For anyone involved in gear manufacturing, Gear Expo is an absolute treasure. In 2013, it was bigger and more varied than it's been in a decade. With 226 exhibitors covering every conceivable gear-related technology, Gear Expo offered visitors unparalleled opportunities to interview potential
new suppliers.
Whether you spent time at Gear Expo in Indianapolis or EMO in Hannover, there was certainly new technology
attracting attention. Machine tools are faster, more efficient and can integrate numerous functions in a single setup. Grinding technology is turning science upside down and inside out with high-speed removal rates and increased throughput.
Look beyond the obvious, and you may
well find a better way to machine a part,
and serve your customer better. That’s
the lesson illustrated in a gear machining
application at Allied Specialty
Precision Inc. (ASPI), located in Mishawaka, Indiana.
If you've been following this space with any regularity, you know that grassroots efforts among industry and academia are springing up around the
country to help win the hearts, minds and talents of young people in nudging them towards a career in manufacturing. Add another partnership to the list.
In today’s globalized manufacturing, all industrial products having dimensional constraints must undergo conformity specifications assessments on a regular basis. Consequently, (standardization) associated with GD&T (geometrical dimensioning and tolerancing) should be un-ambiguous and based on common, accepted rules. Of course gears - and their mechanical assemblies - are special items, widely present in industrial applications where
energy conversion and power transmission are involved.
Wave generators are located inside of flexsplines in most harmonic gear drive devices. Because the teeth on the wheel rim of the flexspline are distributed
radially, there is a bigger stress concentration on the tooth root of the flexspline meshing with a circular spline, where a fatigue fracture is more likely to occur under the alternating force exerted by the wave generator. The authors' solution to this problem is to place the wave generator outside of the flexspline, which is a scheme named harmonic
gear drive (HGD) with external wave generator (EWG).
When it comes to purchasing gear lubricants, many people on both the sales and purchasing side decide to play the numbers game. The person with the most numbers, or the biggest numbers, or the lowest numbers, must have the best product - right? Wrong; gear oil selection is not a game, and numbers alone cannot determine the right product for an application.
Mike Viney's curiosity about the evolving designs of apple parers began after reading the article, "There's a Fascination in Apple Parers" by Marion
Levy, which appeared in the second edition of Linda Campbell's 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles.