Question

5a. What is a worm gear reducer?

5b. Why is a worm gear extremely quiet and able to tolerate substantial loads?

Answer 1

5a)A worm gear reducer is one type of reduction gear box which consists of a worm pinion input, an output worm gear, and features a right angle output orientation. This type of reduction gear box is generally used to take a rated motor speed and produce a low speed output with higher torque value based on the reduction ratio. They often can solve space-saving problems because the worm gear reducer is one of the sleekest reduction gearboxes available due to the small diameter of its output gear.Worm gear reducers are also a popular type of speed reducer because they offer the greatest speed reduction in the smallest package. With a high ratio of speed reduction and high torque output multiplier, it's unsurprising that many power transmission systems make use of a worm gear reducer. Some of the most common applications for worm gears can be found in tuning instruments, medical testing equipment, elevators, security gates, and conveyor belts.

5b)worm gears have sliding contact which is quiet but tends to produce heat and have relatively low transmission efficiency.

As for the materials for production, in general, worm is made of hard metal while the worm gear is made from relatively soft metal such as aluminum bronze. This is because the number of teeth on the worm gear is relatively high compared to worm with its number of starts being usually 1 to 4, by reducing the worm gear hardness, the friction on the worm teeth is reduced.