November/December 2016

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Feature Articles

2016 Buyers Guide
Your guide to the suppliers of machinery, tooling and services you need for gear manufacturing.

Gear Shop of Tomorrow
It’s Monday morning, December 15, 2036. An autonomous vehicle drops off two engineers in front of a gear manufacturing facility in Metro Detroit. They punch in for work on their wristwatches and pay Uber for the ride on a smartphone. One of the engineers begins walking the shop floor, monitoring a series of collaborative robots using a tablet the size of a paperback novel. These robots interact right on the floor with the minimal staff scheduled to oversee manufacturing operations. Another engineer wears an interactive headset and begins training a group of new engineers (in real time) from China using some form of augmented reality.

DIGITIZE or DIE
In a capitalist society, the way things usually work is that government and academia focus on research and development, while industry focuses on commercialization. The result is an increasingly wide disconnect in the applied research sector, which deals primarily with technology development and demonstration.

Technical Articles

The Role of Natural Frequencies in Grinding Systems Vibration
Excessive machine tool vibration during a precision grinding operation can result in poor workpiece quality in the form of chatter, rough finishes, burn, etc. One possible reason for excessive vibration is directly associated with the relationship between natural frequencies of a machine tool system and the operating speed of the grinding wheel spindle.

Calculation of the Tooth Root Strength of Worm Wheel Teeth Based on Local Stresses
How local stresses obtained from FEA can be used to determine fatigue strength of worm wheel teeth.

Influence of Topography Deviations on the Psychoacoustic Evaluation of Ground Bevel Gears
In the design process of transmissions, one major criterion is the resulting noise emission of the powertrain due to gear excitation. Within the past years, much investigation has shown that the noise emission can be attributed to quasi-static transmission error. Therefore, the transmission error can be used for a tooth contact analysis in the design process, as well as a characteristic value for quality assurance by experimental inspections.

Optimal Flank Forms for Large Bevel Gears
At first sight the appearance of 5-axis milling for bevel gears opens new possibilities in flank form design. Since in comparison to existing machining methods applying cutter heads no kinematic restrictions exist for 5-axis milling technology, any flank form can be machined. Nevertheless the basic requirements for bevel gears did not change. Specifications and functional requirements like load carrying capacity and running behavior are still increasing demands for design and manufacturing. This paper describes the demands for gear design and gives an overview about different design principles in the context of the surrounding periphery of the gear set.

Departments

Our Next Leader (Publishers Page)
No, not that president! I mean Matt Croson, the new president of the American Gear Manufacturers Association, who started in June and has been busy getting to know the gear industry and AGMA’s members.

AGMA Standards Committees Keep Industry in Business (Voices)
More than 100 years ago, gear manufacturers were facing a significant challenge from industry. The incredible advances in industrialization and transportation that occurred at the turn of the 20th century resulted in incredible growth for gear makers, but there were significant technical issues. “The lack of process and product standardization was a continuing problem in all U.S. industry… the lack of industry-wide gear standards meant there were no standard gear tooth sizes, ratings, quality definition or consistent manufacturing methods” (Celebrating 100 Years of Gearing, pg. 22).

Product News (Product News)
News about new Products in the Industry

Locating Multiple Bore Diameters Via Hobbing (Ask the Expert)
Attached photos (Figs. 1–2) show a bushing to locate one single bore. This will be used to locate one single bore diameter of a gear wheel. What is (the latest) technology for common clamping a bushing to locate multiple bore diameters in hobbing?

Calendar (Events)
Calendar of events

Industry News (Industry News)
News from around the Industry

Building Gears, Building Communities (Addendum)
Outside of our industry, there’s a whole slew of hobbyists working with gears to make clocks, art pieces, watches and all manner of bizarrely shaped gears (you know, all the people that usually end up featured right here in our Addendum section).