One of the Greatest Gear Making Tools - And it isn't What You Think!

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I found a really interesting article from around 2004 while puttering around Gear Solutions magazine's archives. It's about a "miracle tool" for producing parts from bar stock, such as gear blanks. You'd probably be really surprised (or, unsurprised, if you paid attention to the graphic at the beginning of this post) to hear that this miracle tool is the buzz saw. The author, Fritz Greulich, discusses the pros and cons of using a multiple cutting edge tool to manufacture gear parts, making note of how the stability, consistence and reliability of circular cutting tools have increased rapidly over the last few years. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Not only is RSC a viable reality, it is also far superior to single point tooling in its capabilities. The multiple cutting edges of a circular saw eliminate the problems of high heat buildup, undesirable chip formation, and high chip load. The result is a myriad of technical advantages that increase production levels, improve quality, and lower production costs: more parts per hour, more parts per bar, better finishes, increased tool life, easier and less costly scrap handling, and increased machining capabilities. A rotating circular saw cutting through a rotating bar of stock builds up very little heat for a number of reasons. First, saws are ground with side clearance. Clearance reduces the friction between the workpiece and the cutter. Second, cutting with a rotating circular saw is an "interrupted" cut, since each tooth cuts for only a brief moment. Third, as a single saw tooth makes a cut, the chip (and heat) is immediately removed from the cutter by the strong coolant flow and the centrifugal force of the rotating saw. Finally, each cutting edge is removing only a small amount of material, keeping the chip load low."

So, what benefit does this article hold for those of us in the gear manufacturing industry? Most notably that with all of the recent advances in our engineering technology and the big expo coming up, it may be easy to only look toward the future for ways to improve our efficiency - but we also shouldn't forget the past. Articles like this one that promote ingenuity and thinking outside the box should be heralded for their ability to take a process that many think has been "perfected" and apply a new twist to it that increases quality, decreases waste and eventually will augment profit.

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To read the article from Gear Solutions Online, follow this link:

Excellence in Gear Manufacturing and the Future of the Industry

With IMTS 2010 getting closer and closer with every passing second, the gear manufacturing industry is abuzz with what will be "the next big thing". But, an article on enterprise excellence from geartechnology.com suggests that "the next big thing" might just be a different way of looking at how we in our industry do business. Things like breakdowns in communication, late delivery schedules and component available all contribute to efficiency losses in the gear manufacturing market. So what is enterprise efficiency? The article from geartechnology.com explains it this way:

"In a sense, the idea of enterprise excellence should involve a different mindset; it should transition beyond defect reduction to one of performance improvement. Its approach should be to capitalize on past successes and collectively focus on organization on its strengths. Then a company is equipped and flexible to address problems, capture opportunities, adapt to changing requirements and technologies, and evaluate associated risks."

It's likely that instead of a new technology emerging or a new type of gear being developed, that the next big evolution in the gear technology field will be our ability to anticipate and compensate for errors in different parts of the process. In the future, when new materials are discovered and processes change, it would be a good idea to have a system in place to assist in these transitions. This is likely that "next big thing" that everyone's waiting for.

To learn more about gear manufacturing, check out Gear Motions:

And to read the article from geartechnology.com, go here: