A worm gearbox has a helical output gear and a worm input gear, providing high output torque values in a small package. It offers space savings, low reduction ratios, and high shock load capabilities at a low cost. However, it requires reduced power and has lower long-term efficiency levels.
A worm gearbox is a type of gearbox that consists of a helical output gear and a worm input gear. This type of reducer has a right angle output orientation and the highest reduction values in the smallest package of all reducer types. The worm gearbox offers several other distinct advantages over bevel and helical gearboxes, which include lower cost and higher shock load tolerances. They also provide high output torque values in relation to their size. However, this type of reducer can generally only be used in applications with low input powers.
Gearboxes generally accept a high speed, low torque input and produce a low speed output with a higher torque value. The worm gear reducer is one of the most useful of these, offering several notable advantages over other types. The first of these is space savings, as this type is one of the most elegant gearboxes available due to the small diameter of its output gear. They also offer one of the lowest reduction ratios and the highest output torque ratios for any gearbox size. Worm gearboxes also exhibit outstanding shock load capabilities and low initial costs.
The worm gearbox consists of an input shaft driving a fairly large worm gear. This gear, in turn, drives a helical geared output shaft at right angles to the orientation of the drive. Worm gears offer excellent mechanical advantage values for a relatively small gear, which allows these gearboxes to provide excellent reduction and torque values in a small package. The hollow or tooth design of the worm gear also gives this type of gearbox good shock loading qualities.
The only real disadvantage of worm gearboxes is the fact that they require reduced power in relation to the size of the gearbox. This tends to lead to somewhat lower long-term efficiency levels for these gearboxes than high input power types such as bevel and helical gear examples. This restriction is, however, most often compensated by the small dimensions of the gearboxes and their low costs. One feature of worm trains that is often unreasonably relied upon is their tendency to stall if the direction of travel is reversed. This is sometimes seen as a “self-locking” or braking function, but is subject to too many external influences to be trusted as a braking mechanism.
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