Addis Ababa University Institute of technology

School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Lab report on

Measurement of Gear Tooth Thickness

Group members

1. Yohannes Mengistu ATR/7417/08

2. Fefekafu Beregena ATR/3466/08
3. Bagmawi Gezahagn ATR/2596/08
4. Mihretu Gnene ATR/9129/09

Submitted to Mr. Abiu Alemayehu

 ABSTRACT

The invention belongs to the technical field of measurement of the gear tooth is the very
important measurement to know the gear dimension so that in our measurement the outer
diameter gear measurement is taken to calculate all parameters like, diametrical pitch, pitch
circle diameter, module, addendum and diddum. The number of teeth is given for the measured
gears. From the calculated data we used the addendum value to get the teeth thickness. Since we
set our gear teeth measuring caliper with our calculated value of addendum the gear tooth
thickness will be measured accurately.
GEAR MEASUREMENT
Introduction:-
Gears are mainly used for transmission of power and motion. It is a round wheel that has teeth,
which meshes with another gear allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage.
Depending on their construction and arrangement, geared devices can transmit forces at different
speeds, torques, or in a different direction, from the power source. A gear can also mesh with any
device having compatible teeth, such as linear moving racks. For closer control over the accuracy
of manufacture of the gear, precision measurement of gear plays a vital role. A brief overview of
different types of gear has been documented herewith.
Spur Gear - The edge of each tooth is straight and aligned parallel to the axis of rotation.

Fig 1 Spur gear

Helical Gear - The leading edges of the teeth are not parallel to the axis of rotation, but
are set at an angle. The angled teeth engage more gradually than do spur gear teeth.
This causes helical gears to run more smoothly and quietly than spur gears.

Fig 2 Helical gear

Bevel gear - The angle between the shafts of mating gears can be anything except zero
or 180 degrees. Bevel gears with equal numbers of teeth and shaft axes at 90 degrees are
called miter gears.

Fig 3 Bevel gear

Worm gear – Type of helical gear, but its helix angle is usually somewhat large and its
body is usually fairly long in the axial direction; and it is these attributes which give it
screw like qualities.

Fig 4 Worm gear

Fig.5:- Gear nomenclature.

 Gear geometric nomenclature:
The tooth thickness is generally measured at pitch circle shown in Fig 5. The curve
most commonly used for gear-tooth profile is the involute of a circle. It may be
defined as the curve traced by a point on a taut (line BC in Fig.6), inextensible string
as it unwinds from another circle. The circle from which the involute is derived is
called the base circle. The involute profile is shown in Fig.6. Pressure Angle (ψ) is
defined as the angle between the line of action and the common tangent to the pitch

circles shown in Fig.7. The base radius and the pitch radius are rb and rp
respectively. Pitch circle radius is denoted by symbol R.

Fig. 6:- Involute profile Fig.7. Gear in mesh with a pinion

The following gear tooth elements are measured using Vernier caliper.
 Outside diameter (O.D): Using Vernier caliper, measure the outer diameter
of the given gear with 6 different readings and record in the following tabular
columns. If odd number of teeth is there then consider the highest reading
as O.D. If even number of teeth is there then consider the average reading
as O.D. In our case we measure the gear at 6 points and we get all even
numbers because the caliper used has 0.02 mm precision which is all even
value so that we take the average value.

Fig 8:- Gear 1 Fig 9:- Gear 2

 S.no 1 2 3 4 5 Avr. dia. in
mm
O. dia. in mm (D1) 71.8 72 71.9 71.8 71.9 72 71.9
O.dia. in mm (D1) 76.3 76.34 76.3 76.3 76.26 76.32 76.3

 Diametral pitch (Dp): Diametral pitch = (N+2) / Outside diameter

 Where, N= Number of teeth
N1= 20, N2= 30
For G1:- p.d = (30+2)/71.9=0.445
For G2:- p.d= (20+2)/76.3=0.288
 Pitch circle diameter (P.C.D):Pitch circle diameter = N / Diametral pitch
For G1:- p.c.d = (30)/0.445= 66.96
For G2:- p.d= (20)/0.288=69.44
 Module (m): Module = 1 / Diametral pitch= Addendum
For G1:- m = 1/0.445= 2.25
For G2:- m= 1/0.288=3.5
 Dedendum (d):Dedendum = 1.157 X (Addendum)
For G1:- d = 1.157 x 2.25= 2.60
For G2:- d= 1.157 x 3.5= 4

Fig.8. Gear tooth Vernier caliper Fig.9. Gear tooth geometry

  Tooth thickness (t):
Tooth thickness is measured by the gear tooth Vernier. The Vernier shown in
Fig.8 consists of two Vernier calipers set at 90º to each other. Since the gear
tooth thickness varies from the root to the tip, the Vernier must be capable of
measuring the tooth thickness at a specified position on the tooth. The tooth
thickness is measured at the pitch circle as shown in Fig.9. The thickness of the
tooth at pitch line and the addendum is measured by an adjustable tongue, each
of which is adjusted independently by adjustable screws on the graduated bars.
The gear tooth Vernier is set with its vertical scale at a distance equal to chordal
addendum so that the thin slit will be at a height ‘m’ from the tip of the jaw.
Hence the gear tooth slit will sit on the top land and the tip of the jaws will
measure the chordal thickness, t.

Procedure to measure tooth thickness:

 We start from any one tooth by marking it and measure its thickness as t1.
 Leaving some tooth’s and measures the other tooth after 7 teeth as t2.
 Leaving another 7 tooth measure the next one as t3.
 And finally we measured the 22th tooth to get the finial measurement as t4.
 Then the tooth thickness is taken after calculating the mean value or average

value of the measured data’s. T= (t1 + t2 + t3 + t4)/n where n=

number of measurement taken.

Observation No. t1 t2 t3 t4 Mean t T

1 3.56 3.45 3.54 3.5 3.54 3.54
2 5.1 5.2 5.1 5.3 5.18 5.18

Conclusion
The lab exercise is very use full to students it helps us to measure the gear tooth thickness
very easily and the use of the precision tools like the gear tooth measuring caliper. As we
can see form our lab exercise the measurement shows slight difference. That is may
occurred because of the wear on the gear, reading problem or it could be manufacturing
error.