This course is a comprehensive overview of the industry. It begins with a little history of gearing and proceeds through the topics of Parallel axis gear basics, Involute tooth form, Description of the gear, Diametrical pitch/Module, Pitch, and Pressure angle. The course ends by defining a series of 37 crucial terms used in gearing. Students will also receive a copy of the ANSI/AGMA 1012-G05 Gear Nomenclature, Definitions of Terms with Symbols.

This course is designed to be a level one gear inspection course. The topics covered in this course include categories of measurement on a gear, double flank composite inspection, single flank composite inspection, sequence of measurements, when should gear elements be measured, mean helix slope deviation, and classification of gear quality.

This course is designed to present the basics of hobbing to hobbing machine operators, gear technicians, and engineers.

This course will cover all aspects of gearbox concept, development, design, and through the initial stages of analysis as related to product requirements. We will review all the most common EV transaxle architectures, power flow and layout and the ‘whys’ of packaging as such. Independent of the architecture and / or layout, there are many similarities in the functional and operational requirements of an EV transaxle gearbox. We will work through all of those and develop a workable set of requirements that will then be used as the design basis. From a high-level point of view the ‘Big’ difference between transaxles for EVs (Electric Vehicles) and transmissions designed for more traditional Manual Transmissions (MTs) and / or Automatic Transmissions (ATs) is the lack of the ‘noisy’ internal combustion engine or ICE motor. An internal combustion engine driving into a typical gearbox provides a great deal of NVH masking. Thus, we obviously need to design quieter gearboxes to reduce the potential of observed gearbox NVH, now potentially unmasked by the lack of the ICE signature and magnitude. However, and moreover, the signature from an ICE is much different than from the electric motor. The new input signature, frequency, and magnitude, cause a shift to higher frequencies and generally lower magnitudes of vibrational energies. That in turn becomes a more significant consideration in terms of gear design and application. We will discuss this and more throughout the course.

There is a distinct difference between “designing” a gear and “optimizing” a gear design. In this course, we will address the optimization process via an understanding of those factors beyond basic banding and pitting ratings. Optimization may focus on load capacity, economy of production or minimization of overall gear system envelope. In this course we will learn how to improve gear designs via optimization and gain new insight into concepts presented through illustrations and demonstrations. Explore all factors that go into good gear design from life cycle, load, torque, tooth, optimization, and evaluating consequences.

Explore precision gear grinding processes, machine input variables, kinematics, machine alignment, setup errors, pitfalls, common gear fatigue failures and expectations related to finish ground gearing. Learn definitions of gearing component features, application loads and process steps from blanking, through heat treatment to finished part ready to ship. Study aspects of Quality Assurance, Inspection Documentation and corrective actions for measured non-conformances. Understand pre-heat treat, heat treatment distortion and post heat treatment operations including the how’s and why’s to produce finished gears that conform and perform to end user expectations. Calculate gear form grinding cycle times for real life examples for various accuracy levels on commercially available software.

Reverse engineering a gear system is a not too unusual task and in many, but not all, cases the process goes fairly well, thus it is easy to become complacent. It is important, however, to fully understand the process and the best practice procedure for reverse engineering a gear system. Failure to fully follow best practice can result, at best, in an unhappy gear user, but in the worst case it can lead to very expensive, time consuming and reputation damaging litigation. We will discuss the basic types of reverse engineering projects (e.g. upgrading an existing system to increase power or extend operating life or improve noise level; replacing gear that has simply reached the end of its otherwise successful useful life; emergency, short term, interim gear replacement resulting from an unexpected failure; responding to a system that is not providing acceptable performance, etc.). The need for understanding the operation of the system in which the gears will be used, the conditions that led to the need for the project and especially, the specific nature of the failure that occurred, if that is the reason for the project, are key, often ignored, elements of the process. In some cases, no drawings are available at all thus a design must be developed that will yield gears that provide equivalent load capacity, life, noise performance and smoothness of operation. This scenario will be discussed with recommended analyses resented. In other cases, where no drawings are available, the correct procedures to follow in developing a reverse engineered gear that truly meets the system requirements will be discussed in detail with cautionary procedures outlined. The concept of applying the AVO (avoid verbal orders) process to the overall reverse engineering process will be discussed with fact based but names and identifying details eliminated case studies to emphasize the importance of this concept. The “amnesia” issue will also be addressed in this context. The author’s experience in serving as an Expert Witness provides first-hand information that will aid in avoiding this aspect of a reverse engineering project completely…. if followed!

This course is an introduction to the methodology of analytical gear inspection and the evaluation and interpretation of the resulting data. The application of this information to identify and correct manufacturing errors will begin to be explored. Additionally, it reviews chart interpretation and applies inspection data to understand the causes and cures of manufacturing errors. Many chart examples are used to understand cause and effect.

Explore gear failure analysis in this hands-on seminar where students not only see slides of failed gears but can hold and examine over 130 specimens with the same failure modes covered in the seminar. Approximately half of the course time consists of students in groups identifying failure modes on failed gears and working on a case study. Microscopes are available to examine failed specimens.

This course will address both geometry and rating of involute splines of various types. The types of spline joints and their applications will be discussed. Spline configuration variations, including half depth, full depth, and special function designs, will be addressed. Both fixed and flexible spline configurations will be examined in terms of usage and design. Lubrication methods, including grease, oil bath, and flowing oil, as well as coatings appropriate for various spline applications, are examined. Shear and compressive stress rating methods are discussed with analyses methodology presented in both equation and graphical methodology via various rating charts.