Posted by Marcus on January 26, 2012 at 14:20:48:
I have a gearbox with a spur and pinion gear which has helical cut teeth.
I can get the spur and pinion gears with either a LH or RH helix.
I would like to increase the centre distance between the input and output shafts.
Can I use a second pinion gear to act as an idler gear between the original spur and pinion?
ie. currently LH pinon >drives> RH spur
change to LH pinion >drives> RH pinion >drives> LH spur
If this is possible does this mean any gear must be capable of mating with itself (helix angle reversed)?
How do I determine the correct centre distance between the two spur gears given that I know the centre distance between the spur and pinion in the original design and the gear PCDs ?