Gear Manufacturing

Gears are used in tons of mechanical devices. They do several important jobs, but most important, they provide a?gear reduction?in motorized equipment. This is key because, often, a small motor spinning very fast can provide enough?power?for a device, but not enough?torque. For instance, an electric screwdriver has a very large gear reduction because it needs lots of torque to turn screws, but the motor only produces a small amount of torque at a high speed. With a gear reduction, the output speed can be reduced while the torque is increased.

Another thing gears do is adjust the direction of rotation. For instance, in the differential between the rear wheels of your car, the power is transmitted by a shaft that runs down the center of the car, and the differential has to turn that power 90 degrees to apply it to the wheels.

An Example

Imagine the following situation: You have two red gears that you want to keep synchronized, but they are some distance apart. You can place a big gear between them if you want them to have the same direction of rotation

Or you can use two equal-sized gears if you want them to have opposite directions of rotation.

However, in both of these cases the extra gears are likely to be heavy and you need to create axles for them. In these cases, the common solution is to use either a?chain?or a?toothed belt.

The advantages of chains and belts are light weight, the ability to separate the two gears by some distance, and the ability to connect many gears together on the same chain or belt. For example, in a?car engine, the same toothed belt might engage the crankshaft, two?camshafts?and the alternator. If you had to use gears in place of the belt, it would be a lot harder.