This Customized Gearbox Saved Both Time and Money

By |2025-11-12T20:42:41+00:00September 5th, 2018|Application Examples|

Many machine designers look to use standard components with the idea of saving time and money. But quite often a customized solution can do a better job of achieving both. We had a customer using a larger than necessary helical bevel speed reducer because of the requirement of a large output bore. They needed to drive a cooling drum in a plastic extrusion application. In addition to the driving torque, they had to feed a water line through the drum shaft journal to circulate water for the cooling process. To accommodate the water line a larger [...]

Roller Drive and Gap Control

By |2025-11-12T20:42:41+00:00July 26th, 2018|Application Examples, Educational|

Providing production flexibility in machinery design, to manufacture or process different product sizes for example, is becoming more of a necessity with today’s desire for shorter runs and quicker deliveries. With our consultative approach and some unique capabilities, we were able to help a recent customer achieve the flexibility he needed. A prospect recently contacted us with interest in our spiral bevel gearboxes with hollow output shaft. His task was to feed material through two counter rotating drums or rollers. The kicker was that different material sizes where required, meaning the center distance between the [...]

A Concrete Example of Motion Control Benefits

By |2025-11-12T20:42:41+00:00July 24th, 2018|Application Examples|

The infrastructure and building construction industry is vital to the growth of a dynamic economy. Commercial building and bridge support structures are one element of these industries. Concrete continues to play an important role as a primary material resource. The development of improved manufacturing and converting methods, for standard and custom structural building products, is an ongoing endeavor. Especially now when the construction industry faces such big challenges to provide cost effective structures with adequate ROI. A customer recently approached us with a design challenge to assist them in improving the automation of their concrete [...]

Servos Get Up to Speed

By |2025-11-12T20:42:41+00:00July 16th, 2018|Application Examples|

For many products, the package can cost more than the contents inside. Considering the competition for shelf space and consumer attention, package quality is important in marketing the product. To assemble the package properly, it has to be cut to the right length. That was the challenge. A customer of ours was developing a new cutoff machine design for use at the end of a package printing line. The paperboard stock was printed, creased, and die cut, then had to be cut off to the proper length for quality folding and assembly. Tolerances for these [...]

Input Coupling Improves Worm Performance

By |2025-11-12T20:42:20+00:00June 6th, 2018|Application Examples|

Worm gear speed reducers are used in a variety of applications because of the many advantages they offer. These include a compact design, with high ratios possible in a single stage, a right angle configuration that allows for shaft mounting and tucking the motor up next to the machine frame, and a relatively low cost compared to other gear technologies. They do have certain disadvantages, however, as they are relatively inefficient, and even more so when run slowly or started and stopped frequently. It's the give and take of these characteristics that determine if a [...]

Custom Gearbox Helps Control The Flow Of Oil

By |2025-11-12T20:42:20+00:00May 30th, 2018|Application Examples|

Oil, especially across the heartland of America, continues to be a hot topic. We were recently involved in a project to provide safe control of the flow. A Canadian oil and gas pipeline valve manufacturer presented us with a challenge to produce a right angle gearbox to manually actuate a pipeline valve. They had been originally building these gearboxes themselves. But as larger oil flow control valves were being introduced, they preferred to find a supplier to eliminate using internal resources and to reduce component costs. Before approaching us, they had difficulty finding a supplier [...]

A Gearbox Supplier’s Expertise is Key in Helping with Spec Solutions

By |2025-11-12T20:42:20+00:00May 16th, 2018|Application Examples|

There is almost nothing better than to get an inquiry from a new prospect that saw one of our advertisements or product announcements or found us somewhere on the web during a normal search. It means our promotions were working, our message was read loud and clear, and there was someone actively looking to use one of our gearboxes, zero-backlash couplings, or screw jacks. It gets better when the prospect has checked out the catalog, done his research, and selected a specific model that he wants to discuss or to get a quotation. Unfortunately, that [...]

A Quick Connection Improves Efficiency

By |2025-11-12T20:42:20+00:00May 2nd, 2018|Application Examples|

Short-run printing and automated machining require solutions for quick tool changes to achieve customized production efficiently. Two different applications use the same design concept to solve this problem. In the first application, a manufacturer of printing presses was looking for a quick-connect device to speed up cylinder changes. With short-run printing becoming the norm, print cylinder changeover was eating up a lot of production time. In the past, a transfer gear was installed on the cylinder shaft journal. However, because of a gear error, some motion variations were created. The new design was to include [...]

Torsion was the Culprit: Gearbox Problems and Solutions

By |2025-11-12T20:42:20+00:00April 25th, 2018|Application Examples|

Backlash, torsion, and transmission error are all gearbox problems that can contribute to lost motion in a drive system that includes mechanical components. But this doesn’t mean you should eliminate these components, as the mechanical advantages of their use are significant. They just need to be monitored, analyzed and controlled. A customer came to us with a gearbox problem that looked to include lost motion as one of the symptoms. This customer produced a line of packaging assembly machines, one series of which put tops on containers. Their typical drive design wasn’t working on a [...]

Reduce Transmission Error Without Servo Systems – A Gearbox Case Study

By |2025-11-12T20:42:20+00:00April 18th, 2018|Application Examples|

Servo systems aren’t the only solution for precision motion control applications. Other gear products can fit the bill when more traditional drive technology is desired. A Real-World Motion Control Problem We recently had a customer inquire about a solution for a motion control problem he had in his production of precision bellows. The design was a continuous process of feeding a substrate that was systematically folded and then cut off into either standard or custom lengths. His problem was that the material length between folds was inconsistent, which affected the proper compression of the bellow. [...]

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