line of horizonta...

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 | 2019-01-30

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...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2019-01-01

Automotive gear manufacturers have implemented significant improvements in external planetary gear manufacturing yielding quieter gears. In addition, process stability has increased due to the post-heat treatment finishing processes employed. This article explains various complete solutions for cutting and finishing internal ring gears.

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...

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2018-11-15

Beautiful on the Inside

Higher Quality Internal Gears

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-09-07

Something is not Right Here

Another benefi...

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 | 2018-06-21

Gear Materials: More Inside Heat Treating Trivia

In our last bl...

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 | 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...

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2017-09-07

Liebherr LS 180 E Gear Shaping Machine Offers Flexibility for Small Workpieces

Internal, external, spur, helical - everything is possible with the new LS 180 E gear shaping machine. This machine masters all types of ...

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2017-08-08

WZL Gear Conference Highlights Latest Technology

Liebherr Gear Technology Inc. recently hosted the 7^th WZL Gear Conference in the USA 2017 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This two-day program o...

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...

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2016-11-17

Liebherr Gear Shaping Machine Offers Short Setup Times and Flexibility

Liebherr-Verzahntechnik GmbH has expanded its machine portfolio for small workpieces with the small-footprint (Platform 1) LS 180 F shapi...

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2016-10-18

Two Problems, Two Machines, Two Solutions

Delta’s Investment in New Mitsubishi Equipment Adds Capacity, Reduces Cycle Time Dwight Smith, Vice President, Mitsubishi Hea...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2016-08-01

IMTS 2016 Booth Previews

Comprehensive descriptions of what you will find in the booths of many leading gear industry suppliers at IMTS 2016.

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...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2016-03-01

Plastic Gearing Continues Converting the Unconverted

Plastic gears are everywhere today - throughout your car, at the oceans' lowest depths, in deep space. The question, when is a metal gear a candidate for plastic conversion, can be addressed in three words, i.e. what's the application?

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 | 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 ...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2015-01-01

Getting in Gear with the Chain of Innovations

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.

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 | 2014-08-05

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...

ASK THE EXPERT | 2014-08-01

Importance of Contact Pattern in Assembly of Bevel vs Cylindrical Gears

Why is there so much emphasis on the tooth contact pattern for bevel gears in the assembled condition and not so for cylindrical gears, etc?

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2013-09-20

Gear Expo Recap: MHI Touts Gear Shaping Technology

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has completed the development of a new gear shaping machine, the ST40A, capable of cutting a broa...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-08-01

Leading the Way in Lead Crown Correction and Inspection

Forest City Gear applies advanced gear shaping and inspection technologies to help solve difficult lead crown correction challenges half a world away. But these solutions can also benefit customers much closer to home, the company says. Here's how…

ASK THE EXPERT | 2013-06-01

Worn Gear Contact Analysis

How does one perform a contact analysis for worn gears? Our expert responds.

PRODUCT NEWS | 2013-01-01

Product News

The complete Product News section from the January/February 2013 issue of Gear Technology.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2012-06-01

Runout, Helix Accuracy and Shaper Cutters

Our experts discuss runout and helix accuracy, as well as the maximum number of teeth in a shaper cutter.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2010-09-01

What's the Big Attraction - IMTS 2010

The great thing about a trade show the size of IMTS is the amount of options available to attendees. If you’re into cars, fighter jets, machine tools, fighting robots, manufacturing relics or simply the latest technology advancements in a particular industry, you’ll find it at IMTS 2010.

VOICES | 2010-03-01

Crowning: A Cheap Fix for Noise and Misalignment Problems

Fred Young, CEO of Forest City Gear, talks about sophisticated gear manufacturing methods and how they can help solve common gear-related problems.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2009-01-01

Big Gears - High Standards, High Profits

Natural resources—minerals, coal, oil, agricultural products, etc.—are the blessings that Mother Earth confers upon the nations of the world. But it takes unnaturally large gears to extract them.

ADDENDUM | 2007-03-01

Bowling for Gears

Here's what Dennis was thinking...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-01-01

Labor Pains in the American Gear Industry--Any Relief in Sight

Lack of skilled workers mirrors U.S. manufacturing's decline.

INDUSTRY NEWS | 2005-04-13

New North American Subsidiary for Atlanta GmbH

Atlanta GmbH in Bietingheim-Bissingen, Germany, announced the formation of its new North American subsidiary, Atlanta Drive Systems Inc.,...

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2001-11-01

Dry Machining for Gear Shaping

Economic production is one of the main concerns of any manufacturing facility. In recent years, cost increases and tougher statutory requirements have increasingly made cutting fluids a problematic manufacturing and cost factor in metalworking. Depending on the cutting fluid, production process and supply unit, cutting-fluid costs may account for up to 16% of workpiece cost. In some cases, they exceed tool cost by many times (Ref. 1). The response by manufacturers is to demand techniques for dry machining (Ref. 2).

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2000-03-01

Reducing Production Costs in Cylindrical Gear Hobbing and Shaping

Increased productivity in roughing operations for gear cutting depends mainly on lower production costs in the hobbing process. In addition, certain gears can be manufactured by shaping, which also needs to be taken into account in the search for a more cost-effective form of production.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 1998-03-01

New Guideless CNC Shaper for Helical Gears

Product announcements so often trumpet minor, incremental advances with works like "revolutionary" and "unique" that even the best thesaurus can fail to offer a fresh alternative to alert the reader when something really innovative and important is introduced. In the case of Mitsubishi's new CNC gear shaper, the ST25CNC, both terms apply.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1997-07-01

Structural Analysis of Teeth With Asymmetrical Profiles

This article illustrates a structural analysis of asymmetrical teeth. This study was carried out because of the impossibility of applying traditional calculations to procedures involved in the specific case. In particular, software for the automatic generation of meshes was devised because existing software does not produce results suitable for the new geometrical model required. Having carried out the structural calculations, a comparative study of the stress fields of symmetrical and asymmetrical teeth was carried out. The structural advantages of the latter type of teeth emerged.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1997-05-01

Eddy Current Examination of Gear Systems

Nondestructive examination (NDE) of ferrous and nonferrous materials has long proved an effective maintenance and anomaly characterization tool for many industries. Recent research has expanded its applicability to include the inspection of large, open gear drives. Difficulties inherent in other NDE methods make them time-consuming and labor-intensive. They also present the user with the environmental problem of the disposal of used oil. The eddy current method addresses these problems.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1996-07-01

Design Implications for Shaper Cutters

A gear shaper cutter is actually a gear with relieved cutting edges and increased addendum for providing clearance in the root of the gear being cut. The maximum outside diameter of such a cutter is limited to the diameter at which the teeth become pointed. The minimum diameter occurs when the outside diameter of the cutter and the base circle are the same. Those theoretical extremes, coupled with the side clearance, which is normally 2 degrees for coarse pitch cutters an d1.5 degrees for cutters approximately 24-pitch and finer, will determine the theoretical face width of a cutter.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1996-01-01

Avoiding Interference In Shaper-Cut Gears

In the process of developing gear trains, it occasionally occurs that the tip of one gear will drag in the fillet of the mating gear. The first reaction may be to assume that the outside diameter of the gear is too large. This article is intended to show that although the gear dimensions follow AGMA guidelines, if the gear is cut with a shaper, the cutting process may not provide sufficient relief in the fillet area and be the cause of the interference.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1995-07-01

New Concepts in CNC Gear Shaping

In today's economy, when purchasing a new state-of-the-art gear shaper means a significant capital investment, common sense alone dictates that you develop strategies to get the most for your money. One of the best ways to do this is to take advantage of the sophistication of the machine to make it more than just a single-purpose tool.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1995-07-01

How to Avoid Errors When Measuring Step Gears

There are problems in dimensional measurement that should be simple to solve with standard measuring procedures, but aren't. In such cases, using accepted practices may result in errors of hundreds of microns without any warning that something is wrong.

INDUSTRY NEWS | 1994-05-01

Choosing An ISO 9000 Consultant: Why, When & How

On of the key questions confronting any company considering ISO 9000 certification is, how much is this going to cost? The up-front fees are only the beginning. Dissect the ISO 9000 certification procedure with an eye for hidden costs, and two segments of the process will leap out - the cost of consultants and the cost of making in-house improvements for the sake of passing certification. Most of these costs can be controlled by careful selection f the right consultant in the first place.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1994-01-01

Innovative CNC Gear Shaping

The Shaping Process - A Quick Review of the Working Principle. In the shaping process, cutter and workpiece represent a drive with parallel axes rotating in mesh (generating motion) according to the number of teeth in both cutter and workpiece (Fig. 1), while the cutter reciprocates for the metal removal action (cutting motion).

INDUSTRY NEWS | 1993-07-01

Gear Tip Chamfer and Gear Noise; Surface Measurement of Spiral Bevel Gear Teeth

Could the tip chamfer that manufacturing people usually use on the tips of gear teeth be the cause of vibration in the gear set? The set in question is spur, of 2.25 DP, with 20 degrees pressure angle. The pinion has 14 teeth and the mating gear, 63 teeth. The pinion turns at 535 rpm maximum. Could a chamfer a little over 1/64" cause a vibration problem?

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1993-01-01

New Cutting Tool Developments in Gear Shaping Technology

The advent of CNC technology as applied to gear shaping machines has, in the last 10 years, led to an astonishing improvement in both productivity and quality. As is usual when developments such as this take place, the technology of the machine tool suddenly jumps ahead of that of the cutting tool, and the machine is then capable of producing faster than the cutting tool can withstand.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1991-09-01

SPC Acceptance of Hobbing & Shaping Machines

Today, as part of filling a typical gear hobbing or shaping machine order, engineers are required to perform an SPC acceptance test. This SPC test, while it is contractually necessary for machine acceptance, is not a machine acceptance test. It is a process capability test. It is an acceptance of the machine, cutting tool, workholding fixture, and workpiece as integrated on the cutting machine, using a gear measuring machine, with its work arbor and evaluation software, to measure the acceptance elements of the workpiece.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1990-05-01

Shaper Cutters - Design & Application - Part 2

Cutter Sharpening Cutter sharpening is very important both during manufacturing and subsequently in resharpening after dulling. Not only does this process affect cutter "over cutting edge" quality and the quality of the part cut, but it can also affect the manner in which chip flow takes place on the cutter face if the surface finished is too rough or rippled.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1990-03-01

Shaper Cutters-Design & Applications Part 1

Gear shaping is one of the most popular production choices in gear manufacturing. While the gear shaping process is really the most versatile of all the gear manufacturing methods and can cut a wide variety of gears, certain types of gears can only be cut by this process. These are gears closely adjacent to shoulders; gears adjacent to other gears, such as on countershafts; internal gears, either open or blind ended; crown or face gears; herringbone gears of the solid configuration of with a small center groove; rack; parts with filled-in spaces or teeth, such as are used in some clutches.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1989-03-01

The Wafer Shaper Cutter

In 1985 a new tooling concept for high volume gear production was introduced to the gear manufacturing industry. Since then this tool, the wafer shaper cutter, has proven itself in scores of applications as a cost-effective, consistent producer of superior quality parts. This report examines the first high-production installation at the plant of a major automotive supplies, where a line of twenty shapers is producing timing chain sprockets.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1987-11-01

Good Gears Start With Good Blanks

The quality of the finished gear is influenced by the very first machining operations of the blank. Since the gear tooth geometry is generated on a continuously rotating blank in hobbing or shaping, it is important that the timed relationship between the cutter and workpiece is correct. If this relationship is disturbed by eccentricities of the blank to its operating centerline, the generated gear teeth will not be of the correct geometry. During the blanking operations, the gear's centerline and locating surfaces are established and must be maintained as the same through the following operations that generate the gear teeth.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1987-11-01

Computer Aided Design for Gear Shaper Cutters

Computer programs have been developed to completely design spur and helical gear shaper cutters starting from the specifications of the gear to be cut and the type of gear shaper to be used. The programs generate the working drawing of the cutter and, through the use of a precision plotter, generate enlarge scaled layouts of the gear as produced by the cutter and any other layouts needed for its manufacture.

INDUSTRY NEWS | 1987-01-01

Gear Manufacturing Methods - Forming the Teeth

The forming of gear teeth has traditionally been a time-consuming heavy stock removal operation in which close tooth size, shape, runout and spacing accuracy are required. This is true whether the teeth are finished by a second forming operation or a shaving operation.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1986-05-01

Generating and Checking Involute Gear Teeth

It has previously been demonstrated that one gear of an interchangeable series will rotate with another gear of the same series with proper tooth action. It is, therefore, evident that a tooth curve driven in unison with a mating blank, will "generate" in the latter the proper tooth curve to mesh with itself.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 1986-03-01

CNC Gear Shaping

Two major processes used for cutting gears, hobbing and shaping. This article describes advanced machine design and cutter materials for gear shaping.

INDUSTRY NEWS | 1985-11-01

Gear Shaping Machines CNC Developement

Up until approximately 1968-69, pinion cutter-type gear shaping machines had changed very little since their conception in the early 1900's.

Shaping

ANCA's TX and MX machines offer skiving cutter sharpening

Higher Quality Internal Gears