Delivering Prototype Gears in Weeks Instead of Months with Delta Research
Prototype gears on a production deadline.
Delta Research Corporation in Livonia, Michigan, specializes in high-precision gears, including prototype gears for new designs. Director of Gear Technology, Pete Dimascio, built the company's gear division after 15 to 20 years making gauges and masters, and that background shapes how the shop approaches tooling. He often anticipates how a tool will perform before it is made.
That expertise matters more every year. Designs keep pushing tooth length and contact ratio, and form diameters keep moving closer to base diameter. Placing the true involute form diameter correctly relative to the root diameter and radius requirements calls for hobs with carefully designed protuberance, which makes the tools harder to design and build.
Custom hobs on a deadline nobody else could meet.
About 20 custom hob designs, delivered in 4-6 weeks.
Timelines have compressed in the automotive development space. Programs that once moved from proof of concept through prototype iterations now go straight from design to parts that head into NVH and durability testing. In December, with the holidays approaching, a Delta Research customer needed a new design produced on that kind of schedule. The incumbent tool supplier couldn't deliver in time to meet the date, so Pete called Helios Regional Sales Manager, Jason Spitzer.
The job called for roughly 20 custom high-speed steel hob designs: semi-topping, pre-grind hobs with protuberance and specific radius requirements. Helios provided rollout diagrams, and a Helios applications engineer worked closely with Delta Research to confirm the geometry, all within the committed delivery time. The hobs arrived 4-6 weeks after design approval.
Parts finished in 8-10 weeks instead of 16-24.
With the hobs in hand, Delta Research cut and finished the parts within the 8-10 weeks its customer required, on a job that would normally take 16-24 weeks. The hobs performed as expected, Pete describes the tool quality as impeccable, and the customer received parts on schedule.
His advice to other manufacturers facing a difficult tool on a tight deadline is direct: call Jason Spitzer or Michael Weas at Helios, send them the data and the print, and let them see what they can do.
