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Backlash and Axial

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QUESTION
What is the relationship between angular backlash
and mean or normal backlash, the axial movement of
wheel gear, and mean or normal backlash for bevel
and hypoid gears?

Expert response provided by the tooth surface. from the gear manufacturer. Actually, if
Bob Wasilewski, Engineering One simple way to describe that direc- you can determine the cutter radius you
Services Manager, Arrow Gear. In tion is to envision placing the base of can calculate a value for the outer spiral
order to understand the requested rela- a thumb tack on the tooth at the outer angle using the following equation:
2 2
tionships, we should be clear as to what diameter. The point of the thumb tack ~ arcsin 2RmrcO sin βm – Rm + Rm
βe =
the backlash values are on bevel gears, will point in the normal direction. That 2RercO
what they mean and how they are deter- is the direction that a measuring device Using the outer spiral angle you may
mined. should be used to measure the backlash calculate the transverse backlash with:
Both ISO and AGMA specify that the movement. That direction is a result of ~ jn
jet =
backlash on bevel gears is defined as: the tooth’s pressure angle. On straight cos α cos βe
Outer normal backlash at the tightest bevels that is the only angle to consid- Where:
point of mesh. er. On hypoids, spiral bevels and Zerol jet = Transverse backlash
There are several important items in bevel gears the tooth is curved and that The transverse backlash, of course,
that description. adds the additional factor of the spiral is a linear distance that you can con-
First, that backlash is taken at the angle at the outer end. That angle is not vert to angular using the pitch diameter.
tightest point of mesh. The values tabu- the same as the mean spiral angle speci- Transvers backlash is the value you want
lated in AGMA and ISO standards give fied in the gear set geometry, it is always to use if you measure the backlash out-
a suggested range of backlash values for greater. side the gear box at a diameter equal to
the tightest point. They are not the total To determine the angular backlash the pitch diameter. It is generally easier
range of backlash. Backlash at any other from the normal backlash some calcula- to measure the backlash on the shaft
point on the bevel gear can and likely tion is required. First, you have to calcu- with the wheel member (larger gear).
will be higher that the tabulated range. late the transverse backlash. To do that
Any reputable bevel gear manufactur- calculation, you need some values from Axial movement for a change in
er will find the tightest point of mesh the gear set geometry, including some backlash
in the set, measure the normal back- that are not often readily available. The To calculate the axial movement for a
lash there and mark both that backlash following values are necessary: change in backlash, calculate the amount
and the mating teeth where the mea- Jn = Normal backlash of axial movement for each member
surement was taken. It is important to Re = Outer cone distance using the formulas below. (If the shaft
note that that tightest point of mesh was βe = Spiral angle at Re angle is 90 degrees, the ratio of wheel
determined in a test machine with preci- Rm = Mean cone distance mounting distance change and pinion
sion bearings and minimal runout in the βm = Spiral angle at Rm mounting distance change is equal to the
work holding tooling. The components αn = Normal pressure angle gear ratio, z2/z1).
in your gear box will have different run- rc0 = Cutter radius Δj = Δj1 + Δj2
out that may end up shifting that tightest Δj tan δ1
Δj1 =
point to another set of teeth. It is always The two values that are not always tan δ1 + tan δ2
a good idea to verify that your gear set readily available are the spiral angle at Δj tan δ1
Δj2 =
has proper backlash in installation. the outer cone and the cutter radius. tan δ1 + tan δ2
Second, the backlash measurement is These values are not always tabulated in Δj1
Δa1 =
taken at the outer diameter of the gears, the gear data block on the gear set draw- 2tan αn + sin δ1
not at the mean or midface. ing but are determined for the machine Δj2
Δa2 =
Third, the backlash is the normal calculations necessary to manufacture 2tan αn + sin δ2
backlash, meaning it is perpendicular to the gear set. You may have to get them

82 GEAR TECHNOLOGY | September/October 2017

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Where:
Δj is total change in backlash
Δj1 is change in backlash for pinion
Δj2 is change in backlash for wheel
Δa1 is axial movement of pinion
Δa2 is axial movement of wheel
z2 is number of wheel teeth
z1 is number of pinion teeth
αn is pressure angle
δ1 is pinion pitch angle
δ2 is wheel pitch angle
When adjusting backlash for lower
ratios, it might be necessary to move
both wheel and pinion members to
maintain acceptable tooth contact. For
higher ratios the effect of pinion axial
movement on backlash is small and
moving the wheel alone may be suffi-
cient. NOTE: These formulas are for bevel
gears but may also be used for hypoid
gears as a first approximation.
All of this material is described in the
national standard ANSI AGMA 2008-
D11 Assembling Bevel Gears. That doc-
ument has a considerable amount of
other information that is not only valu-
able to the assembler but for the gear box
designer as well.
That standard is available from the
American Gear Manufacturers at www.
agma.org.

Robert F. Wasilewski
is Engineering Services
Manager at Arrow Gear
Company and Chairman of
the AGMA Bevel Gearing
Committee.

September/October 2017 | GEAR TECHNOLOGY 83