TechArchive

Original article date: April 1999 The concept of a rigidly locking chain to create both push and pull forces is not new but it is now being taken into a much wider area as BILL GENTLES Managing Director of Drives International explains. Users have the choice of a number of different systems that are in [...]

Original article date: January 1998 Why hasn’t planetary gearing been adopted more in the UK? It’s also normally possile to replace an existing gearbox with a planetary equivalent. Here’s the case in favour of this type of motion! As buyers of foreign machinery will notice, planetary gearing has a far higher market penetration elsewhere in [...]

Original article date: April 2000 Are you getting the best performance and lifespan out of your belt drive? We offer a few installation tips Although comparatively old in principle, today’s belt drive is an extremely efficient method of transferring power between prime mover and machinery. Ongoing refinements of materials and processes have meant ever higher [...]

Original article date: March 1999 The world’s most trusted bearings are on the internet Customers seeking their nearest SKF authorised distributor in Great Britain and Eire can now, by entering the SKF (UK) web site and entering their own postcode, obtain the name and address of the four nearest distributors and how close they are [...]

Original article date: March 2000 A totally new generation of spherical roller bearing developed by SKF, the world’s leading bearing manufacturer, will accommodate up to 25% higher torque loadings, and provide a 300% increase in service life compared with the equivalent size of standard spherical roller bearing. The new bearing, designated ‘Explorer’ also provides the [...]

Original article date: November 1999 Grease incompatibility has serious implications for the performance of rolling bearings. We asked Tony Synnott of NSK-RHP to explain how problems can be avoided Imagine these scenarios: a laboratory technician tests grease from a problem bearing and finds that, despite meeting all of the specifications, it is not performing as [...]

Original article date: October 1998 An apparently impossible combination? G PLATT of Centa Transmissions explains how the benefits of cycloidal and planetary gears can be combined in a single unit – and why. Cycloidal planetary (epicyclic) and spiral bevel gears all have their own operating characteristics and may be used individually or in combination depending [...]

Original article date: February 2000 Need a flexible coupling? Worried about longevity? Tommy Miller has been finding out about a coupling that indicates the applied torque and whether wear is starting to occur Flexible shaft couplings come in many shapes and sizes. Some are cumbersome and heavy, whilst others are complex, expensive affairs that are [...]

This article was originally written in the period 1995-2000 Every piece of equipment or machinery which incorporates rotating elements has a number of frequencies at which it tends to vibrate. These are known as eigen or natural frequencies. Designers have to try and avoid running machinery close to these points as this can result in [...]

Original article date: March 1998 In most rolling element bearing applications there is a requirement to estimate the fatigue life of the bearings. The current ISO method of calculating bearing life is based on empirical research carried out in the 1940s and 1950s by Lundberg and Palmgren. It is widely used as it gives a [...]