Near-net shape forged gears can be produced at lower costs and better quality.
Near-net gears come from the forging press in almost the exact shape of the finished gear. Gear teeth are forged with an envelope of material around the tooth profile, unlike near-net blanks, which are forged cylinders into which the teeth must be cut by rough hobbing. Near-net gears have teeth forged with a thin envelope of excess steel, which is removed by either a single-pass grinding or hobbing operation.
According to Chris Carman, president and chief operating officer at Presrite Corp. (Cleveland) Presrite is one of a few companies worldwide that produce forged tooth gears at near-net shapes. Presrite is currently supplying gears to customers with as little as 0.5 millimeter stock allowance per flank using only the forging operation. According to the company, tests show that forged gears have as much as double the field life of conventionally produced gears in part because of the lack of stress induced into the gear as it is forged.