AGMA Gear Failure Investigation Course

[gearcutter]

I've just returned to Australia, after having attended one of these AGMA courses and would just like to comment on this excellent recourse Americans have available to them on their doorstep, you are so fortunate.

This one was held in Montana and the speakers were Robert Errichello & Jane Muller.

If you have anything to do in the gear industry; be it manufacture, design, maintenance/repair, lubrication or consulting I would highly recommend you attend one of these courses.

Both Robert & Jane easily hold an audience with their quiet and polite manner.

Even if you or your employees have a non technical background you will not walk away feeling like you ‘haven’t learned anything’ as the course is presented in a clear, well organised and easily understood manner. There were several attendees from South America, who were clearly having difficulty with the English language, yet even they were impressed with the gain in knowledge they had acquired.

We were all given a thick and heavy textbook at the start of the course. You are allowed to take these with you on completion of the course. The book alone is worth the course fees as there is nothing like it available in print. Within it are numerous pictures showing real life examples of different failure modes and explanations follow each one. Just about all of the excellent pictures are full size A4 printed in clear, high quality colour.

Being in manufacturing & design; this was an excellent course for me where I learnt so many new things and was refreshed on many of the things I already know.

AGMA will be holding another of Robert’s courses at the same venue September 28-30.


Ron Volmershausen
Brunkerville Engineering
Newcastle Australia

http://www.aussieweb.com.au/email.aspx?id=1194181

 

[tbuelna]

Ron,

The cumulative gear design knowledge that AGMA has acquired over the years is truly impressive. The company I work at purchased all of the AGMA documentation, which was very expensive, but well worth the money. Gears designed to these AGMA standards will always work.

We design very high performance transmissions, and we use the design parameters established by AGMA for analysis and material properties, heat treatments, scoring, tooth bending, tooth contacts, inspection criteria, manufacturing processes, etc. The reason being that when we submit our gear analysis for a design review, our customer will readily accept that data if it is conducted in accordance with published AGMA standards.

At least here in the US, AGMA is still the gold standard for gear design.

Glad you enjoyed the class.
Regards,
Terry

 

[dinjin]

I took the class more than a few years back from Ray Drago and his handouts were excellent and probably the same or similar. At the end of his presentations, he brought in samples of failed gears to have us identify the failure modes and I thought that was helpful too.

Terry,
Does AGMA have the internal gear standards completed now?
I have not seen their latest information.

 

[Grunchy]

Interesting, but.... does that AGMA course only deal with failure analysis, or does it have any content dealing with worn yet working gears?

I'm more interested in determining if a gear set is worn out and should be replaced, before it breaks. For example, how to determine an observation regime watching for noise/vibration/high temperatures to help an operator catch a failure before it actually fails. Or, what to inspect for during a periodic rebuild to decide whether or not to scrap & replace the gears (gear contact patterns; how much wear is permissible; how to tell when "corrective" pitting has turned into "destructive" pitting; etc).

PlantServices.com has an excellent guide for investigating gear failure online, how does this compare?

http://www.plantservices.com/articles/2006/100.html

Rexnord also has a good guide from 1978, their document #108-010 "Failure Analysis of Gears-Shafts-Bearings-Seals":

http://www.delzer.com/Rexnord/falk/108010.pdf

 

[tbuelna]

dinjin,

AGMA covers internal gear design in many of their specs such as AGMA 6123 (design of epicyclic drives) or AGMA 911-94 (design of aerospace gearing). The inspection data is covered in AGMA 915-1 and -2 (inspection of cylindrical gears).

Regards,
Terry

 

[dinjin]

Terry,
Thanks for the info on internal gears!