Gear Ratio Calculations Many amateur metalworkers seem to be confused about how one goes about calculating gear

ratios. It's a sufficiently recurrent source of questions from my website that I wrote the following article in an attempt to help people understand the underlying 'theory'. We can sum up almost all of gear ratio theory into one simple relationship that's worth memorizing... IF TW !"#$% #$" I& M"%'( T'"& T'" )$ *+,T F %)""* #&* T""T' I% , &%"$-"*. .et's put this in terms of usable math. .et's say that we ha/e two gears in mesh. !ear 0 1we'll call it the dri/er2 is turning at speed %0 rpm and has T0 teeth. !ear 3 1the dri/en gear2 is turning at speed %3 and has T3 teeth. Then our relationship abo/e says that4 %0 5 T0 6 %3 5 T3 We can use this simple equation to sol/e for whate/er 1single2 /alue is unknown. ,onsider a simple e7ample where4 %0 6 088 rpm T0 6 98 teeth %3 6 : T3 6 ;8 teeth %ol/ing the equation abo/e for %3( we ha/e4 %3 6 1T0<T32 5 %0 6 198<;82 5 088 6 => rpm .et's add a third gear to the train. #ssume gear 3 dri/es gear 9 and gear 9 has T9 6 >8 teeth. What's the speed of gear 9: Well( since gears 3 and 9 are in mesh( our conser/ation law says that4 %3 5 T3 6 %9 5 T9 We could do the arithmetic 1%9 6 1T3<T92 5 %3 6 1;8<>82 5 => 6 ?8 rpm2 to find %9. r( we could note that( since both %05T0 and %95T9 are equal to %35T3( they must be equal to each other. %0 5 T0 6 %9 5 T9 so( %9 6 1T0<T92 5 %0 6 198<>82 5 088 6 ?8 rpm.

What we'/e @ust pro/ed mathematically is what e/ery true gearhead knows already... #& I*."$ !"#$ A"TW""& # *$I-"$ #&* *$I-"& !"#$ '#% & "FF",T & T'" -"$#.. !"#$ $#TI ( $"!#$*."%% F ' W M#&B T""T' IT '#%. 1&ote that T3 ne/er entered into our computation in the last equation.2 %uppose now that we add a fourth gear with T; 6 ?8 teeth to our de/eloping gear train. Its speed must be %; 6 1T9<T;2 5 %9 6 1>8<?82 5 ?8 6 >8 rpm. Aut again( by use of the conser/ation principle( we ha/e4 %; 6 1T0<T;2 5 %0 6 198<?82 5 088 6 >8 rpm. I can continue like this indefinitely but by now you should get the idea... & M#TT"$ ' W M#&B !"#$% #$" A"TW""& T'" *$I-"$ #&* 1FI&#.2 *$I-" !"#$( T'" -"$#.. $#TI *")"&*% &.B & T'" T T' , +&T F T'" *$I-"$ #&* FI&#. *$I-"& !"#$. 1)ut another way( all the inter/ening gears are idlers and don't contribute to the o/erall ratio.2 In fact( if we interchange gears 3 and 9( so that4 %0 6 088 T0 6 98 T3 6 >8 T9 6 ;8 T; 6 ?8 Then4 %3 6 98<>8 5 088 6 ?8 %9 6 >8<;8 5 ?8 6 => %; 6 ;8<?8 5 => 6 >8 the same result we got from4 %; 6 1T0<T;2 5 %0 6 198<?82 5 088 6 >8 rpm. 555 M#C $ ,#-"#T 555 &ote that e/erything said to this point assumes that each of the gears in the gear train is on its own( separate shaft. %ometimes gears are 'ganged' by keying or otherwise welding them together and both gears turn as a unit on the same shaft. This complicates the computation of the gear ratio( but not horribly. %uppose gears 3 and 9 are keyed together into a single compound gear we'll designate g 1g for ganged2. #ssuming %0 and %3 are in mesh( it's still true that4

%0 5 T0 6 %g 5 T3 %g 6 1T0<T32 5 %0 If gears 9 and ; are in mesh( %g 5 T9 6 %; 5 T; 1$emember( %9 turns at the same speed as %3 because they're physically @oined and we're calling their shared speed %g.2 Therefore( %; 6 1T9<T;2 5 %g 6 1T9<T;251T0<T32 5 %0 %o the endDtoDend gear ratio is 1T05T92<1T35T;2 and it 5does5 depend on the intermediate gears( unlike the pre/ious case when each gear could turn on its own separate a7is. &ote that the resultant gear ratio is @ust the product of the two separate gear ratios D 1T0<T3251T9<T;2. ne of the most common places where the hobbyist must grapple with gear ratios is the case of a lathe that uses change gears to cut /arious threads 1as opposed to a lathe equipped with a quick change gear bo72. In this situation( one has to be concerned about the pitch of the leadscrew as well( since this enters into the calculation. The easiest way to think about the problem is in terms of carriage motion. If my lathe has a .ead %crew )itch 1.%)2 of . tpi( then if the spindle is connected to the lead screw with 040 gearing( one re/olution of the spindle will mo/e the carriage 0<. inches. .et's assume I want to cut a thread of pitch * tpi 1'*' for *esired2. Therefore I want the carriage to mo/e 0<* inches for each re/olution of the spindle. ,learly( I need a gear ratio 1$2 determined by4 0<. in<lsrot 5 $ lsrot<srot 6 0<* in<srot where lsrot 6 leadscrew rotation( srot 6 spindle rotation. or4 $ 6 .<* lsrot<srot For each spindle rotation( the leadscrew has to make .<* rotations. #s a simple e7ample( consider cutting * 6 0? tpi on a lathe with a . 6 E tpi leadscrew. For each spindle rotation( the carriage must mo/e 0<0? inch. To do this it must turn $ 6 .<* 6 E<0? 6 0<3 as fast as the spindle so a gear ratio of 0<3 is needed. It was easy to calculate the resulting gear ratio when we knew which gears were in/ol/ed but here we ha/e the opposite problem. We'/e calculated the ratio we need 1$2 but now

need to know which gears to use in what configuration to obtain that ratio. &ormally( the gear setups for common thread pitches are co/ered in the documentation that comes with the lathe. Aut( when faced with making a replacement ><0? A%F bolt for a piece of Aritish tooling( you suddenly need to cut 1* 62 33 tpi and it isn't shown on the inde7. $ 6 E<33 6 8.9?9?9?... !uessing the gear setup to obtain that ratio may not be easy. More practically( you'd like to make the setup from the gears you ha/e a/ailable and not ha/e to buy<make new gears e/erytime you need to cut some oddball thread. Fortunately( the ,'#&!" program on my page will do the dirty work for you. 1Many combinations are possible for E<33 but the simplest is a 38 tooth gear dri/ing a >> tooth gear.2 ,ompound 1i.e.( ganged2 gears are used often in setting up change gear lathes because they offer the opportunity to achie/e a much larger selection of ratios than would be possible with only simple gearing. In simple gearing( as we saw( the ratio depends only on the dri/er and dri/en gear D any gears between these can't affect the o/erall ratio. To obtain a gi/en ratio( you would need to ha/e two gears( each with precisely the right number of teeth to establish the ratio. Ay compounding( a much smaller set of gears can be used to achie/e a large number of ratios. Mar/ Flotz