CLASSIFICATION OF SPEED AND

FEED BOXES

PRESENTED BY: VAIBHAV SINGHAL

ROLL NO: 183515
CLASS: M.TECH 1ST YEAR
SPECIALIZATION: MANUFACTURING

SUPERVISOR: Dr P VAMSI KRISHNA

 INTRODUCTION
• SPEED BOX is a Gear
Box containing speed
changing device for the
stepped regulation of
spindle rotation of
machine tools.

• FEED BOX is a Gear Box

used for stepped
regulation of feed rates of
the worktable holding the
work material in the
machine tools.
 CLASSIFICATION OF SPEED BOXES
ON BASIS OF
ON BASIS OF
METHOD OF
GENERAL LAYOUT
CHANGING SPEED

• SPEED BOXES BUILT • SPEED BOX WITH

INTO THE SPINDLE CHANGE GEARS
HEAD • SPEED BOXES WITH
• SPEED BOXES SLIDING GEARS
MANUFACTURED AS • SPEED BOXES WITH
A SEPARATE UNIT JAW CLUTCHES
• SPEED BOX WITH
FRICTION CLUTCHES
 ON THE BASIS OF GENERAL LAYOUT
• SPEED BOXES BUILT INTO THE SPINDLE
HEAD

These Speed Boxes are employed in a majority of

general purpose machine tool of medium and large
size on account of their compactness, concentration of
controls and also because they require fewer housing
type parts.

DISADVANTAGE: Their major drawback are that they

are liable to heat the Spindle and transmit vibration to
it.
 ON THE BASIS OF GENERAL LAYOUT

• SPEED BOXES MANUFACTURED AS A

SEPARATE UNIT

o In this layout the speed box and spindle head are

designed as a separate units that are connected by
a belt derive.
o It provide smooth rotation at high speed.
o These speed boxes generally employ a combine
structure, so that independent kinematic trains
participate in high and low speed Transmission.
o Additional rear bearing is provided to take up the
vibrations and radial loads of the belt transmission
 BY METHOD OF CHANGING SPEED

o The selection of the method of changing speed in a

stepped speed box is determined by the purpose of
the machine tool.

o It depends primarily upon the frequency of speed

changing and the ratio of the speed changing time
to the cutting time.

o In general purpose machine tool in which speeds

are changed frequently, the speed changing process
should not take long time.
 BY METHOD OF CHANGING SPEED
• SPEED BOXES WITH CHANGE GEARS
These speed boxes are employed
in automatics and semi automats,
and in special purpose machine
tools for large lot and mass-scale
production. Transmission from
shaft I to Shaft III takes place
through a pair of change gears
a/b and a fixed transmission
Z1/Z2. The spindle rpm can be
calculated as
𝑎 𝑍1
Ns = Nr . .
𝑏 𝑍2
 For fixed value of Nr, We can get any desired rpm of the
𝑎
spindle by selecting an appropriate transmission ratio
𝑏
of the change gears.

ADVANTAGES:
o Simple design
o Small axial dimension
o Cutting speed can be set
precisely with least deviation
between actual and desired rpm
values
o No interlocking devices are
required as it is impossible to
make faulty engagements.
 DISADVANTAGES:
o The Relatively large time is required for changing
speed.
o Relatively large oil-leakage losses because the
speed box cover cannot be sealed.
• SPEED BOXES WITH SLIDING GEARS
The method of changing speeds with the help of
sliding gear blocks is most widely used in machine
tools, especially general purpose ones.
DISADVANTAGES:
o The speed can be changed only after braking or
stopping the machine tool, otherwise the gear teeth may
break.
o Interlocking devices are required to prevent engagement
of conflicting transmissions.
o Relatively large axial dimension.
o Only spur gears can be employed.
o Large force is required to shift the gear blocks, and
therefore, manual speed changing by this method can
not be used in heavy duty machine tools.
 ADVANTAGES:
o Relatively small radial dimensions and ability to
transmit large torques and power.
o Relatively low wear because gears that do not
participate in a particular transmission remain
disengaged.
• SPEED BOXES WITH JAW CLUTCHES
o Jaw clutches require small axial movement for
engagement and disengagement. They can be
shifted with less physical effort and also permit the
use of helical and herringbone gears in the derive.
o Speed boxes with jaw
clutches are employed in
machine tool with a
combined structure to
engage the countershaft
transmission.
o They are employed in heavy duty machine tools
where manual speed changing using sliding gears is
not possible.
 DISADVANTAGES:
o The machine tool must be
disengaged from the derive
before changing the speed
because if braking is applied on
one shaft of the coupling without
disengaging the other from the
derive, it may lead to breaking of
the jaw clutch; sometimes a
synchronizing device is employed
to reduce the speed difference
between the shafts.
o Gears in idle rotation are continuously meshing, thus
leading to unnecessary wear.
• SPEED BOXES WITH FRICTION CLUTCHES
Friction clutches permit changing of speed on a
running machine, and therefore, the speed changing
time is lower than in any other method. They also
permit the use of helical and herringbone gears.
DISADVANTAGES:
o Frictional losses and wear due to continuous
meshing of idle rotating gears.
o Limitations on the value of the transmitted torque as
otherwise the clutch face begins to slip resulting in
non uniform transmission.
o Increased heating of speed box.
o Large axial and radial dimensions of the clutch
elements, which restrict the use of more than two
transmission is a group.
• LATEST METHODOLGY BASED ON
SPEED CHANGING SPEED BOX
A recent development are electromagnetic clutches
in which ferromagnetic powder (carbonil iron with
0.7 – 0.8% carbon) is used instead of friction disks.
Speed changing by friction clutches is employed in
small and medium duty machine tool in which the
cutting time is characteristically low, e.g., capstan
and turret lathes. Electromagnetic clutches are
used in programmed controlled machine tools as
they are easily adaptable to remote and automatic
control. Friction and electromagnetic clutches are
often used in combination with sliding gear blocks.
 CLASSIFICATION OF FEED BOXES
Feed boxes works at low
velocities and do not pose
vibrational problems. The
reduction ratios and number of
feed steps in feed boxes are
generally larger than in speed
boxes. There exist a large
number of feed boxes,
consistent with the vast range
of their functional
requirements (rotary or
translator feed motion,
continuous or intermittent feed
motion, etc).
CLASSIFICATION OF FEED BOXES

FEED BOX WITH CHANGE GEARS

FEED BOX WITH SLIDING GEARS

FEED BOX WITH GEAR CONE AND SLIDING KEY

FEED BOX WITH TUMBLER GEARS

FEED BOX WITH MEANDER’S MECHANISM

• FEED BOX WITH CHANGE GEARS
 Changing gears are mounted on the axle which can be
fixed at any position in the slot of the quadrant. The
quadrant can be swiveled about axis III.
 The change gears are mounted on shaft II that transmit
rotation from driving shaft I to driven shaft III.
 The set of change gears can be so chosen that
practically all transmission ratios can be obtained.
 In the majority of cases one or two pairs of change
gears are sufficient to obtain the required feed rate.
FEED BOX WITH CHANGE GEARS QUADRANT
REQUIREMENT OF GEAR CHANGER FEED
BOX
o When feed rates have to be changed rarely as in
automatic and semi-automatic machine tools; in this
case a single pair of change gears is used.

o when it is necessary to obtain a precise transmission

ratio for the required generation motion as in gear
hobbing, thread cutting machines, etc. in this case
gear change quadrant are generally used.

DISADVANTAGE: A lot of time is wasted in calculating

and setting the required change gears.
• FEED BOX WITH SLIDING GEARS

These feed boxes are very similar to speed box with

sliding gears according to designing perspective. They
have very similar advantages and disadvantage as for
speed gear box with sliding gears.
o They are widely used in heavy duty milling machines,
drilling machines, lathes, etc. in which the feed
mechanism is powered by an independent electric
motor and large torque have to be transmitted.
o The method of changing feed rates by means of sliding
gears is also employed in high speed machine tools in
which losses due to idle rotation of continuously
meshing gears become significant.
• FEED BOX WITH GEAR CONE AND
SLIDING KEY
The design of this gear
box consist of continuously
meshing gear pairs. The
gear on driven shaft I are
all rigidly fixed whereas
those on driven shaft II are
mounted freely. The
transmission from shaft I to
shaft II can be achieved
through any gear pair by
shifting the sliding key with
the help of pulling rod 2
from one gear to another.
 ADVANTAGES
o Compact design which enables 8 – 10 transmission in a
single group.
o Simple control as all transmission are engaged by a
single lever.
o Helical gear can be used.

DISADVANTAGES
o The key may get stuck due to cocking.
o Low rigidity of the driven shaft due to long keyway.
o Poor location of gears on the shaft as they are thin.
o Inability to transmit large torques.
• FEED BOX WITH TUMBLER GEARS

 This mechanism of feed box is also known as Norton’s

gear feed box.
 The number of gears on the driving shaft are equal to
the number of transmission ratios.
 To engage the required transmission between driving
and driven shaft, tumbler gear mounted on pin in the
arm is disengaged by swiveling the arm about its axis
and moved axially along the splined shaft.
 When tumbler gear comes against the required gear,
the arm is swiveled back to mesh the tumbler gear and
then it is locked
• FEED BOX WITH TUMBLER GEARS
 ADVANTAGES
o Compact design with 10 – 12 transmission achieved in
one group.
o Small dimensions as only u + 2 gears are required to
obtain u feed rates values.
o Simple control as all transmission are engage by single
lever.

DISADVANTAGES
o Insufficient rigidity and accuracy of meshing.
o Possibility of dirt penetration into the gear box through
slots in the housing.
o Poor lubrication.
• FEED BOX WITH BEVEL GEAR REVERSING
MECHANISM
The tumbler gear mechanism being a non-rigid
construction cannot be used in a modern heavy duty
lathe. The clutch operated bevel gear feed reversing
mechanism incorporated below the head stock or in
apron provides sufficient rigidity in construction.
• FEED BOX WITH MEANDER’S MECHANISM
Meander’s Mechanism consist of identical double cluster
gear blocks on shaft I and intermediate shaft II. Only the
first and second gear block on driving shaft I is rigidly
mounted, the rest of the gears on shaft I and shaft II are
mounted freely. Transmission to the driven shaft III takes
place through a tumbler gear Zt (Shown in disengaged
position) which is mounted on a pin in the arm. The arm
can rotate about shaft III and can also slide axially along
its spline as in Norton’s Mechanism. The feed rate
obtained at the output shaft form a geometric
progression.
MEANDER’S MECHANISM
Beginning with the extreme left gear of shaft II, the
transmission ratios which are obtained by successively
meshing the tumbler gear with gears of shaft II are:
Meander’s mechanism suffers the same shortcomings
as Norton’s Mechanism i.e. insufficient accuracy and
rigidity of meshing.
This difficulty is overcome in some feed boxes by
making gear Zd to mesh directly with the larger gears
of shaft II. This, however, reduces by half the number
of transmission ratios available at the output shaft.
Feed boxes with Meander’s mechanism are generally
employed in thread-cutting lathes.