Program: B Tech Semester: 4th

Course: Manufacturing Course Code: MEE408-22

Technology - II

GEARS
A gear is a kind of machine element which has teeth cut around a cylindrical or
cone-shaped surface with equal spacing. They are used to transmit rotations and
forces from the driving shaft to the driven shaft when a pair of these elements have
meshed. Gears of various sizes and styles are readily available from many
manufacturers. Figure below shows two friction rollers or disks used to transmit
motion between the shafts. Such disks rely on friction to transmit the motion. For
the transmission of power, friction disk surfaces are not able to generate sufficient
friction and thus slip. To eliminate slipping between the discs, the smooth surfaces
of the disks are replaced, by teeth of any shape. In this way gears are formed. The
smaller of the two mating gears is called a pinion; the larger is called the gear or
wheel.

General Applications of Gears

Gears of various type, size and material are widely used in several machines and
systems requiring positive and stepped drive. The major applications are:
• Speed gear box, feed gear box and some other kinematic units of machine tools
• Speed drives in textile, jute and similar machineries
• Gear boxes of automobiles
• Speed and / or feed drives of several metal forming machines
• Machineries for mining, tea processing etc.
• Large and heavy duty gear boxes used in cement industries, sugar industries,
cranes, conveyors etc.
• Precision equipments, clocks and watches
• Industrial robots and toys.
Classification of Gears
According to configuration
• External gear
• Internal gear

According to axes of transmission

Gears are generally classified, according to the types of teeth and the relative
position of the two shafts carrying the gears. The most commonly used types of
gears are the following:
1. Spur gears
2. Rack and pinion
3. Helical gears
4. Herringbone gears
5. Bevel gears
6. Worm and worm gear
Spur Gears are the simplest type of gears. The teeth of a spur gear are parallel to the
axis of rotation. Spur gears transmit motion between parallel shafts and are used in
the majority of applications.

Rack and Pinion: A rack is a special case of spur gear where rotational motion of a
gear is converted into translating motion. In a rack the gear teeth are not formed
around a circle but are laid on a flat surface. The rack can be considered as a spur gear
with an infinitely large diameter.
 Helical Gears are similar to spur gears with the only difference that their teeth are
inclined to the axis of rotation. The angle of inclination is termed the helix angle. This
angle provides a more gradual engagement of the teeth during meshing, as compared
to spur gears. Helical gears are more expensive, because smooth drive and less noise,
they are used in high-speed applications.

Herringbone Gears are also referred to as double helical gears are formed by joining
two identical two opposite-hand helical gears. The helix angle in a single helical gear
produces axial thrust forces on bearings, which are undesirable. To eliminate this axial,
the double helical gear is used. The two helical gears counter balance the thrust force of
a single helical gear.

Bevel Gears have teeth formed on a conical surface and are used to transmit motion
between non parallel shafts. Although most of their applications involve connecting
perpendicular shafts, bevel gears can also be used in applications that require shaft
angles other than 90°.

Worm and worm Gear is used to transmit motion between nonparallel and non-
intersecting shafts. The worm has one tooth that is formed in a spiral around a cylinder,
also referred to as the screw. The worm and worm gear drives produce great speed
reductions. Generally, a worm gear drive is not reversible, that is, the worm gear cannot
drive the worm.
 Applications of different types of Gears

Gear materials
The materials of most of the gears used for transmitting reasonable torque and speed
mainly need to be mechanically strong in shear and bending, sufficiently tough and
resistant to wear, fatigue and chemical degradation.
However, the material for any gear is selected based on,

ο The working condition ie, power, speed and torque to be transmitted

ο Working environment, i.e., temperature, vibration, chemical etc.
ο Ease of manufacture
ο Overall cost of material and manufacture
The materials generally used for making gears are:

Ferrous metals – for high loads

• Grey cast iron – preferred for reasonable strength and wear resistance, ease of casting
and machining and low cost
• Forged or rolled high carbon steels and alloy steels (Ni-Cr, Mo etc.) which are either
fully hardened, or surface hardened for use under high stresses and speed.

Nonferrous metals – for light load

• Aluminium, bronze and brass are used for making gears having fine teeth and
working at very light load – e.g., in equipments, toys etc. or against hard steel
mating gears
• Aluminium alloys like aluminium bronze, Zinc – Al. alloy etc.

Non-metals – widely used for light load, non-precision and noiseless operation.
Polymers
(plastics): both thermoplastic and thermosetting type and various composites (metals,
graphite, wood dust or ceramic powders dispersed in thermosetting plastics)

GEAR MANUFACTURING METHODS

Gear manufacturing refers to the making of gears. Gears can be manufactured by a

variety of processes, including casting, forging, extrusion, powder metallurgy, and
blanking. As a general rule, however, machining is applied to achieve the final
dimensions, shape and surface finish in the gear. The initial operations that produce a
semi finishing part ready for gear machining as referred to as blanking operations; the
starting product in gear machining is called a gear blank.

Manufacture of gears needs several processing operations in sequential stages

depending upon the material and type of the gears and quality desired.
Those stages generally are:
 Performing the blank without or with teeth
 Annealing of the blank, if required, as in case of forged or cast steels
 Preparation of the gear blank to the required dimensions by machining
 Producing teeth or finishing the preformed teeth by machining
 Full or surface hardening of the machined gear (teeth), if required finishing teeth
by shaving, grinding etc.
 Inspection of the finished gears.

Casting

Casting is a simpler process that is predominantly used to prepare blanks or cylinders

for gears, while the teeth are prepared through machining. However, it’s a viable gear
manufacturing process for the whole thing for many applications because of its mass
production capability and relative ease.
There is, however, one area where casting is the most preferred manufacturing method
in the industry. That is the production of very large gears. Machining methods and
other gear forming methods are not that viable in cases of large diameters. Generally,
larger gears are almost always of spur gear type. So, their relative simplicity makes
casting a very good option.

Among the most common types of casting methods, shell casting, die casting, sand
casting and permanent mold casting are the most common for gear production. Other
methods have limited use in some applications. However, the aforementioned are the
most common in the industry.

Plastic molding

Small to medium size plastic gears with or without metal core are manufactured in
large quantity by injection moulding. Such moderately accurate and less noisy gears,
both external and internal types, are used under light loads such as equipments, toys,
meters etc.

Forging

This is another forming process that can give you both blanks and prepared gears
depending on your requirements. Forging is quite viable in cases where you have
relatively simple gears. Theoretically, forging is an excellent gear manufacturing
process for heavy-duty applications because of a simple reason. Forging requires heat
treatment, which means that the resulting gear would have better fatigue properties.
However, the tremendous force required for the forging process limits the size and
thinness of this process.

Generally, forging works well for gears within 6 – 10 ft diameter gears. Depending on
the type of forging, for example precision forging, you may or may not need to
machine the gears in the end.

Extrusion and cold-drawing

This is another gear-forming process that’s both versatile and simpler. In fact, extrusion
has a lower tool expenditure, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the most economical process.

Extrusion, as its name suggests, is the process of passing a heated metal profile through
a smaller pre-determined shape. Resultingly, you get a bar of your desired shape with a
hardened and smooth outer surface.
The cold drawing process is very similar to extrusion. There are two differences.
Extrusion pushes the blank through a die, cold drawing pulls it. The other difference is
the temperature. Cold drawing doesn’t heat the billet. Thereby increasing the
mechanical properties at the expense of cost.

Powder metallurgy

Powder metallurgy is an advanced process that made significant advancements in

recent years. Today, it’s used for multiple manufacturing processes including gear
production. So, how does powder metallurgy work? From the outlook, it’s quite simple.
However, there are many intricacies involved.

It all starts with metal powder. The first step is to take all the powder is give it a
finalized form that you desire. Once you are done, the next step ensures that the entire
setup is quite compact as it will result in better mechanical properties. Heat the entire
setup carefully and you are done.

Powder metallurgy is extremely efficient, simple, and viable for large quantities. You
don’t have to worry about any post-processing as well as the product will be ready to
use. However, the resulting gears can’t bear too much load and there are size
limitations as well.

Moreover, the initial cost for any powder metallurgy setup is quite high, which makes it
unviable for any low-volume production.

Blanking

Blanking is a very similar process to extrusion but has limited 3-dimensional

capabilities. This gear forming process uses sheet metal to create the desired shape with
the help of multiple dies. You can produce different types of gears with the blanking
process. However, spur gears give you the best results.

Today, the blanking process of gear production is used by multiple industries for
lightweight applications. For example, office equipment, hydraulics, small medical
devices, and other applications with low load requirements.
Rolling

The straight and helical teeth of disc or rod type external steel gears of small to medium
diameter and module are generated by cold rolling by either flat dies or circular dies as
shown in Fig. below. Such rolling imparts high accuracy and surface integrity of the
teeth which are formed by material flow unlike cutting.

Gear rolling is reasonably employed for high productivity and high quality though
initial machinery costs are relatively high. Larger size gears are formed by hot rolling
and then finished by machining

Gear Machining

Machining is among the most common gear manufacturing processes because of its
versatility. Traditional machining was quite common for gear cutting and
manufacturing, but the advancements of CNC machining have propelled its popularity.

Hobbing

Hobbing utilizes a conical cutting device called a hob. Both the hob and the workpiece
turn as the hob rotates around the gear blank. The process is quite versatile and quick.
You can also increase your production rates by processing multiple stacks together.
However, it requires more skills and precision.
In this process, the gear blank is rolled with a rotating cutter called hob. Gear hobbing
is done by using a multipoint cutting tool called gear hob. It looks like a worm gear
having a number of straight flutes all around its periphery parallel to its axis. These
flutes are shaped by giving proper angles to them so that these work as cutting edges. In
gear hobbing operation, the hob is rotated at a suitable rpm and simultaneously fed to
the gear blank. The gear blank is also kept revolving. Rpm of both gear blank and gear
hob are so synchronized that for each revolution of gear bob the gear blank rotates by a
distance equal to one pitch distance of the gear to be cut. Motion of both gear blank and
hob are maintained continuously and steady.

The hob teeth behave like screw threads, having a definite helix angle. During
operation the hob is tilted to helix angle so that its cutting edges remain square with the
gear blank. Gear hobbing is used for making a wide variety of gears like spur gear,
helical, hearing-bone, splines and gear sprockets, etc.

Three important parameters are to be controlled in the process of gear hobbing indexing
movement, feed rate and angle between the axis of gear blank and gear hobbing tool
(gear hob). The aims of hob are set at an inclination equal to the helix angle of the hob
with the vertical axis of the blank. If a helical gear is to be cut, the hob axis is set at an
inclination equal to the sum of the helix angle of the hob and the helix angle of the
helical gear. Proper gear arrangement is used to maintain rpm ratio of gear blank and
hob. The operation of gear hobbing involves feeding the revolving hob till it reaches to
the required depth of the gear tooth. Simultaneously it is fed in a direction parallel to
the axis of rotation.

Shaping

Shaping is an advanced gear cutting and manufacturing process that develops gears that
Hobbing can’t handle. The cutter can be of any shape like a pinion, rack-shape, or
single-point shape. It looks quite similar to gears and works by cutting into the blank at
your required shape. You can create internal or cluster gears with the shaping process.

This process uses a pinion shaped cutter carrying clearance on the tooth face and sides
and a hole at its centre for mounting it on a stub Arbor or spindle of the machine. The
cutter is mounted by keeping its axis in vertical position. It is also made reciprocating
along the vertical axis up and down with adjustable and pre decide amplitude. The
cutter and the gear blank both are set to rotate at very low rpm about their respective
axis. The relative rpm of both (cutter and blank) can be fixed to any of the available
value with the help of a gear train. This way all the cutting teeth of cutter come is
action one-by-one giving sufficient time for their cooling and incorporating a longer
tool life. The specific advantages of the process over other processes, its product cycle
time is very low and negligible dimensional variability from one unit to other in case of
mass production.

Broaching

Broaching is perhaps the quickest method of gear form-cutting. It relies on a multi-

teeth tool with embedded cutters that go deeper than their predecessor. This results in
smaller, incremental cuts that are easier to make and quickly give you the required
shape without compromising the precision.

This gear manufacturing process is typical for internal gears, but you can use it to make
external teeth as well. For that, you’ll need a specialized tool for pot broaching that
allows you to replicate the same precision and efficiency.

Milling

The gear milling operation is used for gear cutting. All types of gears can be made by
using gear milling. Milling cutter is selected specifically for a particular type of gear
and module. The periphery of the gear blank is divided into required number of equal
spaced parts. The required number of parts should be equal to the number teeth to be
made on the gear blank. The method of dividing the periphery is called indexing which
is an integral part of the operation of gear milling. The details of the operation of gear
milling and indexing are explained in Unit 1 of this course.

Gear milling is a slower process of gear generation as compared to other gear

generation process. In this process gear is generated by cutting one-by-one tooth. It is
not suitable for larger batch size. The other methods required very high capital cost and
setup cost as compared to gear milling, so these are not economical for smaller batch
size, only gear cutting by milling operation is recommended for smaller batch size.

While you can make any type of gear on a milling machine, the precision of this
method leaves a lot to be desired. That’s why milling is not as common as it was
before. However, the recent developments in the CNC domain and multi-axis have
changed things. Gear manufacturing on milling machines is becoming more and more
common. So, things will get even better with time.

Gear Manufacturing Post processing

Depending on the gear manufacturing method you use, your gears will need some post-
processing before they are 100% ready. That post-processing can range from heat
treatment for improved fatigue characteristics to dimensional correction and surface
finishing.

Grinding

Just as its name suggests, grinding is a common surface finishing process that gives you
a smooth finish throughout the surface. You can perform it intermittently or
continuously, and it won’t affect the results. In this operation abrasive grinding wheel
of a particular shape and geometry are used for finishing of gear teeth. Gear to be
finished is mounted and reciprocated under the grinding wheel. Each of the gear teeth is
subjected to grinding operations this way.

Lapping

This process is for sensitive gears where you need extreme precision. Lapping uses
small abrasive particles to smooth out a surface at low or medium speeds. The process
of lapping is used to improve surface finish of already made teeth. In this process the
gear to be lapped is run under load in mesh with cast iron toothed laps. Abrasive paste
is introduced between the teeth. It is mixed with oil and made to flow through the teeth.
One of the mating members (either gear or lapping tool) is reciprocated axially along
with the revaluations.
Honing

This is another common process that polishes the surface and makes it smooth.
Moreover, you can also correct some minor errors in your tooth geometry. It is used for
super finishing of the generated gear teeth. Honing machines are generally used for this
operation. The hones are rubbed against the profile generated on the gear tooth. Gear
lapping and gear honing are the lost finishing operations of a gear generation process.

In the above gear finishing operations some operations are based on metal cutting by
removing very small size of chips like gear shaving, gear grinding, lapping and honing
and some other operations like gear burnishing, roll finishing and based on finishing by
plastic deformation of metal.

Burnishing

In its essence, burnishing is the process of using compression to smooth out the surface.
The gear to be finished is mounted on a vertical reciprocating shaft and it is kept in
mesh with three hardened burnishing compatible gears. The burnishing gears are fed
into the cut gear and revalued few revaluations in both the directions. Plastic
deformation of irregularities in cold state takes place to give smooth surface of the gear.

Gear shaving

This process removes extremely thin layers from the surface to achieve a smooth
profile. Shaving is generally expensive, so it’s rarely used in gear production. Gear
shaving is a free-cutting gear finishing operation which removes small amounts of
metal from the working surfaces of the gear teeth. Its purpose is to correct errors in
index, helical angle, tooth profile and eccentricity. The process can also improve tooth
surface finish and eliminate, by crowned tooth forms, the danger of tooth end load
concentrations in service. Shaving provides for form modifications that reduce gear
noise. These modifications can also increase the gear's load carrying capacity, its factor
of safety and its service life.