Solidworks Geartrax May 2026

The dialog box that opened was intimidating at first. It wasn't a toy. It was a cockpit. She set the gear type: External Spur . Then the real work began. She input the module (2.5), the number of teeth (24), the pressure angle (20°), and the face width (35mm). Then came the advanced fields: Profile Shift Coefficient to balance specific sliding, Backlash to 0.05mm, and Root Fillet Radius for fatigue life.

Two weeks later, the physical Mark VII Actuator was assembled. The gears, cut from hardened 9310 steel by a CNC hobber using the DXF profiles GearTrax had exported, fit together without a single file stroke from a machinist. They lowered the actuator into the test bath, filled it with 5W-30 oil, and ran the torque meter. solidworks geartrax

The problem was the Mark VII Actuator. It was a compact, high-torque marvel for a new generation of subsea drilling equipment. The heart of the actuator was a complex, nested planetary gear train. It needed to transmit 4,000 Nm of torque inside a housing no larger than a coffee can. Lena had designed the housing, the bearings, the lubrication channels. But the gears—the very soul of the machine—were defeating her. The dialog box that opened was intimidating at first