GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-12

Adult Education

Origin Stories Needed

How did you get started in the gear trade? We are interested in sharing your “origin story” as a way of helping hum...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2019-02-05

Many Ways In — But Just One Way Up

We’ll get back to our “origin story” project soon. One thing I have noticed about the guest blogs so far is that the people kept moving up the ladd...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-11-13

What Do You Really Need to Know?

I am pretty certain I told this story before, but it is worth repeating in the context of preserving corporate memory. When AGMA first offered ISO ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2018-07-03

Planetary Gears: Inside Information

The Story So Far

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-10-12

Thinking Big

My local newspaper’s lead story today concerned the explosive demolition of a highway bridge in nearby Tionesta, PA. As luck would have it, our mos...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-09-26

Where Did All the Big Projects Go?

Remembering the “good old days” too often or too fondly is an occupational hazard for a veteran blogger like me. I try to temper “story time” with ...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2017-06-29

Listening is an Act of Love

I have been listening to Story Corps on National Public Radio for many years. The program shares audio recordings made in booths that trav...

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-10-11

The Birth of an Industry

I have worked at seven different gear companies and have visited dozens more; all of them seem to have an interesting story about how they ended up in the gear business. 

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2016-09-01

AGMAs Go-To Gear Guys

While the two have taught a variety of AGMA courses over the years, without question their most popular courses are Gear Failure Analysis (Errichello with longtime colleague Jane Muller) and Gearbox CSI: Forensic Analysis of Gear & Bearing Failures (Drago). Drago currently teaches Manufacturing & Inspection (with AGMA instructor Joseph W. Lenski, Jr.) and Gearbox System Design: The Rest of the Story - Everything but the Gears and Bearings (with AGMA instructor Steve Cymbala) as well.

PUBLISHER'S PAGE | 2016-09-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

Applications Abound

In a recent reader survey, you told us you wanted to see more specific examples of mechanical power transmission products and how they’re designed, upgraded, maintained and used in a wide variety of industries. In the business, we call that type of article an “application story,” and in this issue we’ve answered the call with several application stories that show how smart choices are being made about motion components in a wide variety of industries.

POWER PLAY | 2016-06-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

The Stage Where It Happens

Although David Korins had an impressive resume of Broadway, film, television and music credits, the New York-based production designer had something to prove when interviewing for the pop culture phenomenon Hamilton. “I prepped for the interview like crazy, sketching out my ideas, presenting a scene breakdown, basically doing everything I could short of begging for the job,” Korins said. “Lin Manuel Miranda (the show’s creator and star) had developed an incredibly effective blueprint. I just wanted the opportunity to help tell his story.”

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2016-01-07

Who Offered the First Enclosed Gearbox?

Let’s start 2016 off with a joint research project. While visiting a client late last year we got to talking gear history and he recounted a story ...

PUBLISHER'S PAGE | 2015-06-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

Intelligent Integration

In this issue’s cover story, Stefan Hantke describes an evolving marketplace that requires smarter components and more integrated solutions. In fact, Hantke, who was recently named head of global industrial sales for the Schaeffler Group, goes so far as to predict that within a few short years, every bearing will have a wire coming out of it.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2015-03-24

What Gear Trade Milestones Have You Witnessed?

[starbox]Last week’s blog on the Century of AGMA Timeline brought to mind a humorous story of our now adult daughter’s first “play store” set. If y...

ASK THE EXPERT | 2015-03-01

Measuring Residual Stress in Gears

I have heard that X-ray diffraction does not tell the whole story and that I should really run a fatigue test. I understand this may be the best way, but is there another method that gives a high degree of confidence in the residual stress measurement?

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2015-01-01

On the Cutting Edge

Sentences that start off with some variance of “I don’t want to brag, but…” are generally a good indicator that it’s precisely what the speaker intends to do and typically end with bold proclamations that are immediately and eminently quotable — the kind of quotes perfect for beginning a feature story with an eye-catching artistic flourish.

GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-04-01

An Appreciation of Gray Hair

[starbox] While driving from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to a new client’s factory, I listened to a very troubling story on PRI’s Marketplace. It ...

POWER PLAY | 2012-06-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

The Painful Birth of the DC Electric Motor

Defined in rudimentary terms, an electric motor is a device that uses electricity to create mechanical force. But in 1834, when our story takes place, most people would have trouble understanding the ramifications. That was the year that one of the earliest DC electric motors was invented—by a blacksmith.