METROLOGY OF GEAR AND

SCREW THREAD

UNIT 8
 Sources of errors in manufacturing of gears:
 From a metrological point of view, the major types of errors
are as follows:

 Gear blank runout errors: Gear machining is done on the

gear blank, which may be a cast or a forged part. The blank
would have undergone preliminary machining on its outside
diameter (OD) and the two faces. The blank may have radial
runout on its OD surface due to errors in the preliminary
machining. In addition, it may have excessive face runout.
Unless these two runouts are within prescribed limits, it is
not possible to meet the tolerance requirements at later
stages of gear manufacture.
 Gear tooth profile errors: These errors are caused by the
deviation of the actual tooth profile from the ideal tooth
profile. Excessive profile error will result in either friction
between the mating teeth or backlash, depending on whether
it is on the positive or negative side.
 Gear tooth errors: This type of error can take the form of
either tooth thickness error or tooth alignment error. The
tooth thickness measured along the pitch circle may have a
large amount of error. On the other hand, the locus of a point
on the machined gear teeth may not follow an ideal trace or
path. This results in a loss in alignment of the gear.

 Pitch errors: Errors in pitch cannot be tolerated, especially

when the gear transmission system is expected to provide a
high degree of positional accuracy for a machine slide or axis.
Pitch error can be either single pitch error or accumulated
pitch error.
 Single pitch error is the error in actual measured pitch value
between adjacent teeth.
 Accumulated pitch error is the difference between theoretical
summation over any number of teeth intervals and
summation of actual pitch measurement over the same
interval.
 Runout errors: This type of error refers to the runout of
the pitch circle. Runout causes vibrations and noise, and
reduces the life of the gears and bearings. This error
creeps in due to inaccuracies in the cutting arbour and
tooling system.

 Lead errors:This type of error is caused by the deviation

of the actual advance of the gear tooth profile from the
ideal value or position. This error results in poor contact
between the mating teeth, resulting in loss of power.

 Assembly errors: Errors in assembly may be due to

either the centre distance error or the axes alignment
error. An error in centre distance between the two
engaging gears results in either backlash error or
jamming of gears if the distance is too little. In addition,
the axes of the two gears must be parallel to each other,
failing which misalignment will be a major problem.
 Measurement of Tooth Profile:
 Measurement of Runout: Runout is caused when there is
some deviation in the trajectories of the points on a section of a
circular surface in relation to the axis of rotation.
 A common method of runout inspection, called a single-probe
check and shown in Fig. a uses an indicator with a single
probe whose diameter makes contact with the flanks of
adjacent teeth in the area of the pitch circle.
 On the other hand, in a two-probe check illustrated in Fig. b
one fixed and one free-moving probe, are positioned on
diametrically opposite sides of the gear and make contact with
identically located elements of the tooth profile.
 The range of indications obtained with the two-probe check
during a complete revolution of the gear is twice the amount
resulting from the single-probe check.
Measurement of radial runout (a) Single-probe check (b) Two-probe check
 Measurement of Pitch: Pitch is the distance between
corresponding points on equally spaced and adjacent teeth.
 Pitch-measuring Instruments: These instruments enable the
measurement of chordal pitch between successive pairs of teeth. The
instrument comprises a fixed finger and a movable finger, which can
be set to two identical points on adjacent teeth along the pitch circle.
The pitch variation is displayed on a dial indicator attached to the
instrument, as shown in Fig. In some cases, the pitch variation is
recorded on a chart recorder, which can be used for further
measurements. A major limitation of this method is that readings
are influenced by profile variations as well as runout of the gear.
 Pitch-measuring instrument Pitch-checking instrument

 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. Figure 8.9 explains the measuring principle
for a spur gear. It has two probes—one fixed, called the
anvil, and the other movable, called the measuring feeler.
The latter is connected to a dial indicator through levers.
 Measurement of Profile: The profile is the portion of
the tooth flank between the specified form circle and the
outside circle or start of tip chamfer. Profile tolerance is
the allowable deviation of the actual tooth form from the
theoretical profile in the designated reference plane of
rotation.
 Profile Measurement Using First Principle of
Metrology: In this method, a dividing head and a height
gauge are used to inspect the involute profile of a gear.
With reference to Fig. is the start of the involute profile
and AT is the vertical tangent to the base circle. When
the involute curve is rotated through the roll angle Φ1,
the point C1 of the true involute profile is on the vertical
tangent AT.
 Principle of involute measurement

 Profile Measurement Using Special Profile-measuring

Instruments: The gear to be inspected is mounted on an arbour on
the gear-measuring machine, as shown in Fig. The probe is brought
into contact with the tooth profile. To obtain the most accurate
readings, it is essential that the feeler (probe) is sharp, positioned
accurately, and centred correctly on the origin of the involute at 0° of
the roll. The machine is provided with multiple axes movement to
enable measurement of the various types of gears. The measuring
head comprising the feeler, electronic unit, and chart recorder can be
moved up and down by operating a handwheel.
 Gear-measuring machine Measurement of lead
 Measurement of Lead: Lead is the axial advance of a
helix for one complete rotation about its axis. In case of
spur gears, lead tolerance is defined as the allowable
deviation across the face width of a tooth surface.
 A measuring pointer traces the tooth surface at the pitch
circle and parallel to the axis of the gear. The measuring
pointer is mounted on a slide, which travels parallel to
the centre on which the gear is held. The measuring
pointer is connected to a dial gauge or any other suitable
comparator, which continuously indicates the deviation.
 The total deviation shown by the dial indicator over the
distance measured indicates the amount of displacement of the
gear tooth in the face width traversed.
 Measurement of Backlash: If the two mating gears are
produced such that tooth spaces are equal to tooth thicknesses
at the reference diameter, then there will not be any clearance
in between the teeth that are getting engaged with each other.
 This is not a practical proposition because the gears will get
jammed even from the slightest mounting error or eccentricity
of bore to the pitch circle diameter. Therefore, the tooth profile
is kept uniformly thinned, as shown in Fig. This results in a
small play between the mating tooth surfaces, which is called
a backlash.

Tooth thinning
 Measurement of Tooth Thickness:
 Measurement with Gear Tooth Callipers: This is one of the
most commonly used methods and perhaps the most accurate one.
Figure illustrates the construction details of a gear calliper. It has
two vernier scales, one horizontal and the other vertical. The
vertical vernier gives the position of a blade, which can slide up and
down. When the surface of the blade is flush with the tips of the
measuring anvils, the vertical scale will read zero. The blade
position can be set to any required value by referring to the vernier
scale. From Fig, it is clear that tooth thickness should be measured
at the pitch circle

Gear tooth calliper Chordal thickness and chordal height

 Measurement with Tooth Span Micrometers: Tooth
thickness is measured by measuring the chordal distance
over a number of teeth by using a tooth span micrometer,
also called a flange micrometer. The inspection of gear is
simple, easy, and fast. The measurement is based on the
base tangent method.

Base tangent method

 Tool Maker’s Microscope: measure the major diameter,
minor diameter, and pitch.
 It consists of an optical head having various interchangeable
eyepieces, which moves along the guideways of a vertical
column. The optical head can be clamped in any position by a
screw. The working table on which the part to be inspected is
placed, is secured on a heavy hollow base. The table has a
compound slide, by means of which the measured part can
have longitudinal and lateral movements.
 The slight movement given to these screws can be easily
determined using scales and verniers. Cross-lines are
engraved on the ground glass screen, which can be rotated
through 360°, and measurements are made using these cross-
lines. The optical eyepiece/head tube is adjusted in height for
focusing purposes, until a sharp image can be seen on the
ground glass screen. The magnification obtained depends on
the objectives of the microscope, but instruments are
commonly supplied with facilities to give a magnification of
10–100×.
Tool Maker’s Microscope
 Applications of Tool Maker’s Microscope:
 A tool maker’s microscope can be used for the following
purposes:
 Measurement of the parts of complex forms, for example,
profile of external threads, tools, gauges, and templates
 Determination of relative position of various points on a
workpiece
 Measurement of angle
 Length measurement in Cartesian and polar coordinates
 Angle measurements of tools, threading tools, punches,
gauges, templates, etc.
 Thread measurements, including measurements of profile
of major and minor diameters, height of lead, thread
angle, profile position with respect to the thread axis, and
the shape of thread (rounding, flattering, and straightness
of flanks)
 Comparison between centres and drawn patterns, and
drawing of projected profiles
 Measurement of Screw Thread: Measurement of screw
thread elements is necessary not only for manufactured
components, but also for threading tools, taps, threading
hobs, etc.
 Measurement of Major Diameter: The simplest way of
measuring a major diameter is to measure it using a
screw thread micrometer. While taking readings, only
light pressure must be used, as the anvils make contact
with the screw solely at points and any excess application
of pressure may result in a slight deformation of anvil
due to compressive force, resulting in an error in the
measurement.
 However, for a more precise measurement, it is
recommended to use a bench micrometer. A major
advantage of a bench micrometer is that a fiducial
indicator is a part of the measuring system.
 Bench micrometer
 Measurement of Minor Diameter: The best way of
measuring a minor diameter is to measure it using a
floating carriage micrometer. The carriage has a
micrometer with a fixed spindle on one side and a
movable spindle with a micrometer on the other side.
The carriage moves on a finely ground ‘V’ guideway or an
anti-friction guideway to facilitate movement in a
direction parallel to the axis of the plug gauge mounted
between centres.
 Measurement of Effective Diameter: There are three
methods of using wires: one-wire, two-wire, and three-
wire methods.
 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. First of all, the micrometer anvils are set
over the standard gauge and the dimension is noted down.
Thereafter, the screw to be inspected is held either in hand or
in a fixture, and the micrometer anvils are set over the wire as
shown in Fig. Micrometer readings are taken at two or three
different locations and the average value is calculated.

One-wire method
 Two-wire Method: In this method, two steel wires of
identical diameter are placed on opposite flanks of a
screw, as shown in Fig.
 The distance over wires (M) is measured using a suitable
micrometer. Then, the effective diameter,
De = T + P
 where T is the dimension under the wires and P is the
correction factor.
T = M − 2d (8.5)
 where d is the diameter of the best-size wire.

Two-wire method
 Three-wire Method: The three-wire method is an
extension of the principle of the two-wire method. As
illustrated in Fig. three wires are used to measure the
value of M, one wire on one side and two wires on
adjacent thread flanks on the other side of the screw.
 Measurement can be made either by holding the screw,
wires, and micrometer in hand or by using a stand with
an attachment to hold the screw in position. Since three
wires are used, the micrometer can be positioned more
accurately to measure M, the distance over the wires.

Three-wire method
Principle of three-wire method
 Measurement of Pitch: Usually, a screw thread is
generated by a single-point cutting tool, with the two
basic parameters being angular velocity of the workpiece
and linear velocity of the tool.
 The tool should advance exactly by an amount equal to
the pitch for one complete rotation of the workpiece. Pitch
errors are bound to crop up if this condition is not
satisfied. Pitch errors may be classified into the following
types:

Pitch-measuring machine
 Progressive pitch error: This error occurs whenever the
tool–work velocity ratio is incorrect but constant.
Generally, it is caused by the pitch error in the lead screw
of the machine.

Progressive pitch error Periodic pitch error

 Periodic pitch error This error occurs when the tool–

work velocity ratio is not constant.
 Thread gauges: There are two methods for checking screw
threads: inspection by variables and inspection by attributes.
The former involves the application of measuring instruments
to measure the extent of deviation of individual elements of a
screw thread. The latter involves the use of limit gauges,
called thread gauges, to assure that the screw is within the
prescribed limits of size. Thread gauges offer simpler and
speedier means for checking screw threads.
 Thread gauges are classified on the basis of the following
criteria:
 1. Classification of thread gauges based on the type of
application
(a) Working gauges
(b) Inspection gauges
(c) Master gauges
 2. Classification of thread gauges based on their forms

(a) Plug screw gauges

(b) Ring screw gauges
 Working gauges are used by production workers when the
screws are being manufactured. On the other hand,
inspection gauges are used by an inspector after the
production process is completed. Working and inspection
gauges differ in the accuracy with which they are made.
Inspection gauges are manufactured to closer tolerance
than working gauges and are therefore more accurate.

 Plug Screw Gauges: This is necessary to avoid contact

with the crest of the mating thread, which, while being
large on the effective diameter, may have a minor
diameter on the low limit. The truncation also helps in
avoiding contact with the root of the nut. This
modification will not have any bearing on the accuracy of
measurement, because the NOT GO gauge will primarily
check for only the effective diameter.
 Plug screw gauge Ring screw gauge

 Ring Screw Gauges: Ring gauges are used to check

external thread forms like bolts. Similar to plug gauges,
a system of limit gauges is provided by the full-form GO
gauge and NOT GO gauge to check the effective
diameter