BIG Gears

HIGH STANDARDS, HIGH PROFITS

Jack McGuinn, Senior Editor

Huge gears such as these are common in mining and other industries requiring extreme power.
Photo/Rexnord.

Photo/HMC.

Natural resources—minerals, coal, Whether it’s draglines and conveyors for But what, exactly, constitutes a big
oil, agricultural products, etc.—are the the mining industry, or roughing stands gear? It depends which manufacturer
blessings that Mother Earth confers upon and finishing stands for steel production, you’re talking to. For some shops, a 60-
the nations of the world. But it takes the equipment used in these endeavors inch diameter gear would be considered
unnaturally large gears to extract them. all employ very large gears. large. For others, gears seven feet and
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more in diameter are common. But one
thing that all of these companies would ��������������������
agree on is that it is a very good time to
be in the big gear market. �����������������������
“Right now, I can make this You already compete
statement with high confidence—I have globally; Why not look to
a global supplier for gear
got probably an 18-month backlog,” hobs. One that enables
says Nick Sudzum, general manager and “your team” to take
chief operating officer of B&R Machine advantage of “our” competi-
tive edge. DTR Corporation
and Gear, in Sharon, Tennessee. is a world-class leader in
At Vancouver Gear Works, in maximizing gear hob tool
life through innovative
Richmond, British Columbia—same designs, with the latest in
story. coatings and high speed
steels. Look to us to get you
“Right now is a very good time with through any challenge the
what’s going on in mining,” says Jim market-place has to offer.
Mantei, general manager. “We’ve never
been as good as we are right now, and as
far as we see, it’s all going to continue
well into next year. Being a jobbing-
related shop traditionally, we don’t
usually see business much more than a
U.S. Office Location (Chicago)
month or two out, and we’re six months 2400 E. Devon Ave., Suite 210, Des Plaines, IL 60018
into next year.” PHONE: 847-375-8892 Email inquiries to:
FAX: 847-699-1022 [email protected]
And at Princeton, Indiana’s HMC Headquarters
and Milwaukee’s Falk-Rexnord, there’s 36B-11L, Namdong Industrial Complex, Namdong-Gu, Incheon, Korea
(formerly Dragon Precision Tools)
more of the same—up to a point. PHONE: +82.32.814.1540
WWW.DRAGON.CO.KR FAX: +82.32.814.5381
“I think it’s about as strong as I’ve
ever seen it,” says HMC’s John Schnarr,
sales manager.
“We had a great run here with
metals like copper and also gold going
from $400 to $800 an ounce,” says
Craig Danecki, vice president, global
gearing for Rexnord. “Iron ore took
off like crazy, and we had a real good
run on all that. But back in September-
October we began to see a softening
in those areas. Most people we talked
with didn’t think (the slowdown) was
going to be anything significant or long
term, but now people are questioning
that, and there’s the bank issues. People
being able to get access to cash for all
these big projects—you’re talking about
some pretty big capital investments.”
Aside from any slowdown in
mining, the only drawback in all of
this prosperity has more to do with the
availability of material and the large
machines needed to produce, test and
inspect outsized gearing. Given that lead
times for machines and materials can be
more than a year, a start-up company
entering the large gear market would
continued

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39
 probably need years, not months—and “Some of our machines—CNCs,
a lot of money—to get up and running. hobbers, grinders—they use large
“I wish I had another couple large bearings, and a lot of times the lead time
machines, but there’s none on the for the machines is pushed back purely
market,” says Sudzum. “If you buy a based on the availability of bearings,”
new machine, you’re looking at three says John Belton, business and
to four years delivery. That’s my development manager at Vancouver.
understanding, anyway. There are a “Typically, bearings have the longest
couple companies out there retrofitting lead time on any project.
older pieces of equipment with CNC “I think it’s because they’re building
controls and such—I just don’t believe bigger machines now; they’re running
in that. It’s like Gleason Works designed faster, and so, things have become
a machine, and now here comes along more sophisticated. They have to, quite
a guy who’s going to put controllers possibly, build new machines to build
on it, doing away with the gear trains the bearings.”
and such. I don’t know the longevity “Bearings have been the biggest
of them. The factory didn’t build them issue,” agrees Cal Tanck, Rexnord
that way, and here we’re going to put marketing manager. “(A certain bearings
this servo motor in to replace the entire supplier) has been the poorest regarding
gear train. Essentially, I don’t think the their commitment dates, and it hurts
machine is going to last as long as it us especially when it’s a week or two
would if you kept it all original.” before the order and we’re getting ready
The most consistent bottleneck in to box it up and we’re just waiting for
the supply chain is bearings. Whether the bearings and—bang—it’s another
for a behemoth wind turbine or mill three months.”
equipment for processing sugar cane, And although Rexnord is not in
the bearings needed for that equipment the wind turbine market—they prefer
are in short supply. Indeed, a central to concentrate on their industrial
reason for the long lead times on new customers—Danecki believes that the
machines is that they, too, require high- booming market is in part to blame
quality bearings. In short, if the bearings for the bearings shortage and, to some
specified for a certain design are out of extent, steel as well.
stock, waits of a year or longer are not “There was a pretty significant
uncommon. impact on all of this from the wind

Photo/Vancouver Gear Works.

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00 GEARTECHNOLOGY January/February 2009 www.geartechnology.com
market,” he says. “The wind market etc. In some cases they say no, all their their own steel alloy foundry, where
really bit into capacity out there.” engineering has been based on these they produce much of the steel for their
B&R Gear and HMC are two other specific materials, so we then have to ring gears.
gear manufacturers that have opted source those materials from Europe.” Aside from the exorbitant cost of the
out of the wind turbine market and Conversely, steel is not a problem machinery needed to produce big gears,
concentrated on what they do best. for B&R Gear. That’s because they heat treating is another component
“We would enter that market, use only U.S.-manufactured material. of the equation. Many companies
but right now it’s saturated with “In fact, a lot of our customers insist making big gears do their own, and
manufacturers trying to get in it, and it’s on—and we don’t stock—anything but in fact—like Rexnord and Vancouver
very, very competitive,” says B&R’s U.S.-manufactured, U.S.-certified, SAE Gear—do commercial heat treating
Sudzum. “But we’re seeing that it has grades,” says Sudzum. as well in order to defray costs and
loosened up some in the jobbing area. Ditto for Rexnord. They in fact have provide capital for reinvestment. HMC,
Several shops have become nothing but continued

wind power, and that’s opened up the

market for shops like ourselves to be
introduced to people that we’ve never
done business with before in general
replacement gearing.”
But when it comes to steel
availability, much depends on which
steel has been specified by the design
engineer. And that has been a problem Leitz Gear Inspection  new ways of thinking.
of sorts for a company like Vancouver
Gear, which uses both foreign and
domestic steel in its large gears. Call It
a CMM
“What we’re finding is that a lot
of these gear box designs are coming
from Europe, so they’ve used materials
readily available in Europe, and we
don’t have those available to us in North if You Like
America,” says Mantei. “We work
with their engineers to see if there’s a
material that’s close enough that we
can use, maybe a 40 C 40 or a 40 C 20,

High precision gear inspection

centers for gear diameters
up to 4500mm / 177” and shaft
lengths of up to 7000mm / 275”.

Any type of gear.

Any type of cutting tool.
... and any gearbox too!

For North America please contact:

Hexagon Metrology, Inc.
North Kingstown, RI 02852
phone: 1-401-886-2422
[email protected]
www.HexagonMetrology.us
Hexagon Metrology GmbH
Wetzlar, Germany
[email protected]
www.leitz-metrology.com
Large gears also require large pinions.
Photo/Vancouver Gear Works.

www.geartechnology.com January/February 2009 GEARTECHNOLOGY 00

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on the other hand, chooses to outsource And because Vancouver is a player that’s where we’ve focused our
heat treating. HMC’s Schnarr gives an in the wind generation industry, the capabilities on in being able to provide
example that illustrates the complexity quality challenges are even more the absolute highest quality on large
of heat treating big gears, and perhaps a daunting. gears. It comes down to value. When
reason why some companies choose to “It’s not just the quality level, but you run the calculations, higher
outsource rather than own the process. the actual gear geometry of the gears for AGMA standards mean better service
“Essentially, the biggest challenge the wind industry,” says Vancouver’s and accuracy, and extended life of the
you have with heat treating large gears Delton. “We’ve seen some double- product.”
is distortion that’s inherent with heating helical gears where they have different Says Danecki, echoing that
large masses of steel,” he says. “And helix angles. It’s quite challenging.” sentiment, “Our markets aren’t interest-
that calculation, a certain amount can “We are seeing higher AGMA ed in product that they have to replace
be anticipated and expected, but there requirements,” agrees Schnarr, “and in three to five years,” he says. “They’re
are always surprises. So what you end continued

up doing is roughing a gear to a specific

size and then, depending upon the depth
of the heat treating, you have to allow— COMTOR SPLINE GAGES
because you’re going to bring that gear
back—for the fact that you’re going to Rugged, Reliable, Repeatable
finish cut it or grind it.
“So if you want to end up, say, ...For 75 Years!
with an eighth, and you anticipate that
you’re going to have another eighth • Applicable to Spur
of distortion, you have to go in and and Helical Gears!
say, ‘OK, we want a depth of a quarter
because we anticipate an eighth of an • Gage the Part
inch distortion, which we’re going to at the Machine!
have to clean up when we bring (the
gear) back.”
If there is one trend in the big- Pitch
gear industry that stands out in our Diameter
conversation with these four companies,
it is the higher AGMA/quality standards For all your gaging needs,
that customers are insisting upon. And Comtorgage it! Major
it’s a trend that has not been seen before Diameter

in the industry. Designer-specified Analog Dial or Minor

AGMA standards of 12 to 15 are Digital Readout Diameter
common and have been a bit of a game-
changer for many companies.
“The biggest difference for us is Internal or External Spline
that the quality level has increased Measurement Made Easy!
substantially,” says Vancouver’s
Still using micrometers
Mantei. “Today the requirements are and pins method?
up there at AGMA 14 and 15 levels for
Comtor Spline Gages make
wind generation, and with that, it’s one
pitch diameter measurement
thing to claim (high AGMA standards); quick, easy and accurate!
it’s another thing to back it up. The new
machines come with onboard inspection
and the new-generation machines can ®
certainly hit those levels relatively
easily—certainly much easier than the
old machines. With the old machines, Comtorgage Corporation
we were lucky if we could produce a
(Since 1928)
quality 11 or 12. Today, we’re able to Ph: (401) 765-0900 Fax: (401) 765-2846
do 14-15 much easier than we could www.comtorgage.com
produce a 12 in the past.”
www.geartechnology.com January/February 2009 43
GEARTECHNOLOGY 00
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00 GEARTECHNOLOGY January/February 2009 www.geartechnology.com
expecting our products to last 10, 15, 20 time—they’re backlogged. Sometimes bit,” says Danecki.
years, depending on the product.” they have problems doing their patterns As for B&R, “Some of the larger
And at B&R, “Everybody is looking and initial pours, and they end up gears, you pretty much have to have a
for a higher-quality gear size—AGMA scrapping and starting over. We’re casting made for it because the original
11 and 12—which is customer driven,” inclined to use more forge-fabricated was a cast form,” says Sudzum. “If we
says Sudzum. “Engineers are sitting than designs that have castings. But can’t make just a ring gear, and it’s
down at computers and crunching some still call for that.” Because made integral through the hub, then a
numbers and so forth, and they’re Rexnord uses a good deal of forgings, casting is required. Casting lead times
deciding that a smooth finish—the fillet their wait time is not as extreme, as they I have found—even for a quote—for a
being a nice mirror finish blended into have preferred suppliers who fill the pattern charge and a casting, sometimes
the root, so on and so forth—means demand. we’ll send it out to four or five different
that their longevity and strength factors “We deal with four to five forge casting facilities, and we’re looking
increase.” shops, and we move that around quite a continued
And speaking of trends, Sudzum
addresses another one affecting his
company.
“I am seeing less and less large
corporations keeping spare parts in their
storage departments,” he says. “They’d
rather wait for that breakdown situation
to happen and pay more money for
somebody to produce that set of gears in
a timely fashion, as opposed to putting
the money out now and putting (the
parts) on their shelf for five years.
“I’m old-school; I’d rather have the
parts on my shelf. If I make one set of
gears for, let’s say, a Model 26 Gleason,
I’m going to make five sets because I’ve
got seven machines. It’s easier for me to
do that. Eventually, I know we’re going
to use it—it might be 10 years from
now, it might not be in my lifetime—
but somebody will use them.” Concast® provides superior
Revisiting the supply chain issue, continuous-cast bar stock to
other components common to big ensure your finished product
gearing that are in short supply are will deliver the utmost performance
castings and forgings. Depending on
Readily available bar Our expansive inventory supports
the shop, some use relatively few while stock in solids and tubes implementing short run demands while
companies like Rexnord use quite a lot.
Vast inventory of 903,
facilitating ample supply for long run requests.
It basically depends upon application Critical deadlines are successfully managed
907, 863 Manganese
and manufacturing requirements. The Bronzes and 954, 955 & through our widespread distributor network
lack of their ready availability can be a 959 Aluminum Bronzes and national warehouse.
problem if you don’t plan ahead.
Broad range of
“Sometimes the forgings become a sizes from 1/2” to Concast—surpassing the norm of expectation,
problem,” says Mantei. “For some of 16” diameter and call for more information about our quick
our repeat business, we know what it is, custom lengths response and capabilities.
and we have some forgings on-hand. So Gear Bronzes available in—
we’re able to turn around a five-, six- 903 • 907 • 863 • 954 • 955 • 959
foot-span gear in about three to four ®

weeks.”
“There are real difficulties still in 800 626 7071 • 724 538 3956 fax
[email protected] • www.concast.com
getting castings,” says Schnarr. “There’s
® 2008 Concast Metal Products Co.
limited sourcing for large castings in
North America—about a year lead
www.geartechnology.com January/February 2009 GEARTECHNOLOGY 45
00
 at seven-eight weeks just to get a Rexnord Industries LLC
response.” 4701 W. Greenfield Avenue
And to what does Sudzum attribute Milwaukee, WI 53214-5310
the long wait? Phone: (414) 643-3000
Fax: (414) 643-3078
“The old-time pattern makers? They
www.rexnord.com
don’t exist anymore.”
Vancouver Gear Works Ltd.
For more information: Jim Mantei, General Manager
B&R Machine and Gear Corp. 14551 Burrows Road, Richmond B.C.
4809 U.S. Highway 45 Canada V6V 1K9
Sharon, TN 38255 Phone: (604)-278-3111
Phone: (800) 238-0651 Fax: (604) 270-1433
Fax (Sales): (731) 456-3073 [email protected]
[email protected] www.vangear.com
www.BRGear.com

HMC Inc.
3010 S. Old U.S. Hwy 41
Princeton, IN 47670
Phone: (800) 803-0112
Fax: (812) 385-8384
[email protected]
www.hmcgears.com

Heat treating is a crucial component in the manufacture of large gears and

pinions. Photo/Rexnord.

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