[alfa] Gear Machining(lightening)

[David Griszkauskas <alfagriz1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just wanted to add my $.02 to this discussion about the alfa gear box. As a Manufacturing Engineer, I can see why Alfa might not want to lighten the gears during the manufacture because of the potential cost, but - lightening around the circular part of the gear (as done on a lathe) would not add diddly to the price during manufacture. The cost would be adding the lighten holes around the flat faces of the gears since this we add another operation to the manufacturing process. The cost though, would be a few dollars per gear since they would be produced "en masse". The gears wouldn't be hardened at this point either, so the machining would be very easy.
 
As to the stress analysis on the gears after lightening, I can't see an issue after gears were lightened. All the forces on the gear would be radial (from the center to the edge) and would be concentrated around the teeth, not the main gear body which would just help distribute the forces. The lightening would most impact the the axial loading (along the length of the shaft), though these loads would be small compared to the radial loads so it wouldn't make a difference.
 
David Griszkauskas
"Grizzly"
 
88' Spider
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