A gear is a machine part that moves in a revolving manner to create torque. Metal teeth protrude from gears, and these teeth are spaced out at regular intervals around the circumference of the gear. The teeth allow the gear to match or mesh with another gear to provide rotational force.
Gears are considered instrumental parts of machines. Cars, manufacturing equipment, bicycles, and clocks all contain gears. Gears have been used for centuries, and historians indicate that the first mention of gears can be found in Greek literature. The Antikythera mechanism that dates from between 150 and 100 BC is one of the first known devices to use gears. The machine was used to calculate astronomical positions. If you are interested in the types of gears made by a bevel gear manufacturer, then consider some other gear facts.
1. Gears are made out of a wide variety of materials. Plastic, steel, and non-ferrous alloys are typically used to create bevel gears. Plastics are utilized for gears that retain little stress and pressure. Also, plastics help to reduce product weight and reduce costs. In most larger and high-quality machines, steel makes up the majority of all gears. Steel has a fairly high weight to strength ratio that is highly desirable. When extreme amounts of pressure are a concern, then bevel gear manufacturers use metals like titanium.
2. Most gears are formed with a process called hobbing. Hobbing is when a cutting tool produces a series of cuts within a solid piece of metal. The cuts progressively create the teeth of the gear. The progressive cutting technique produces precision and uniformity. Moving parts of the hobbing machine are set at specific angles to create the cuts. These angles are changed depending on gear and tooth size.
3. Not all gears are created with a circular shape. Cone and square shaped gears are commonly formed by a bevel gear manufacturer. Cone shapes are used for bevel gears, and these gears sit on the ends of two different steel shafts that intersect one another. Bevel gears are used in drives to allow axles to spin at different speeds. Printing presses and locomotives use bevel gears. Square gears are used in machines that require oscillation variation or axle displacement. Textile machines commonly use these types of custom gears.