Gear Design and Engineering Support UK

A manufacturable gear design connects geometry, strength, accuracy, material, heat treatment, bearing support and inspection. Ondrives supports build-to-print manufacture and engineering review for new or developing gear requirements.

Information needed at the start

Useful inputs include power or torque, speed, ratio, shaft arrangement, duty cycle, expected life, available space, environment, backlash requirement, noise constraints and material restrictions.

Geometry is interconnected

Module or DP, tooth count, pressure angle, helix angle, profile shift, face width and centre distance interact. They should be reviewed together with strength, contact ratio, undercut and manufacturability.

Design for manufacture

Tool access, heat-treatment movement, grinding allowance, datum strategy and inspection access can influence the preferred component layout and tooth geometry.

Use GearCALC and SplineCALC

Ondrives' engineering tools can help review geometry and terminology during development. They are intended to support engineering work alongside the drawing, applicable standards and final design verification.

Need help with a specific gear? Send Ondrives the drawing, model or available gear data. For new designs, include the operating duty and mating-component information so the manufacturing route can be reviewed in context.

Core geometry relationships to define early

Gear geometry is a system. Module/DP, tooth count, pressure angle, helix angle, profile shift, centre distance, backlash and face width interact, so changing one value can alter several operating dimensions.

Tooth size and ratio

Module is the metric tooth-size parameter; DP is the imperial equivalent system. Tooth counts determine nominal ratio while pitch diameters and centre distance follow from the selected geometry.

Profile shift and undercut

Profile shift/addendum modification can help manage low tooth counts, tooth thickness and centre distance. It must be designed as part of the mesh, not applied independently to one gear without checking the mate.

Backlash and contact ratio

Backlash provides operating clearance and contact ratio indicates the average number of tooth pairs sharing contact. Both influence smoothness, tolerance sensitivity and application behaviour.

For design review provide speeds, continuous and peak torque, ratio, shaft arrangement, centre distance constraints, duty cycle, reversals, backlash/positioning targets, materials, environment and required life. GearCALC can support geometry exploration; application rating and final design require the appropriate standards and engineering review.