Books on gears

Oct 01, 2007 14 Replies

What books are a good place to start on gears? This is looking at gears used for positioning mechanisms and rotational movement.



No truck transmissions, just applications useful for lathe and mill work.


To apply them. Cutting will come a bit later.

To apply them, or to machine them?

For history/background take a look at

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Gear Cutting Practice 20889 $15.95 Reprints so production methods are not current, but good info on nomenclature, etc. Also Gengry in his "make your own.." series has info on cutting gears on the cheap.
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at bottom of page.

for making gears in the home shop and a more technical discussion on, and calculations of both cycloid and involute gears see

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available from many other sources] FWIW - The workshop series is very good. I don't have all the books, but all the ones I do have are well worth the money.

The videos from Little machine Shop are also highly recommended by others on this NG. I have not seen it myself.

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Let the group know how you make out. Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

Ordered. I had seen that when searching Borders.com, just didn't know if it was worth it.

Gear cutting practice - Colvin and Stanley - Lindsay Publications (1937) Reprint. I highly suggest you get this even if you find a wonderful college text.

Martin

Mart>

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or go to amazon books and search for 1559180889 the isbn number

8 used or new - from $11.00.

Martin

Mart>

the two best books I've seen and bought on gears are

Machinery's Handbook expensive but explains all the common standards for gears and gear cutters ...among a million other things related to machining.

Ivan Law's book 'Gears and gearcutting' published for about $20 aus by the people who publish Model Engineer in England. an absolutely clear explanation of the theory and how to go about gear cutting in a home setup.

Stealth Pilot

I've got #25, it leaves me wanting more.

On order.

Perhaps you're looking for engineering design information. If so, try

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Expensive and only 10 pages summarizing spur gear application but lots more coverage of more advanced gearing. Use interlibrary loan.

My old 3rd edition of Spotts, 'Design of Machine Elements' offers 48 pages on spur gears

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Boston Gear has a free tech file on gear theory:

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Wikipedia offers what looks like an extensive discussion:

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DAGS:

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Try modifying the search with the addition of 'application' or 'installation' or 'adjustment' or whatever it is exactly that you're looking for.

David Merrill

snip...

Good book, worth the money.

Nick

See if you can find a used, older edition. Or two or three.

As technology changes, the editors remove some stuff (like blacksmithing and metal shapers, and add other stuff, like CNC code and polycristaline coated tools.

As examples, above!

Dunno about your area, but I can find the odd older copy in a used bookstore for around $20 or sometimes less.

Cheers Trevor Jones

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