MODULE 6: DESIGN OF

MACHINE TOOL GEAR

BOX
AIM OF SPEED AND FEED RATE
REGULATION
 A machining operation should be conducted at such values of cutting parameters
(speed, feed, depth of cut etc.) that ensures the minimum cost price of the
machine component.
 The machining cost is expressed by the equation,
 C= Cmt + Cnpt + Ctc + Ct Where,
 Cmt = (W+E) tm represents the cost of machining time; W is the wage rate , E is the
cost of operating the machine tool per unit time and tm is the machining time.
 Cnpt = (W+E) tnpt represents the cost of non-productive time; tnpt is the total time
of nonproductive operation.
 Ctc = (W+E) tc/Q represents the tool changing cost per component ; tc is the
time required for replacing a blunt tool and setting the new one and Q the no. of
components machined during the period of tool life.
 Ct = T/Q represents the cost of the tool per component ; T is the cost of the tool
for a period equal to the tool life and can be determined as the tool cost divided
by the number of permissible regrinding.
 In order to machine a part of arbitrary diameter, the spindle rpm must
be set as n=1000v/ D
i.e. There must be a step less regulation of V so that any desired value of
the spindle rpm may be set corresponding to the optimum cutting
speed.
 By a similar logic the machine tool should have provision for step less
variation of the feed rate.
 The provision for regulating the spindle rpm and feed rate is an
essential requirement of machine tools to ensure economic
machining of work pieces of different materials and sizes by cutting
tools of different shapes and composition.
LAWS OF STEP REGULATION
 For choosing the discrete values of spindle rpm, there are four cases from
which the most suitable law of speed range distribution is chosen .
 For the same number of stages and same extreme values of speed in rpm,
there are number of ways to take intermittent steps.
 The various steps of rpm values will have different operational characteristics.
 The following laws can be employed to decide the rpm value of different
steps.
1) Rpm values in Arithmetic progression
2) Rpm values in Geometric progression
3) Rpm values in Harmonic progression
4) Rpm values in logarithmic progression
1) Arithmetic progression
 Arithmetic progression based upon the idea that the difference
between the adjacent RPM values is constant.
 𝑁𝑍 = 𝑁1 + (𝑍 − 1)𝑎
Where, 𝑎 = 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = (𝑁𝑍 − 𝑁1) /(𝑧−1)
 For a particular cutting speed which is the maximum permissible under
the selected cutting conditions, the diameter range of work pieces
that can be machined by a particular spindle rpm value 𝑁𝑥 can be
determine as follows.
 To find the diameter range for different RPM values in Arithmetic
progression, consider a following example,
 where 𝑁1 = 30𝑟𝑝𝑚 , 𝑁𝑧 = 375𝑟𝑝𝑚 , speed step Z =12, V =20m/min and
diameter of work piece d =212mm.
 Common difference of arithmetic progression can be calculated from,
375 =30+ (12-1) a , hence a = 31.4
 Suppose the machining of the work piece of diameter 212 mm is started.
 For a cutting speed of V= 20 m/min, the value 𝑁1 = 30𝑟𝑝𝑚 will correspond
to the optimum cutting. Before speed changes to next rpm i.e., 𝑁2 =
N1+a= 61.4 𝑟𝑝𝑚 one must remove 108.3mm of metal from the work piece
diameter.
 This required 11 passes assuming a permissible depth of cut 5mm.
 During all passes except the first one, the machining is uneconomical as
the actual cutting speed would be less than the permissible value.
 On the other hand in changing over an rpm value of 𝑁11 = 344𝑟𝑝𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑁12
= 375𝑟𝑝𝑚 one has to reduce the work piece diameter only by 1.6mm
though one can actually remove more than this allowance in one pass.
N1=30 2.04 212 108.3
N2=61.4 1.51 103.7 35.1
N3=92.8 1.33 68.6 17.3
N4=124.2 1.25 51.3 10.4
N5=155.6 1.20 40.9 6.9
N6=187 1.17 34.0 4.84
N7=218.4 1.14 29.16 3.66
N8=249.8 1.12 25.5 2.90
N9=281.2 1.11 22.6 2.20
N10=312.6 1.10 20.4 1.9
N11=344 1.09 18.5 1.9
N12=375 - 16.9 -
From this analysis it is observed that in high rpm range some values of speed steps are
redundant where as in low rpm range there is clearly a need to add more steps
between the calculated values
 Geometric progression

 Before the change over from a speed 𝑁1 = 30𝑟𝑝𝑚 to 𝑁2 = 37.5𝑟𝑝𝑚 ,

an allowance of 42mm must be machined from work piece diameter.
For the maximum depth of cut 5mm, this allowance may be removed
in four to five passes.
 In changing over from 𝑁11 = 300𝑟𝑝𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑁12 = 375𝑟𝑝𝑚 one has to
take the depth of cut of 2.1mm which can be easily accomplished in
one pass.
 It is seen that in order to make the machine performance equally
feasible in the whole range, the lower rpm values of rpm should be
brought still closer while high rpm values can be widen a little.
Harmonic progression
 Harmonic progression is developed from the idea that diameter range
served by each rpm of the progression is equal

 Constant C can be calculated from the above equation if Nmin ,

Nmax and speed steps Z are known. Now analyzing the same problem
for Harmonic progression law.
 It is observed from the table below that in order to change the
speed from 𝑁11 = 183 𝑟𝑝𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑁12 = 375 𝑟𝑝𝑚 the work piece
diameter must be reduced from 35 mm to 17 mm.
 on a slender work piece of 35mm, a large depth of cut cannot be
taken as this would lead to deformation of the work piece.
 If 2mm assumed as a permissible depth, the total allowance will be
machined in four to five passes.
 It may be concluded that in Harmonic progression the RPM values in
high range are too wide apart making this range uneconomical.
Logarithmic progression
 In Logarithmic progression the diameter range is function of
diameter.

 The progression can be written as,

 It is rather difficult to develop the logarithmic progression for given
values of Nmin , Nmax and speed steps Z as this has to be done by
successive trials with different `values of location coefficient M. For
example,

 it is known that 𝑑12 = 17𝑚𝑚 , the correct value of M is found out by

linear interpolation. For M= 0.89 following table shows diameter ,
progression ratios and ∆𝑑𝑥 for all rpm range.
 It is observed from above table that the values of the logarithmic progression lies between the
geometric and harmonic progression for low as well as high rpm range . It may be concluded that
as far as the operational efficiency of the machine tool is concern, logarithmic progression is most
suitable. The efficiency of the geometric progression is poorer in low rpm range while harmonic
progression is poorer in high rpm range. Despite major shortcomings, the geometric progression is
commonly used in machine tool drives because of the advantages mentioned inn next section.
WHY GEOMETRIC PROGRESSION IS SELECTED
IN MACHINE TOOL DRIVES
1) Constant loss of economic cutting speed in whole range of
rpm values-
 The optimum cutting speed for material should be maintained for every cut,
as the diameter is reduced in each cut, speed has to increase .
 In a stepped regulation drive, rpm values are provided such that for one
cut, all other cuts will not be operated at the optimum cutting speed. They
will operate at lower cutting speed.
 The difference between these two is the loss of cutting speed. In geometric
progression rpm value drives, this loss is constant over the entire speed
range.
 As it is only a function of the ratio between two consecutive speed i.e.
2) Constant loss of productivity in the whole rpm range-
 Productivity of the machining operation is defined as the surface area
of the metal removed in time.
 In a stepped drive, only one cut will give optimum machining of the
work piece and during all other cuts until changeover, there will be loss
of productivity.
 Since the loss of cutting speed is constant, the loss of productivity is also
constant over the entire speed range.
3) Better design features-
 To optimize the dimension of the gear box, proper material selection
for each of the gears, as well as provision of multi speed or multi stage
arrangements are most essential.
 it is difficult to establish the gear ratio in multi speed arrangements.
 It is therefore suggested to select the ratio and the no. of stages to
meet the requirement by trial and error.
 This difficulty is overcome by using geometric progression
ratio due to its following properties:
1. In a geometric progression with progression ratio, every xth
value is also in geometric progression with ratio ɸx.
2. Progression ratio multiplied with a constant value also gives
values in G.P. with each value constant times greater.
3. If a geometric progression having ratio φ is multiplied by a
factor ɸx, the resulting series is also a geometric progression
which is shifted by x numbers.
GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING PROPER
GEOMETRIC PROGRESSION RATIO
 In machine tool drives two speed motor are often used , the ratio of
two speed is generally 2(eg mator have rpm values of 3000 and
1500 rpm)
1) If there is spindle rpm value nx , then after a certain number of steps
s1 , there must occur a spindle rpm value=2 nx i.e.
 nx.ɸS1= 2* nx
2) The geometric progression should be developed by keeping the
standards of preferred numbers and preferred series in mind. The
geometric progression should satisfy the condition
nx.ɸS2= 10* nx
 The numbers obtained by adopting geometric progression are known
as progression preferred number. By adopting different progression
ratios, several different series of preferred numbers are developed.
There are basically six series to give six different progression ratios.
Break up of speed steps
 The values of the number of speed steps z are rounded off to the next
whole number, preference being given to the number which can be
broken into multiples of 2 and 3.
 For example: Numbers between 8.5 and 10 are rounded off to z= 9
Numbers between 11 and 13 are rounded off to z= 12 and so on.
 Suppose the Z is no. of speed steps are obtained in u number of
transmission.
 If p1 is the number of speed steps in the first transmission group and p2 the
number of speed steps in the second transmission group, then after the
second stage we have p1 x p2 speed steps.
 Similarly, after the third stage we have p1 x p2 x p3 speed steps, and
finally we have Z speed steps after u number of transmissions. i.e.
 Z=p1 x p2 x p3 x... x pu.

 For obtaining a particular number of speed steps using minimum no. of
gears, it is necessary that p1 = p2 = p3 =... = pu ,
 Hence the number of speed steps in each transmission group can be
found from the expression p= (z)1/u ,
 For example, if z=27 speed steps are to be obtained in 3 stages, then at
each stage we must have p= (z)1/u=3 transmissions.
 However, if the quantity (z)1/u is not a whole number, then the number
of speed steps should be divided in such a manner that
 z= 2E1 x 3E2 , where, E1 and E2 are whole numbers, ,
 Example 121/3 = 2.3, then 12= 22 x 31
Structural Diagrams and selecting
best possible version
 Suppose a speed on one shaft yields two speed values on the next
shaft, i.e., the number of speed steps of the particular transmission
group is p=2.
 If the transmission is through gears, the transmission ratios that
provide the two new speed values must lie in the following range.
 For 𝜙 = 1.41, imax=2 and imin =1/4
 The maximum reduction of speed is limited to 4 times to keep the
radial dimensions of the speed box within reasonable limits, while
the maximum increase of speed is restricted to two times due to
limitations of the pitch line velocity.
 The transmission range of the group is given by
 ig = 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑥/ 𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛 =8

 For z speed steps n1 ,n2 ,n3 ,… nz in a particular transmission group

such that 𝑛2 /𝑛1 = 𝑛3 /𝑛2 =….𝑛𝑧 /𝑛𝑧−1 = k
 Since the speeds on the last shaft of the speed box must constitute a
geometric progression, the following relationship must be satisfied:
 K= ɸx
 Here, X is known as the characteristic of the transmission group and
denotes the number of steps of the spindle rpm geometric progression
by which two adjacent rpm values of the particular group are
separated. A transmission group may thus be conveniently denoted
by p(X), p is the number of speed steps in transmission group and X is
characteristic.
 The transmission ratio of mth group can be expressed as
im = ɸ (Pm-1) Xm

 Where pm is the number of speed steps in the mth group and xm its
characteristics.
 The number of speed steps are represented by Z=p1 x p2 x p3 x... x pu
 Elaborated expression for z may be written as
 Z=p1(X1) x p2(X2) x p3(X3) x... x pu(Xu),
 Where X1=1, X2=p1, X3= p1 x p2 and Xu= p1 x p2 x p3 x …. pu-1
 Above equation is known as structural formula of the speed box.
 There are two types of structure or ray diagram: - open and crossed. The
types are based on distributive connections between input and output
points. When the paths do not cross each other, it is called ‘open’ type
of distribution pattern. If the paths cross each other, it is called ‘crossed’
type of distribution pattern.
From all the possible structural diagrams, the
selection of the best version is guided by following
two main factors:
 From all the possible structural diagrams, the selection of the best
version is guided by following two main factors:
 1) Transmission ratio relation in a group should have transmission
range of less than i= imax/imin. For example for ɸ= 1.41 , the step
down speed ratio should be less than 4 and step up ratio should be
less than 2 in one transmission group, similarly for ɸ= 1.26 , step down
speed ratio should be less than 6 and step up ratio should be less
than 3 in one transmission group as ig < 18,
 2) X1 < X2< X3< ….< Xu-1 < Xu to keep the shaft dimensions
minimum.

Limiting values of transmission
intervals for different φ: