Engineering Metrology

and Measurements

N.V. Raghavendra
L. Krishnamurthy

© Oxford University Press 2013. All rights reserved.

 Chapter 8

Metrology of Gears and

Screw Threads

© Oxford University Press 2013. All rights reserved.

 Introduction
 Gears are the main elements in a transmission system. For
efficient transfer of speed and power, it is needless to say that
gears should conform perfectly to the designed profile and
dimensions.

 Misalignments and gear runout will result in vibrations,

chatter, noise and loss of power.

 On the other hand, threaded components should meet

stringent quality requirements to satisfy the property of
interchangeability.
METROLOGY OF GEARS
Spur Gear Terminology
 Errors in Spur Gear
 Gear blank run-out errors

 Gear tooth profile error

 Gear tooth errors

 Pitch errors

 Run-out errors

 Lead errors

 Assembly errors
Measurement of Gear Elements
 Runout

 Pitch

 Profile

 Lead

 Backlash

 Tooth Thickness

 Composite method of gear inspection

 Measurement of Radial Turnout

 In case of a gear, runout is the resultant of the radial throw of the axis of a gear due to
the out of roundness of the gear profile.
 Pitch Measuring Instrument

 These instruments enable the measurement of chordal pitch between

successive pair of teeth.
 Pitch Checking Instrument

 A pitch checking instrument is essentially a dividing head that can be used to measure
pitch variations. The instrument can be used for checking small as well as large gears
due to its portability.
Gear Measuring Machine
 Measurement of Lead

 In case of spur gears, lead tolerance is defined as the allowable deviation

across the face width of a tooth surface.
Measurement of Tooth Thickness
Measurement of Tooth Thickness
Measurement with Tooth Span Micrometer

Any measurement made by gauging the span of number of teeth will be

constant.

That is, AC = A1C1 = A2C2 = A0C0, where A0C0 is the arc length of base circle
between the origins of involutes.
Measurement with Tooth Span Micrometer

 The micrometer is as good as an inspection gauge and can be

used to check gears for accuracy of span width
 Parkinson Gear Test

 It is one of the popular gear testing machines used in metrology

laboratories and tool rooms. The gear being inspected will be made to
mesh with a standard gear and a dial indicator is used to capture the
radial errors.
Measurement of Screw Threads
Screw Thread Terminology
Measurement of Major Diameter

 One major advantage of a bench micrometer is that a fiducial indicator is a

part of the measuring system.

 It is thus possible to apply pre-decided pressure by referring to the fiducial

indicator.
 Floating Carriage Micrometer

 The best way of measuring minor diameter is by using a floating carriage micrometer
shown in figure. The carriage has a micrometer with a fixed spindle on one side and a
movable spindle with micrometer on the other side. The carriage moves on a finely
ground ‘V’ guide way or an anti-friction guide way to facilitate movement in a direction
parallel to the axis of the plug gauge mounted between centres.
Measurement of Effective Diameter
One-wire method

 This method is used if a standard gauge of the same dimension as

the theoretical value of dimension over wire is available.
Measurement of Effective Diameter
Two-wire method

Effective diameter, De = T + P
where T = dimension under the wires, and ‘P’ is the correction
factor.
and, T = M – 2d, where ‘d’ is the diameter of best size wire.
Pitch Measuring Machine
 Thread Gauges
Thread gauges offer simpler and speedier means for checking screw
threads. The gauging of screw threads is a process of assessing the extent
to which screw threads conform to specified limits of size.

Thread gauges are classified based on the following criteria:

 Based on the type of application:

• Working gauges
• Inspection gauges
• Master gauges

 Based on the form of thread gauges:

• Plug screw gauges
• Ring screw gauges
Thread Gauges