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Automation for Every Shop Size

A new CNC-based application puts cost-effective robot part handling and articulation directly on the machine tool’s control screen, eliminating the need for a separate robot pendant

Through a technology partnership that breaks new ground in the machine tool industry, Siemens presents an automation solution for the busy, multitasking, small to mid-sized machine shop, as it combines a digital twin of the software and programming of its popular Sinumerik 828 CNC, working in tandem with a Kuka robot, to simplify the operation and programming in part handling for the machine tool operator. Bringing the concept to life during a recent tradeshow, Kuka Robotics Corporation demonstrated the same control and its robot working in tandem with a Syil vertical milling machine. The machine featured the Syil R1 machine-tending automation package, developed with one of Kuka’s system partners, Waybo, which seamlessly integrates the pick-and-place, part articulation, and communications with the CNC onboard, all at a very attractive price point.

Perceive, Understand & Perform

AICA and Schaeffler demonstrate the role Physical AI can play in the manufacturing environment

METAL’s Manufacturing Workforce Network

A DoW-funded partnership brings online courses and hands-on bootcamps to Purdue’s foundry lab, training that feeds gear production

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Technical Articles

Design Principles of Bevel Gears: Rationale for Zero Sum Profile Shifts and Generating Gear Choices

This article demonstrates why bevel gears are designed with a zero sum of profile shifts—showing that independent shifts merely replicate what a modified pressure angle already achieves—and explains the practical benefits of using conical generating gears for tooth profile crowning.

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Root Interference

This excerpt from Gear Technology Solutions explains how oversized cutter blade edge radii cause root interference in bevel gears, and how to select correct radii to avoid noise, flank damage, and tooth fracture.

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Conjugate Bevel and Hypoid Gears

An excerpt from Gear Technology Solutions by Dr. Hermann J. Stadtfeld exploring the mathematics behind conjugate bevel and hypoid gears—from the fundamental laws of gearing and the conditions for perfect conjugacy to why real-world power transmissions require deliberate crowning rather than theoretically exact conjugate designs.

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Smart Alloying Eliminates Manufacturing Steps in Automotive Gears

20NiMo9-7 alloy achieves up to 48 percent higher fatigue strength than conventional carburizing steels in the as-carburized condition, eliminating the need for shot peening and grinding in automotive gear applications.

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Design

The conjugacy of meshing gears is one of the most important attributes of gears because it ensures a constant velocity ratio that gives smooth, uniform transmission of motion and torque. Some of the world’s greatest gear theoreticians like Earle Buckingham, Wells Coleman, and John Colbourne laid the foundation for understanding conjugacy. Their teachings and interpretations of the law of gearing have been used by generations of gear engineers to design and manufacture gear transmissions for almost everything that is mechanically actuated. 

Grinding

The trend towards hard fine finishing of gears for automotive transmissions is accelerating. In recent years, the focus has been on increasing the efficiency of gears in order to make optimum use of the narrow gear ratio range, gear by gear, and to reduce fuel consumption. Surface finish, in particular, is under increased scrutiny since it plays such a decisive role in achieving the noise and efficiency requirements of gear units for today’s EV applications.

Inspection

When electric drives are used in vehicles, the masking effect of an internal combustion engine disappears, allowing the noise behavior of the transmission to take center stage. At the same time, peak power and torque increase, engine speeds increase, and power must be transferred optimally in both directions due to the regenerative braking system. Conventional design parameters remain important, however: The build space is limited, durability must not be compromised, and the product must still be cost-efficient. Optical metrology as part of a hybrid measurement concept helps to overcome all these challenges.

Heat Treating

Various in-situ methods can track realtime heat treatment response in bulk materials. This can aid material engineers in designing the most effective heat treatment procedures and processing methods. In-situ  methods such as thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and dilatometry, offer capabilities to examine heat treatment behavior in real time, giving insight into the thermochemical mechanisms and the thermal behavior of steel.

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Videos

Forest City Gear Knows Robots!

Forest City Gear manufactures extremely high-precision gears made for the most advanced robotics, right in Roscoe, IL.  This family-owned team of gearheads specialize in high-precision gears engineered to handle the most demanding robotic applications—on Earth, and way beyond.

Industry News

Ovako has published its Sustainability Report for Financial Year 2025, its second report inspired by the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) framework. The report is independently assured by KPMG and presents audited ESG performance data, at a time when many industrial companies are scaling back sustainability commitments in response to cost pressures.

Product News

Helios Gear Products will exhibit the NEOPS 100 CNC combination power skiving and hobbing machine at IMTS. Built to meet the production demands of the robotics industry, the machine is also suited to a broad range of internal and external gear work.

Calendar

In the Surface Roughness, Texture and Tribology webinar series, Dr. Don Cohen will present excerpts from the short course of the same name. 

RPM Symposium 2026

Sep 22, 2026 - Sep 23, 2026

Furnaces North America (FNA) 2026

Oct 12, 2026 - Oct 14, 2026

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