WORKSHEET 2

INTERFERENCE AND UNDERCUTTING IN SPUR GEARS

NAME ______________________________ SECTION ______________________________

The involute teeth profile is only defined outside the base circle. In some cases (e.g. in gears with smaller
pressure angles) the dedendum will be large enough to extend below the base circle. This portion of the
gear tooth (between the base circle and the root circle) does not have an involute shape and will
interfere with the tip of the tooth of the mating gear. This interference creates undercutting, which
weakens the tooth by removing material near its root, and severe undercutting will cause tooth failure.

Simply put, this can be prevented by avoiding gears with small diametral pitches (avoiding gears with
large teeth or too few teeth). For a specified speed ratio (gr 1), the smallest spur pinion that will avoid
interference with a gear is,

NP
2k
(1 2 g r )sin
2
g r g r2 (1 2 g r )sin 2
Number of teeth on the gear is, NG gr N P

In the equation above k = 1 for full-depth teeth and k = 0.8 for stub teeth.

For a specified speed ratio (gr 1), the smallest helical pinion that will avoid interference with a helical
gear is,

NP
2k cos
(1 2 g r )sin t
2 g r g r2 (1 2 g r )sin 2 t
You can also find the largest gear that can be used with a given pinion (when N P is known).
N P2 sin 2 4k 2
The largest spur gear that will avoid interference with the pinion is, NG
4k 2 N P sin 2

Note: Number of teeth on the gear and the pinion can only be integers. If you are finding the smallest
possible pinion, then round-up your answer to the next integer, and if finding the largest possible gear,
round-down your answer. Gear ratios can be non-integer (real numbers).

In the following tables, one or two entries are filled; you should complete the table by filling in the other
entries. Write your name in the space provided.
 Complete the following table for full-depth tooth spur gears-pinion sets

Smallest number of teeth on the gear and pinion, (NG, NP) required to avoid interference.

Pressure angle,
Gear ratio, gr 14 20 25
2.0 (20,10)

3.0 (45,15)

4.0

5.0 (150,30)

What conclusions can you draw? ______________________________________________________

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Complete the following table for spur gear-pinion sets for gears with full-depth tooth and 20
pressure angle.

Largest number of teeth on the gear (NG) and maximum gear ratio possible (gr) for a given pinion,
such that there is no interference between the gear-pinion pair.

Teeth on the pinion, NP

10 13 15 16 17 18
Teeth on the gear, NG 45

Gear ratio, gr 3

What conclusions can you draw? ______________________________________________________

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