When you need precision gears, it is almost guaranteed that gear grinding will be part of the manufacturing process. What you many not know is that all gear grinding services are not performed at the same level of expertise across manufacturers. Because of this, if you are not careful, your ground gears may not be as high quality as you think.
What is Gear Grinding
On the surface, grinding seems rather simple: a machine takes a rotating tool, typically a wheel with abrasive grans and applies it to a workpieces surface to remove small variations to produce high surface quality and high accuracy of shape and dimension. It is the finishing touch and a critical step in the manufacturing of high precision gears.
Why Working with a Gear Grinding Expert at the Start is so Important
Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of being notified that there was an issue with your gears during the final gear grinding process?
It may be possible to fix these mistakes if you bring them to a gear grinding specialist. However, often times these gears, which have already gone through most of the manufacturing process, are now headed to the scrap bin, resulting in a lot of wasted time and money.
To avoid this pitfall, working with a gear grinding expert from the start will ensure that your parts are in good hands throughout the entire manufacturing process. Ensuring that the quality and life of your gears consistently meet your requirements, avoiding headaches, waste, or scrambling to meet deadlines that could result when a gear grinding expert is not engaged. So, this may leave you wonder what makes a gear grinding expert?
Three Things to Look for When Researching for a Gear Grinding Expert
It is true, many manufacturers offer gear grinding services, but few possess the skills and resources necessary to claim they are gear grinding experts. When searching out a company to provide precision gear grinding services ask yourself the following three questions:
- Do they have the latest state-of-the-art equipment?
- Do they have a quality reputation and experience?
- Do they have highly skilled tradespeople?
Equipment
Quality and efficiency are critical in the manufacturing process, and having the right grinding equipment is vital in delivering precision gears. This includes state-of-the-art equipment that employees advanced robotic automation with high-performance grinders. The type of equipment is important, but so is the size of the fleet within the grinding division to ensure orders can be met in a timely manner, even when the unexpected happens.
Quality Reputation & Experience
Reputation and experience are something not to be overlooked. The number of years in business, years performing gear grinding services, and positive testimonials from real customers about their experiences can be extremely telling of the quality and service you can expect from a gear manufacturer.
Skilled Tradespeople
Having a skilled team of gear grinding specialists cannot be overlooked. Manufacturers who are gear grinding experts are often seen by skilled tradespeople as setting the standards within their field and take immense pride in the products they produce. Therefore, they can employ and retain top talent and implement training and mentoring programs to sustain the level of quality and efficiency that a company is known for.
Gear Grinding Expertise at Gear Motions
With over two hundred years of collective gear manufacturing experience across our divisions, we can confidently affirm that we are gear grinding experts. Our gear grinding experience dates back to 1969, when Nixon Gear purchased its first gear grinding machine.
Over this time, we have perfected the gear grinding process and expanded our production capabilities for precision ground gears. This has been achieved through acquisitions and investment in the latest gear grinding equipment (Reishauer RZ260s and RZ550 – employing robotic automation technology) and a team of skilled employee owners to ensure we remain a leader in providing gear grinding services for many years to come. As a result, we have become highly regarded in the industry for our quality and precision in gear manufacturing and have many satisfied customers to prove it.
If you are looking for precision spur gears, helical gears, and assemblies, please give us a shout. We look forward to new opportunities and sharing our gear grinding expertise with you.
