What gear tooth count is too small for CNC machining?
Designing compact gears isn’t just about saving space — it’s about avoiding strength failures and undercutting that make parts unmachinable. When the tooth count gets too low, common design assumptions break down, especially at the prototyping or custom machining stage. Gears with fewer than 17 teeth using a 20° pressure angle and no profile shift […]
How Gear Pressure Angle and Contact Ratio Control Noise?
Gear noise isn’t just a post-production issue — it’s often rooted in pressure angle and contact ratio decisions made early in design. But tweaking these specs isn’t always straightforward. You might gain quieter meshing at the cost of backlash, strength, or tooling compatibility. Lower pressure angles (like 14.5°) and higher contact ratios (CR ≥1.6) generally […]
Do Bigger Gears Always Give More Torque?
Many engineers assume that simply using a larger gear will increase torque — but that’s not always true. This post is written to clear up that confusion and help you make smarter decisions when selecting or sizing gears for torque performance. A larger gear only increases torque when it changes the gear ratio. If the […]
Is DP always in inches and module always in millimeters?
Working with both inch and metric gears can lead to mistakes if unit assumptions go unchecked. This post clears up confusion between DP (diametral pitch) and module, explains their unit systems, and helps you avoid errors when switching or comparing gears. DP is almost always specified in inches, and module in millimeters. These systems are […]
