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Gear Cutting - Worm Gear Machining, Worm Wheel Machining
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Worm gears and worm wheels are the system of choice for producing the highest amount of motor speed reduction in a single step. It is common for worm gears to have reductions of 20:1, and even up to 300:1 or greater. A single-lead worm and a 100 tooth wheel, in one easy step, will take a 100 rpm low-torque motor's output and give you 1 rpm with 100 times the torque (roughly). By simply putting two of these gear sets in series, you get a 10,000:1 speed reduction, and the ability to drive, say, an enormous telescope with a ridiculously tiny motor.
Many worm gears have an interesting property that no other gear set has: the worm can easily turn the gear, but the gear cannot turn the worm. This is because the angle on the worm is so shallow that when the gear tries to spin it, the friction between the gear and the worm holds the worm in place.
Worm gears or worm shafts are much like a large, square thread and can be manufactured easily using a CNC lathe or even a conventional lathe with screw cutting ability.
The worm wheel can also be efficiently machined in one setup using a CNC lathe if it has a milling head (CNC lathe/mill combo). Or alternatively a worm wheel can be machined in a lathe as a blank first and the work wheel gear teech can be milled in a second operation using an indexed milling cutter.
Because of the high frictional forces involved with worm gears and worm wheels, it is not uncommon to see the worm gear (or worm shaft) made from steel and the worm wheel made from a low friction material like brass.
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