LAYOUT

GUIDES
PART 2: Spiral and Zerol Bevel Gear Teeth
THIS SERIES IS INTENDED TO PROVIDE DESIGN ENGINEERS WORKING ON RIGHT ANGLE GEARED APPLICATIONS
WITH THE KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY TO FURTHER THEIR WORK IN-HOUSE WITH MINIMAL INPUT FROM INSIDE OR
OUTSIDE GEAR SPECIALISTS. By Russell Beach
are calculated. The resulting estimated life is compared to the
his is the second of a three-par t series of instructions to
requirement. This can be an iterative procedure involving several
assist engineering designers and detailers with the process
sizing trials before a dimension sheet is finalized.
of correctly laying out bevel and hypoid gear teeth. Each
Taking the data listed on a gear dimension sheet and converting
guide assumes that the basic gear tooth design information
it into a drawing is the key next step. It is the connecting step
is already at hand (shaft angle, pinion and gear pitch diamebetween the gear tooth design and the creation of the rest of the
ters, outer cone distance, face width, pinion and gear pitch
structurethe gear blank, its bearing arrangement, input or output
angles, face angles, root angles and the outer pinion, and gear
features and, ultimately, the housing itself.
addendums and dedendums). See the appendix at the end, and
Spiral bevel gears feature cur ved teeth that are set at an
in Par t 1, for the definitions of these items. This basic informaangle, generally 35 degrees, to the axis of the pinion and of the
tion is usually available in the form of a gear dimension sheet,
gear. A comparison
which may have been calculated by your own
THE LAYOUT GUIDE SERIES PRESENTS:
can be made to helical
gear engineer. As a gear design and manufacPart I: Straight Bevel Layout Guide (January issue)
gears, which also have
turing company, Nissei provides gear dimen- Part II: Spiral and Zerol Bevel Layout Guide (February issue)
their teeth set at an
sion sheet information to our customers as
Part III: Hypoid Layout Guide (March issue)
angle to their axes.
par t of our ser vice. Publications on the subWhereas helical gears are characterized by straight teeth set at
ject are also readily available from the AGMA (American Gear
an angle on an imaginar y pitch cylinder, spiral bevel gears are
Manufacturers Association) or The Gleason Works.
characterized by cur ved teeth set at an angle on an imaginar y
To create a dimension sheet, certain information is usually
pitch cone. Helical gears can be theoretically represented by two
required. This information includes the applied loads, speed, shaft
tangent cylinders rolling together without slipping. In a similar
angle, offset, gear materials, heat treatment, lubrication method,
way, spiral bevel gears are represented by two tangent cones
operating temperature, required life, and operating conditions
rolling on each other without slipping. Zerol bevel gears are a
affecting the driving and driven loads. An initial size with pitch,
special case of spiral bevel gears. The cur ved teeth are set at an
face width, tooth pressure angle, and spiral angle is chosen, and
angle of zero to 10 degrees.
the bending stresses and contact stresses for the resulting design

38

GEAR SOLUTIONS

FEBRUARY 2006

gearsolutionsonline.com

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

Step one in drawing any bevel gear set is to lay out the pinion
and gear axes at the desired shaft angle. The vast majority of
bevel gears are designed for a shaft angle of 90 degrees, which
we will use for our examples. The intersection point of the axes is
the pitch apex (see figure 1).
The next step is to locate the pitch line, drawn as an extension of the common tangent cone element, for the gear set. The
angle between the pinion axis and the pitch line is the pinion
pitch angle; the angle between the gear axis and the pitch line is
the gear pitch angle. The sum of the pinion pitch angle and the
gear pitch angle is the shaft angle (figure 2).
Next, locate the pitch point along the pitch line at the dimension
given for the outer cone distance. This point simultaneously identifies the pitch diameter for the pinion and for the gear (figure 3).
Construct a normal to the pitch line through the pitch point. This
locates the heel end of the teeth (figure 4). Construct another normal at a distance along the pitch line equal to the face width to
find the toe end of the teeth (figure 5). On the normal at the outside, measure off the gear and pinion outer addendums and also
the gear and pinion outer dedendums (figure 6).
From the pinion outer addendum, and at the given pinion face
angle, draw a line connecting the normal at the heel to the normal
at the toe. You now have the pinion face surface for the blank.
Likewise draw a line, at the gear face angle, from the gear outer

FIGURE 5

addendum connecting the heel and toe normals to establish the

gear face surface. In the same way draw lines at the pinion and
gear root angles, from the pinion and gear outer dedendum points,
connecting the normals to create the pinion and gear tooth root
lines (figure 7).
The teeth may taper in depth from the heel to the toe, or not, as
is the case for parallel depth tooth designs. The root lines, when
extended, generally do not pass through the pitch apex. The points

gearsolutionsonline.com

FEBRUARY 2006

GEAR SOLUTIONS

39

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7

where they cross the axes may be found on the dimension sheet
as the root apex beyond crossing point dimension. The construction should also demonstrate another characteristic of bevel and
hypoid gears in general: parallel clearance. The face line of one
part should lie parallel to the root line of the mating part.
With the standardized theoretical form of the teeth now correctly
identified, it is possible to start detailing the rest of the pinion and
gear blank. Note that the traditional (non-FEM) gear rating calculations are generally always based on this standardized theoretical
form. Consequently, blanks that vary widely from this standardized
form may have significantly different stresses than predicted by

40

GEAR SOLUTIONS

FEBRUARY 2006

the calculations. Depending on the modifications, the parts may be

weaker or stronger than estimated (figure 8).
It is not uncommon with fine pitch parts to see blanks with
design changes to the standardized form such as those shown in
the following graphics. Many times the gear member outside diameter is trimmed off at the pitch diameter. In the following example,
the pinion outside diameter is shown trimmed at the theoretical
outside diameter of the teeth. It is undesirable on a high ratio to
trim the pinion outside diameter to the pitch diameter dimension,
as is sometimes done to pass through a small diameter bearing.
In such a case, a large amount of the working area of the pinion

gearsolutionsonline.com

FIGURE 8

FIGURE 9

tooth can be removed, compromising the design (figure 9).

Trimming the blanks as shown increases the root line face width.
This can provide some additional bending strength.
A caution when making blank form changes is related to the
practice of drawing the pinion and gear independently. When introducing changes to the theoretical form, the pinion and gear teeth
should be drawn together to judge the effect on the mutual tooth
contact position. In the following example, the blanks are trimmed
and the mating of the teeth results in a contact pattern placement
dilemma. The pattern is in the middle of the pinion face width, but
on the toe end of the gear face width. Achieving the usually

desired central toe contact on both members is not possible.

The contact placement issue for this gear set was not discovered
until the parts were manufactured and run together in the test
machine (figure 10).
The potential for the occurrence of this mismatch is not readily
evident if the gear and pinion are drawn separately. The mismatch
results in poor positioning of the load on one member. Usually the
localized tooth contact is placed central toe on both pinion and
gear. If the localized tooth contact was placed central toe on this
example pinion member, the contact would run off the ends of the
gear member teeth. This is generally undesirable for reasons of

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noise, vibration, and load concentration.

We hope this article has been helpful for
the design of your bevel gear sets. As stated in last months installment, hopefully
you can now move forward with the rest of

your application design and communicate your needs more effectively with your gear suppliers.
The final layout guide to be presented in this series, on hypoid gearing, will appear in the
March issue of Gear Solutions magazine.

APPENDIX:

Right Thumb
(Viewed from
back of hand)

FIGURE 10

Left Hand Gear

Curve of thumb
matches curve
of teeth

Curve of thumb
matches curve
of teeth

Right Hand Gear

Left Thumb
(Viewed from
back of hand)

Bevel Gear Terminology: Hand of Spiral

A left-hand gear always mates with a right-hand pinion. A right-hand gear always mates with a left-hand
pinion. The rule of thumb curvature shown here can be applied to either the pinion or the gear and
works for Zerol bevel, spiral bevels, and hypoids. The gear or pinion is positioned so you are looking
down the axis with the teeth toward you and with your hand facing palm-down. (More in Part 1.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Russell Beach is a mechanical engineer with more than 20 years of experience in gear design specializing in spiral bevel and hypoid gear
design, noise and failure analysis, and troubleshooting. Nissei is a leading manufacturer of OEM parallel axis and right angle gearing
components and the GTR brand of gear motors and speed reducers. Questions regarding this article can be sent to sbquestions@
nissei-usa.com. Go online to [www.sb.nissei-usa.com].

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