From Design to Manufacturing

Manufacturing follows the design stage. Many design engineers assume that this step requires little attention. However, this can lead to problems, additional costs, or delays later. Figure 1 shows an example of a typical two-stage EV drive. The idler shaft has two gears, and the original idea was to manufacture it as a single piece. However, the pinion of the second stage is very close to the gear of the first stage. Hobbing teeth on the pinion in this position is not possible. Power skiving may also be unsuitable because optimal process parameters might not be achievable. One possible solution is to mount the gear after the pre-finishing step. Because of precision and noise requirements, the finishing step should be performed with the gear mounted. The same challenge arises for applying honing processes, as there is very little space available.