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Shaft Positioning Tolerances Email your question — along with your name,
job title and company name (if you wish to

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remain anonymous, no problem) to: jmcguinn@
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QUESTION
Could you help me with a doubt? We know that for cylindrical gears we have
the standard DIN 3964 for defining deviations of shaft center distance and
shaft position tolerances of casings. And for bevel gears? Is there some specific
standard for defining deviations of center distance and shaft position tolerances
of casings (orthogonal shafts), as DIN 3964 do? Thank you for your help.

Response provided by Dr.

Hermann J. Stadtfeld: For cylindri-
cal gears, tolerances for deviation of shaft
center distances and shaft position of cas-
ings are presented in DIN 3964 (Ref. 1).
The DIN standard covers center distance
and shaft inclination tolerances for invo-
lute cylindrical gears. The standard bases
on the fact that spur and helical gears
with an involute profile and a straight
lead function behave very similar, across
a wide range of modules, helix angles and
face widths. The term “center distance
insensitivity” of involute gears only refers
to the transmission accuracy, which is not
influenced within a certain range of cen-
ter distance increase. However, if the cen-
ter distance reduces, an interference con- Figure 1 Center distance insensitivity of involute cylindrical gears.
dition will arise from a certain point on.
An increase of center distance as shown The Gleason Works developed a Angular bevel gears have shaft angle
(Fig. 1) has no impact on the transmission guideline with tolerances for allowable not equal to 90°. As the shaft angle gets
error between the driving and the driven shaft positioning deviations of average closer to zero the bevel gearset behaves
member, yet, it will create an increased bevel gearsets of the following categories: more like a cylindrical gearset. In this
backlash which can cause rattle noise in • Miter straight bevel gears case, the tolerances for cylindrical gears
light load conditions (Ref. 2). • Straight bevel gears apply. As the shaft angle gets closer to
The question, if a similar standard or • Miter spiral bevel gears 180°, the bevel gearset behaves more like
• Spiral bevel gears
guideline also exists for bevel gears must • Hypoid gears a clutch and the tolerances of clutches
be answered with “no”. The major rea- • Super reduction hypoids can be applied.
son for this is the wide range of different
parameters which influence the sensi- The new Gleason guidelines are based Bevel and Hypoid Gear
tivity of a bevel gearset. The following on the Gleason backlash Table and on Sensitivity Evaluation
parameters have a direct influence on the maximal shaft displacement recommen- Bevel and hypoid gearsets have a very
sensitivity and therefore on the permis- dations (Ref. 3). An average bevel gearset individual displacement behavior, which
sible deviations of the bevel gear shafts: is the gearset which is generated by the is why the national and international
• Spiral angle bevel gear design software when using standards were not able to establish a
• Lead function (straight, circular, epicy- default input parameters. It has to be set of tolerances which are generally
cloidal, involute) acknowledged that particular applica- applicable. The bevel and hypoid gear
• Shaft arrangement (90°, angular, offset)
• Cutter diameter tions of bevel and hypoid gears can be calculation programs use the so-called
• Crowning (length, profile, twist, higher significantly more or less sensitive and “V-H-Check,” — introduced by Gleason
order) would require their own custom set of in 1965 — in order to express the sen-
tolerances. sitivity of a bevel gearset. The shaft

44 GEAR TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2020

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displacement in the directions E (off-
set), P (pinion axial), G (gear axial) and
ALPHA (shaft angle) are sufficient for
capturing the axis deflections in three lin-
ear and three angular directions (Fig. 2).
A set of deflections f α, f βgear and f βpinion
can be converted into an equivalent set
of deflections E*, P*, G* and ALPHA* as
demonstrated (Fig. 3). For this reason the
tolerances fβgear and fβpinion do not exist in
reality.
The Gleason V-H-Check moves the
contact pattern from a center position to
a position between center and heel, and
then to a position between center and toe
(Fig. 4).
The difference between the axes posi-
tions in heel and toe position are the total
V-H-displacement numbers. Bevel gear Figure 2 Bevel gear axis definitions and nomenclature.
transmission housing designers use these
total V-H-numbers in order to optimize
the stiffness and the deflection character-
istic of the transmission housing. As soon
as a housing concept exists, finite element
calculations of the gearbox deflection are
used to calculate predicted shaft posi-
tioning deviations, which are then used
as input to the contact analysis program
in order to verify which influence the
calculated deflections have on the posi-
tion of the tooth contact. Depending on
the resulting tooth contact, a tooth sur-
face optimization has to be conducted
in order to adjust the deflection char-
acteristic to the transmission housing.
This loop between transmission housing
design and bevel gear optimization has
to be repeated multiple times to assure
a displacement characteristic of the
bevel gearset which offsets the housing
Figure 3 Transformation of 6 deflections into 4 deflections.
deflections.
The attempt to provide shaft deflection
tolerances using the V-H-Check deflec-
tion numbers showed severe shortcom-
ings, as the V-H-Check fails to identify
the changing backlash. In cases of load-
affected deflections, the increase of back-
lash is acceptable and does not present
any obstacles. An exception is the case of
coast-side operation, where the backlash
reduces and severe flank surface damages
can occur.
However, the general tolerances for
the positioning of bevel and hypoid gear
shafts has to be based on both — the con- Figure 4 Gleason V-H-Check.
tact movement as well as the allowable
reduction or increase of the backlash as a
result of the shaft miss-positioning.

March/April 2020 | GEAR TECHNOLOGY 45

 ask the expert
Recommended Backlash and
Tolerances
The Gleason backlash recommendation
and its tolerance are not linked to a gear
quality class. In Table 1, the backlash
ranges have originally been defined for
applications with medium speed and
oil sump lubrication. Depending on the
Figure 5 Contact movement in profile and lead direction.
kind of transmission and the field of
application, a manufacturer can deviate
from the recommended values, utilizing
data from their own testing. Backlash
ranges are given from module 0.21 mm
(DP 120/inch) up to module 20.32 mm
(DP 1.25/inch). The Table is a conver-
sion from the initial Imperial units,
which explains the unusual decimal frac-
tion of the SI units. For bevel and hypoid
gears, the backlash is the most impor-
tant basis of all shaft position tolerances.
Common sense tells the gear engineer
that each dimensional deviation, which
impacts the shaft positioning within the
backlash tolerances, is permissible.

Basis of Shaft Deviation

Tolerances
In many cases of industrial gearbox
design with bevel gears, the Gleason
guideline with tolerances for the bevel
gear shaft positioning tolerance can be
very helpful. The tolerances which are
Figure 6 Change of backlash due to gear cone change G. compiled for average gearsets might not
be the optimal numbers for the specific
Table 1 Backlash ranges for bevel and hypoid gears, depending on module
Module Diametral Pitch Min. Backlash Max. Backlash gearset a manufacturer is developing.
[mm] [1/inch] [mm] [mm] Nevertheless, the Gleason tolerance
0.21 120.00 0.008 0.018 guideline may be very useful at a stage
0.31 81.00 0.013 0.025 when only few details of a new transmis-
0.62 41.00 0.025 0.051
sion are finalized.
1.27 20.00 0.051 0.102
2.54 10.00 0.076 0.127
In order to have a solid foundation
3.18 8.00 0.102 0.152 for the shaft positioning tolerances, the
4.23 6.00 0.127 0.178 impact onto the backlash as well as the
5.00 5.00 0.152 0.203 contact pattern movement have been
6.35 4.00 0.178 0.229 considered during the development of
7.26 3.50 0.203 0.279 the tolerance tables. The contact move-
8.47 3.00 0.254 0.330
ment definition is shown (Fig. 5).
10.00 2.50 0.305 0.406
12.70 2.00 0.356 0.457 Contact movements in lead direction
14.51 1.75 0.406 0.559 had been limited to 1.0 mm and profile
16.93 1.50 0.457 0.669 movements were limited to 0.3 mm for
20.32 1.25 0.508 0.762 medium-size bevel gearsets with module
4 mm.
A simplified graphic demonstrates
(Fig. 6) the influence to the backlash if
the gear cone distance G is changed. If
the theoretical backlash is defined pre-
cisely in the middle of the tolerance
given in Table 1, then any of the shaft
positioning tolerances, or the worst-case

46 GEAR TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2020

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combination of those tolerances, shall Table 2 Miter straight bevel gear shaft positioning tolerance table
Module 2mm 4mm 6mm 12mm
not change the backlash to a value out-
E +1- 0.023mm 0.047mm 0.070mm 0.140mm
side of the given tolerances. The follow- P +I- 0.011mm 0.023mm 0.034mm 0.068mm
ing shaft positioning tolerance tables G +1- 0.011mm 0.023mm 0.034mm 0.068mm
are based on the maximally permissible ALPHA +1- 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020°
contact movement and the maximally Contact
allowed backlash change. Both criteria Displacement +/- 0.5mm 1.0mm 1.5mm 3.0mm
are evaluated for each shaft deviation tol-
erance. The tolerance value was defined Table 3 Straight bevel gear shaft positioning tolerance table
at the point when the permissible limit of Module 2mm 4mm 6mm 12mm
one criterion was reached. E +/- 0.023mm 0.047mm 0.070mm 0.140mm
If the backlash is set in the transmis- P + (no minus) 0.027mm 0.054mm 0.080mm 0.160mm
G +/- 0.011mm 0.023mm 0.034mm 0.068mm
sion housing during assembly, e.g. — by
ALPHA +/- 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020°
a gear cone adjustment — then it appears Contact 0 5mm 1.0mm 1.5mm 3.0mm
always possible to obtain correct back- Displacement +/-
lash independent from the shaft posi-
tioning tolerances. However, such a Table 4 Miter spiral bevel gear shaft positioning tolerance table
Module 2mm 4mm 6mm 12mm
backlash adjustment would in case of E +/- 0.025mm 0.050mm 0.075mm 0.150mm
shaft deviations, which exceed the rec- P +/- 0.015mm 0.030mm 0.045mm 0.090mm
ommended values in the following G +/- 0.015mm 0.030mm 0.045mm 0.090mm
tables, result in unacceptably large tooth ALPHA +/- 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020°
contact position errors and distortions. Contact 0.4mm 0.8mm 1.2mm 2.4mm
Displacement +/-
Therefore, the following tables are also
valid in case of individual backlash set- Table 5 Spiral bevel gear shaft positioning tolerance table
ting in the transmission assembly. Module 2mm 4mm 6mm 12mm
E +/- 0.025mm 0.050mm 0.075mm 0.150mm
Shaft Deviation Tolerances for P + (no minus) 0.020mm 0.040mm 0.060mm 0.120mm
Bevel and Hypoid Gears G +/- 0.011mm 0.022m 0.033mm 0.066mm
ALPHA +/- 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020°
The following tables for the different
Contact 0.5mm 1.0mm 1.5mm 3.0mm
bevel gear types show, sorted by mod- Displacement +/-
ule, the E, P, G and ALHPHA tolerance
values. The last row lists the expected within permissible limits. contact pattern position. In case of small
but permissible contact movement in The tolerances in Table 3 were com- changes within the tolerances (Table 4)
case of maximal shaft positioning errors, piled for straight bevel gears. The offset (equal for pinion cone P and gear cone
provided these are within the mentioned tolerance allows equal positive and nega- G) the contact movements are within
tolerance limits. tive deviations. The pinion cone toler- permissible limits.
Table 2 was compiled for miter straight ance prohibits negative values due to the In Table 5 the shaft positioning toler-
bevel gears. The offset tolerance allows risk of metal-to-metal tooth jamming. ances for average spiral bevel gears with a
equal positive and negative deviations, The positive P tolerance is rather large, ratio in the vicinity of 3 are documented.
because the backlash increases in both because of the small effect to the back- Also, for the spiral bevel gear offset tol-
directions. Miter bevel gears are bevel lash. Backlash is commonly adjusted by erances, E has equal positive and nega-
gears with a ratio of one. A major differ- changing the gear cone during the bevel tive values because in both directions an
ence to bevel gearsets with ratios above gear assembly. A gear cone deviation tol- increase of backlash can be noticed. In
2.5 is setting the backlash; it is typical for erance which will change the backlash by case of the pinion cone P tolerance, nega-
ratios above 2.5 that a gear cone adjust- +/-50% of the backlash range is shown in tive values are not permitted because
ment barely influences the contact pat- the Table (range equal maximum back- of the risk of tooth jamming (similar to
tern position, which is why the backlash lash — minimum backlash). The shaft straight bevel gears, see Table 3). The
adjustment in the assembly is done by angle allows a negative tolerance which gear cone G can be used for the adjust-
shifting the gear axially (G) until the cor- will reduce the backlash by 40% of the ment of the gearset’s backlash and has
rect backlash is obtained. In case of miter backlash range and a positive tolerance an equal positive and negative shaft
gears, both the pinion axial position P which increases the backlash by 60% of positioning tolerance. The shaft angle
and the gear axial position G influence the backlash range. tolerance always follows the same rule
the backlash equally. However, shifting Miter spiral bevel gears are similar to as explained with straight bevel gears
only one of both will also change the straight bevel gears because the back- (Table 3).
contact pattern position. In case of small lash setting should also be by increasing Also, the tooth contact displacement
changes within the tolerances shown or reducing the pinion cone (P) and the values for the given tolerances are equal
in Table 2 (equal for pinion cone P and gear cone (G) by equal amounts. Shifting to straight bevel gears. Although the
gear cone G) the contact movements are only one of both will also change the tooth contact pattern position of spiral

March/April 2020 | GEAR TECHNOLOGY 47

 ask the expert
bevel gears reacts less sensitively to shaft Table 6 Hypoid gear shaft positioning tolerance table
Module 2mm 4mm 6mm 12mm
deflections or positioning errors, the tol-
E + (no minus) 0.025mm 0.050mm 0.075mm 0.150mm
erances in Table 6 are very similar to P + (no minus) 0.020mm 0.040mm 0.060mm 0.120mm
the tolerances for straight bevel gears. G +/- 0.011mm 0.022m 0.033mm 0.066mm
The reason for this is the equal reaction ALPHA +/- 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020°
to backlash changes, which is for both Contact 0.3mm 0.6mm 1.0mm 2.0mm
Displacement +/-
straight and spiral bevel gears, the limit-
ing factor with respect to the shaft posi- Table 7 Super reduction hypoid gear shaft positioning tolerance table
tioning tolerances. Module 2mm 4mm 6mm 12mm
For hypoid gearsets (Table 6), the off- E + (no minus) 0.025mm 0 050mm 0.075mm 0 150mm
set tolerance E only allows positive devi- P +/- 0.020mm 0.040mm 0.060mm 0.120mm
ations, as already small amounts of nega- G +/- 0.008m 0.016m 0.024mm 0.048mm
tive offset deviations would diminish ALPHA +/- 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020° 0.035°/0.020°
Contact 0.5mm 1.0mm 1.5mm 3.0mm
the backlash rapidly. The tolerances for Displacement +/-
pinion cone P, gear cone G and shaft
angle ALPHA are identical to spiral bevel Table 8 Combination of tolerances
gears. Different from spiral bevel gears is Direction E P G ALPHA
the contact displacement, which is 30% Straight & Spiral 100% of 60% of 60% of 50% of
to 40% less for hypoid gears. The reason Miter Table Value Table Value Table Value Table Value
is 1) part that the tolerance in E direc- Straight & Spiral 100% of 75% of 55% of 50% of
Ratio 2 to 5 Table Value Table Value Table Value Table Value
tion is only positive and 2) that hypoid
gears are typically less sensitive than spi- Hypoid Ratio 2 100% of 75% of 60% of 60% of
to 5 Table Value Table Value Table Value Table Value
ral bevel and straight bevel gears.
The last bevel gear category covered in SRH Ratio 5 to 50 100% of 100% of 60% of 60% of
Table Value Table Value Table Value Table Value
Table 7 of this guideline is super reduc-
tion hypoids (SRH). While the tolerance
in offset (E) is equal to hypoid gears, backlash range which is twice the range References
the pinion cone tolerance (P) has a plus/ shown in Table 1, then all the shaft posi- [5] DIN 3964 “Deviations of Shaft
minus value because of the slim pinion tioning tolerances from the tables can Center Distances and Shaft Position
cone, which has only a very small influ- be directly transferred in the housing Tolerances of Casings for Cylindrical
Gears,” Published by DIN Deutsches
ence on the backlash. The gear cone tol- print. If a manufacturer likes to control Institut für Normung e.V., Berlin,
erance (G) is smaller than for hypoid the backlash within the range of Table 1, 1980.
gears, which is justified with the higher then the values of the combined toler- [1] Stadtfeld, H.J. “Gleason Bevel
sensitivity regarding top-root contact ances for the housing print have to be Gear Technology - The Science
and fillet transition interference. SRHs calculated by applying the axis-specific of Gear Engineering and Modern
have the same shaft angle tolerances as percentages from Table 8. Manufacturing Methods for Angular
all other bevel gear types, and contact There are dependent and independent Transmissions,” Expert Publishing,
2017, ISBN 978-3-8169-3283-3, Pages
displacement limits are identical to spiral axis directions. The offset tolerance is 357 to 373.
bevel gears. independent from all other tolerances for [6] N. N. “Bevel and Hypoid Gear
all non-hypoid bevel gearsets because no Design,” Company Publication, The
Application of the Tolerances backlash change can be noted within the Gleason Works, SD 3160-Feb. 1972-
The tolerance values in the tables for the amounts indicated in the tables. Pinion CAT, February 1972.
specific gear types have been defined cone (P), gear cone (G) and shaft angle
independently from each other to change ALPHA are dependent axis directions
the backlash not more than 50% of the because all three have an influence on the
backlash range defined in Table 1. If, for backlash. Table 8 considers the severity of
example, the entire negative tolerance for these influences and recommends using
the root angle (ALPHA) and for the gear only a specified percentage of the original, For Related Articles Search
cone (G) is used simultaneously, then independent Table values.
bevel gears
the backlash would be below the recom-
at www.geartechnology.com
mended minimal value; however, there
will still be acceptable backlash available.
If a manufacturer can accept a

48 GEAR TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2020

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 Our Librarian Will Never Shush You
Dr. Hermann J.
Stadtfeld is the Vice
President of Bevel Gear
at the GT LIBRARY
Technology and R&D at the
Gleason Corporation and
Professor of the Technical
University of Ilmenau,
Germany. As one of the
world’s most respected experts in bevel gear
technology, he has published more than 300
technical papers and 10 books in this field.
Likewise, he has filed international patent
applications for more than 60 inventions
based upon new gearing systems and gear
manufacturing methods, as well as cutting
tools and gear manufacturing machines.
Under his leadership the world of bevel gear
cutting has converted to environmentally
friendly, dry machining of gears with
significantly increased power density due
to non-linear machine motions and new
processes. Those developments also lower
noise emission level and reduce energy
consumption.
For 35 years, Dr. Stadtfeld has had a
remarkable career within the field of bevel
gear technology. Having received his
Ph.D. with summa cum laude in 1987 at the
Technical University in Aachen, Germany,
he became the Head of Development & That’s because the
Engineering at Oerlikon-Bührle in Switzerland.
He held a professor position at the Rochester MICHAEL GOLDSTEIN GEAR
Institute of Technology in Rochester, New TECHNOLOGY LIBRARY is
all online, and you can visit
York From 1992 to 1994. In 2000 as Vice
President R&D he received in the name of
The Gleason Works two Automotive Pace it anytime. Just go to www.
Awards — one for his high-speed dry cutting
development and one for the successful geartechnology.com and use
development and implementation of the the search box for access to
Universal Motion Concept (UMC). The UMC
brought the conventional bevel gear geometry 36 years of technical content
and its physical properties to a new level.
In 2015, the Rochester Intellectual property
focused on gears.
Law Association elected Dr. Stadtfeld the
“Distinguished Inventor of the Year.” Between
2015–2016 CNN featured him as “Tech • Every issue since 1984
Hero” on a Website dedicated to technical
innovators for his accomplishments regarding • More than 2,000 technical articles
environmentally friendly gear manufacturing • More than 6,000 archived news items
and technical advancements in gear
efficiency. • Addendum, Publisher’s Page, Back to
Stadtfeld continues, along with his senior Basics and more
management position at Gleason Corporation,
to mentor and advise graduate level Gleason
employees, and he supervises Gleason-
sponsored Master Thesis programs as And the best news of all? You don’t even
need a library card. That’s because the GT
professor of the Technical University of
Ilmenau — thus helping to shape and ensure
the future of gear technology. LIBRARY is open to everyone. Knowledge
is free. All you have to do is go and get it.

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March/April 2020 | GEAR TECHNOLOGY 49