Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
(OP)
Fellas
I have this crack in idle double helical gear. Continuous monitoring and mapping are in process.
Stopping the Machine is out of question. New gears will take 3 months to reach the plant.
In the meantime, to avoid breakdown, I need to know of any temporary countermeasures are possible.
We are concerned about distortions, if welded. Not sure about the strength of reinforcement.
Any thoughts on this guys?
I appreciate your time and support, in advance. Thanks.
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
if this tooth completely fails and breaks off, it is possible to damage the entire gear box.
a complete failure analysis & over haul is required.
need to establish why the gear teeth are cracking, do a gear teeth contact pattern.
verify if the gear teeth are not out of misalignment. verify if the bearings have not failed,
need to verify if lubrication is not contaminated or it is the proper lube.
double helical normally are under high torque and rpm requirements.
need to establish what caused the failure. My opinion do not try a repair, stop the machine
correct the issue.
take the gear to a gear shop and have it reverse engineered, have them verify if they can do a repair.
gear teeth have attributes that are very close tolerance. you could do a repair it might lasts 3 days or two months,
it becomes very unpredictable.
more information what this gear box is for would be more helpful.
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
Have someone EDM a new gear tooth, with a dovetail for mounting.
Take the gear out, and have the broken tooth milled out.
Have a dovetail socket made in place of the tooth.
Press fit the new gear tooth into the dovetail groove.
Spot weld to hold in place.
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
cutting out a tooth and replace it will be tough because of the adjacent teeth, and alignment. and since it is a helical obtaining the correct lead angle and tooth profile will
be difficult. the gear teeth will have to be ground, to obtain the correct gear attributes. if it is heat treated 4340 the tempering temperature is 500-600 Deg. F.
to many unknowns.
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
Thanks for your precious time, I really appreciate the input.
We have established periodic checking to check crack progress.
The gear is part of Stamping Press machine. Insane loads are going through these gears and yes, the risk is really high.
We manufacture 2000 cars a day and so stopping the Press is really out of question.
We have a plant shutdown in a month, so a temporary countermeasure will be taken then.
We understood the risk and considered outsourcing as a contingency. But supplier Presses do not have capacity to take this load. So we are in a fix ATM.
Gears do not have uneven wear or contact point. Bearings are as sloid as gun. Gears are in service for 10 years now with no problems in any of the connected systems. Hence I ruled out misalignment.
RE: Temporary Solution ? - Crack in Idler double helical gear crack
I am a bit surprised that there is only one tooth affected. It may be worth identifying what is different about that tooth from the rest. I expect a difference that is very small - 0.001 mm perhaps difference in fillet radius; hopefully it's obvious, like someone nicking the root with a file.