Gearing Up For Creating Gears You Need: How Your Gears Are Made Based On The Material You Choose
Posted on: 4 October 2018
Gears are fascinating components. Kids love to connect them and play with them. Adults love figuring out which way things will turn depending on the number of gears and directions the gears will turn. In business, you always want to know how components are made, what the best cost overall is, and what your choices in materials are. In terms of gears, here is how gears are made for your needs based on the materials you choose.
Plastic
Plastic is your cheapest material when you order gears. However, plastic gears are not subject to gear cutting like their metal counterparts. Instead plastic gears are formed through molding and injection processes. The plastic gears are not as well-cut because of this, and often have to be sanded, trimmed, and/or shaped. Some plastic gears may escape quality control measures, in which case you may see a gear or two that looks a tad off. If you do get such gears in your order, contact the manufacturer and request replacements. The manufacturer is typically willing to send replacements, but only if you make them aware of the faulty components you have received.
Metal
Metal gears include steel, brass, aluminum, nickel, titanium, and copper. All of these gears are made by stamping and cutting thicker sheets of metal material. The sheets range from a quarter of an inch thick to several inches thick, depending on the diameter of the gears being cut and what the gears are meant to do. The design for the teeth of the gears is programmed into the CNC machines used to cut these gears, and then the machine automatically cuts all the gears from the sheet of metal set onto the cutting table.
Wood
Wood gears are highly unusual, but if you want wood gears, you can get them. Wood gears work best in mechanical works that do not work as hard as industrial machines, and the mechanical works are actually wood themselves. The whole thing is not waterproof, unless you order the gears and mechanical works that way.
With wood gears, the wood is laser-cut. Then grinding and milling are used to make all of the gear teeth smooth, functional, and easily met with teeth from other wood gears without jamming or warping. Hardwoods like mahogany and oak are used to make these wood gears so that when the gears are installed and working, they will not splinter or fracture, and the gears will last a very long time.
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