GEAR MEASUREMENT

• Gears are mechanical devices that transmit power and motion

between axes in a wide variety of commercial and industrial
applications.
•They are widely used for speed reduction or increase, torque
multiplication and resolution.
• they find applications in areas like machine tools, auto mobiles,
material handling devices , rolling mills and so on.
•The transmission efficiency of gears is 99℅, which is due to
positive displacement characteristics of a gear, a power
transmission device.
• such high efficiency is depends upon under the dimension of a
gear under consideration with its specified design dimensions.
• gears are made from a wide variety of materials with many
different properties, Such as design life, power transmission
requirements, noise and heat generation etc.,
•Some of the common materials used in construction of gears are
Aluminum, brass, bronze, cast iron, steel, hardened steel and
stainless steel.
 GEAR ERRORS
• 1. Adjacent pitch error: it is the difference between
actual pitch and design pitch.
• 2. Cumulative pitch error: It is the difference
between actual length between corresponding flanks of
teeth not adjacent to each other to the design length.
•3. profile error: it is the maximum distance of any
point on the tooth profile form to the design profile.
• 4. Cyclic error: the error that occurs in each
revolution of the gear.
• 5. periodic error: this is an error that occurs at
regular intervals.
•6. Run out error: It is the total range of reading of a
fixed indicator with the contact point applied to a
surface rotated, without axial movement about a fixed
axis.
• 7. Radial run out error: It is the run-out measured
along a perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
•8. Eccentricity: It is half the radial run-out.
•9. Axial run-out (wobble): It is the run-out measured
parallel to the axis of rotation, at a specified distance
from the axis.
•10. Undulation : A periodical departure of the actual
tooth surface from the design surface.
 Pitch measurement in gears
. In gears pitch can be measured in two ways:
1. Point to point measurement.
2. Direct angular measurement.
1. Point to point measurement:
Construction: the instrument consists of three tips:
--- fixed measuring tip.
-- sensitive measuring tip.( its position can be adjusted by a
screw).
--- Adjustable tip or guide stop.
•It should be noted that the distance between the fixed tip and
the sensitive tip will be equal to the base pitch of the gear.
•Operation: when the three tips are brought in contact with
the gear by setting the distance between the sensitive tip and
fixed tip equal to the base pitch, the reading of the dial
indicator of the instrument is noted. This reading is the error
in the base pitch.
2. Direct angular measurement:
•In this method the gear is first indexed to a suitable angle. A
dial gauge is set against the tooth at a suitable point. The
reading will differ from the original reading only if the gear is
not indexed through the angular pitch.
• the difference between the readings is the cumulative pitch
 Lead measurement in gears
• the axial advance of a helix for one complete rotation is
called as lead. A lead checking instrument is used to
check the lead.
• the instrument advances a probe along a tooth surface
such that it is parallel to the axis when the gear is
rotating.
•It is important to control the lead to ensure that
adequate contact across the face with the gear is
obtained.
• Profile measurement in gears:
• The methods for checking tooth profile of spur gears
are: 1. optical projection method.
• 2. Involute measuring machine.
• 3. Tooth displacement method.
1. optical projection method:
• In this method the profile of the gear is magnified
with an optical system. This profile is compared with
the master profile that is already available.
• 2. Involute measuring machine:
• Principle: when a straight edge is rolled around a
base circle such that the stylus of a dial gauge does
not slip and is attached to the straight edge will
traverse a true involute. i.e, the stylus is restricted to
move along a true involute path in order to explore
the flank of the tooth.
• operation: the gear to be tested is held on a mandrel.
A circular disc perfectly grounded that has the diameter
as that of the base circle of the gear that is being tested
is also mounted on the mandrel.
•Now straight edge of the instrument is made to come in
contact with the circular disc i.e the base circle.
•Now the gear and disc are rotated. The straight edge
moves over the disc without slipping.
•Now the stylus of the dial gauge is made to come in
contact with the tooth profile.
•As the stylus moves over the tooth profile, any
deviation in the shape of tooth from a true involute is
detected and magnified by the stylus and is displaced
on the dial gauge.
• chart recording of the profile is also possible. In such a
case the true involute path can be generated by rolling a
straight edge over the base circle.
3. Tooth displacement method:
•A dividing head and a vertical measuring machine are
used. The knife edge of the vertical measuring machine
stylus should be normal to the axis of the measurement.
• In this method the gear is rotated in small angular
increments. The readings are obtained by the vertical
measuring machine and are compared with the
calculated values. Here tooth profile is assumed to be a
true involute.
• take five to ten readings along the flank of the tooth.
Radius or diameter measurement in gears
• we have two methods 1. Radius measurement using
surface plate and rollers. ( external radius is to be
measured).
•2. radius measurement of concave surface. ( internal
radius).
•. 1.Radius measurement using surface plate and
rollers:
• for measuring radius some instruments are required:
i.e., surface plate, two rollers of equal size, vernier
calipers and c-clamp.
•The job whose radius is to be measured is clamped on
the surface plate using a C-clamp such that there are
two rollers of equal diameters on either side of the job.
• readings are noted using a vernier calipers.
• Let R= radius of the job,
• M = the vernier calipers reading between two
rollers.
• O= centre of the circle.
•From the figure , OB² = OA² + AB²
• ( R + d/2)² = ( R – d/2)² + ( (M-d)/2)²
• R = (M-d)²/8d
 2. Radius measurement of concave surface
• to measure radius the following instruments are
required.
• – depth micrometer and --- slip gauges
• Let d be the width of the micrometer. This is
measured with slip gauges.
• The depth micrometer is placed on the job whose
radius is to be measured. The micrometer tip is
made to come in contact with the base of the job
( base of the cavity). The reading in this condition on
the micrometer is noted as ‘h’.
• Let o be the center of cavity and R be
• Radius of curvature.
• From triangle OAB,
• OA² = AB² + BO²
• R² = (d/2)² + ( R-h)²
• = d²/4 + R² + h² - 2Rh
• 2Rh= d²/4 + h²
• R = d²/8h + h/2.
Tooth thickness measurement in gears
• tooth thickness is usually measured at the pitch
circle. Chordal thickness measurement is also
done on the pitch circle.
• The chord joining the intersection of the tooth
profile with the pitch circle is known as chordal
thickness (w).
• The distance between a chord, passing through the
points where the Pitch Circle crosses the tooth
profile, and the tooth top is known as chordal
addendum (d).
• For measuring the gear tooth thickness(w) and
chordal addendum (d) we have three methods .they
are 1. gear tooth Vernier calliper method
• 2. constant chord method and
• 3. base tangent method.
• 2. constant chord method:
• It is very difficult to measure a large number of gears
set, each having different number of teeth, because it
involves separate calculations and becomes laborious
and time consuming. To overcome such difficulties, a
constant chord method is used.
• In this method, the constant chord is the chord
between the points at which the tooth profile touches
the basic rack of the system, where the tangents to
the flank lie at pressure angle to the tooth centre
line.
3. Base tangent method:
• This method is also called as David Browne tangent
comparator method.
• The main parts of this instrument are a fixed anvil and
a movable anvil.
• On the moving anvil side there is a micrometer. The
moving anvil has a limited movement on either side of
the setting.
• With the help of locking ring and setting tubes, the
distance is adjusted by setting the fixed anvil at the
required place.
• The value of the distance between two opposite
involutes or the dimension over the parallel faces is
equal to the distance around the base circle between
the points where the corresponding tooth flanks cut.
Mathematically it is calculated. This is the distance
that is set in the instrument using slip gauges.
THE END