• TOPICS
    • Design
    • Manufacturing
    • Inspection
    • Heat Treating
    • Lubrication
    • Materials
    • The Gear Industry
    • Gears by Type
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Departments
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
  • NEWSLETTER
    • Subscribe
  • VIDEO
    • Gear Technology TV
      • Ask the Expert Live
      • Revolutions
    • Industry Videos
  • BLOGS
  • BUYER'S GUIDE
  • NEWS and EVENTS
    • Product News
    • Industry News
    • Events
  • ADVERTISING
    • Brand Awareness
      • Print: Display Advertising
      • Online: Web Banners & Keyword Banners
      • Online: Native Advertising (Sponsored Content)
      • E-mail: Custom, White Papers & Webinars
      • E-mail: Newsletter Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
    • Response & Lead Generation
      • Online: Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
      • E-mail: Newsletters
      • E-mail: Newsletter Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
      • E-mail: Custom, White Papers & Webinars
      • Online: Buyers Guide
    • Print Advertising
      • Print: Display Advertising
      • Print: IMTS Showstoppers
      • Print: Buyers Guide
      • Print: Manufacturing sMart
      • Print: Specifications
    • Online Advertising
      • Online: Web Banners & Keyword Banners
      • Online: Native Advertising (Sponsored Content)
      • Online: Buyers Guide
      • Online: Specifications
    • E-mail Advertising
      • E-mail: E-Newsletters
      • E-mail: Newsletter Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
      • E-mail: Custom, White Papers & Webinars
      • E-mail: Specifications
    • Special Promotions
      • Print: IMTS Showstoppers
      • Print: Buyers Guide
      • Print: Manufacturing sMart
  • CONTACT US
  • AGMA
    • Membership
    • Events
    • Education
    • Emerging Technology
    • AGMA Media
    • Standards
Subscribe
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Home » Blogs » Gear Talk With Chuck » Finding the Limits

Gear Talk With Chuck
Gear Talk With Chuck RSS FeedRSS

Design / Manufacturing / Inspection / Materials / The Gear Industry / Contact Ratio / Contact Stress / Gear Life / Ratio / Stress / Temperature / Machine Tools / Processes / CNC / Deburring / Form Grinding / Grinding / Shot Peening / Measurement / Alloys / Sectors / Aerospace / Bevel Gears / Helical Gears
Charles schultz
Chuck Schultz is a licensed engineer, Gear Technology Technical Editor, and Chief Engineer for Beyta Gear Service. He has written the "Gear Talk with Chuck" blog for Gear Technology since 2014.

Finding the Limits

May 24, 2019
Charles D. Schultz
No Comments
Jim Richard’s account of his journey from youthful experimenter to designer of cutting edge gear processing equipment illustrates the amazing things that can happen while you are “just having fun.” His partner-in-crime, Pete Weismann, has been a hero of mine for many years. If you follow motorsports from the technical side, Pete is one of the innovators who took the sport out of re-purposed passenger car components into custom built super high performance drive units. And when I say “super high performance” I mean stress levels way beyond what you will find in any aerospace standard. I got an opportunity to play in this arena for a couple of seasons in the early 1990s. A well known Indy car team was unhappy with the life of the gears and dog clutches they were buying from established vendors. They had heard of our success with off shore powerboat bevel gears and asked us to apply the same techniques to Indy car bits. We reduced tolerances, changed alloys, improved heat treating, added shot peening, and used the newest CNC form grinding machines. The results were immediate; clutches that in some cars only lasted 200 miles easily survived 500 miles. Gearbox temperatures dropped and gear life improved. If you operate at 400,000 psi of contact stress you have to make everything right. As often happens in motorsports, rule book changes mandated a “spec” gearbox from a single source and our orders went away. The hard learned lessons went from being an “unfair advantage” to common knowledge. Weismann Engineering remains an active designer and supplier of custom, super high performance gearboxes for many forms of racing. James Engineering is a prominent source of deburring equipment. Some of you may recall an article I wrote for Gear Technology a few years ago on another famous racing gearbox, the front wheel drive transmission of the incredible 1920s Miller Indianapolis cars. Those parts, although made on much cruder machines, share plenty of “design DNA” with modern racing components. Whenever a new idea comes around, racers will be there to test its limits.

Recent Comments

Thank you for this - Happy Saint Patrick's...

Post a comment to this article

Report Abusive Comment

Free Gear Technology Subscriptions
Subscribe
Free Gear Technology Subscriptions
Subscribe
FEATURED VIDEO
  • Laser Gear Inspection with Douglas Beerck of Gleason
May 6, 2022
RECOMMENDED
  • LPC Carburizing: The Affordable Alternative to Gas Carburizing

    April 25, 2022
    Nitrex2.jpg
  • Hardness Testing Gears — Know Your Options for Best Results

    April 25, 2022
    Starrett1.jpg
  • Kapp Niles Examines Intelligent Rolling Grinding for E-mobility

    April 25, 2022
    Opening Image.jpg
  • Making Gear Grinding Transparent

    May 19, 2022
    Picture6.png
  • The Numbers Game

    May 19, 2022
    Toolx7-featured.jpg
  • Making Gear Grinding Transparent

    May 19, 2022
    Picture6.png
  • The Numbers Game

    May 19, 2022
    Toolx7-featured.jpg
  • LPC Carburizing: The Affordable Alternative to Gas Carburizing

    April 25, 2022
    Nitrex2.jpg
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • AGMA
Powered byAGMA
Copyright © 2022 Gear Technology
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact