Planetary Gear Unit Production Process

As a leading manufacturer of powdered metal components, Volunteer Sintered Products works closely with our client's engineering teams to resolve quality issues with their OEM products. A major manufacturer of consumer vacuum sweepers approached us to evaluate premature wear issues with a planetary gear assembly in one of their products. We produced only one of the parts, a small powdered metal gear, which we shipped to China for assembly. The other unit components were sourced from another vendor and constructed from different materials. Since the other materials were softer, they compromised the integrity of the entire planetary gear unit, causing it to fail prematurely.

Working with the client, we redesigned the complete gear unit assembly for manufacturing using powdered metallurgy. Production involved:

• Developing the right blend of metal powders
• Compressing them to net shapes
• Press assembly

Controlled sintering enabled the formation of solid metallurgical bonds, producing a high-quality product that would meet the sweeper manufacturer's lifecycle goals. Other processes included oil impregnation and secondary machining. With all components made from sintered powdered metals, they would wear at the same rate, and the added step of filling the pores with oil provided self-lubrication for long-term performance reliability.

Instead of shipping only one small gear for the unit, we now send the entire planetary gear assembly to China for integration into the sweeper. Our redesigned component exceeded the lifecycle expectations while saving the customer approximately 40% compared to the previous manufacturing and assembly methods.

Contact Us today to learn more about this project or our powdered metal processes. or request a free quote.