Gear cutting, CNC machining & EDM services

Gear Cutting

Grayco runs W.E. Sykes gear generators, the machines built to cut true solid-apex herringbone gears: continuous double-helical teeth that meet in the middle with no centre groove. The opposing helix angles cancel out axial thrust, so the gears run smoother and carry heavier loads than spur gears of the same size.

We run three Sykes machines (size 3 and size 5) and cut herringbones up to 62" OD and 18" face width, including 30° helix angles. A Lyndex-Nikken 4th-axis setup on our CNC mill adds high-end gear milling, and the wire EDM cuts internal splines and teeth. That covers almost any gear a customer needs.

Herringbone capacity

Up to 62" OD × 18" face

Sykes generators

3 machines, size 3 & size 5

Recent work

3.25 module, 15° helix sets · Taro 160 HS/LS pinions

Also cut

Spur, helical, racks, planetary, splines

• Solid-apex herringbone
• Double-helical gears
• Spur & helical gears
• Gear racks
• Planetary pinions
• Internal & external splines

Quote a Gear

Repair & Reverse Engineering

Bring in the broken part and we'll make it the same as the sample. We measure it, rebuild the geometry, and machine a replacement, including gears and parts the original manufacturer no longer makes.

"Reverse engineering seems like a daily task around here." Past jobs include gearbox housings made to sample, a metric valve-actuator spline rebuilt in a rush, carbon brush holders a customer couldn't buy anymore, and copper contacts for a 1940s freight elevator that no one else would make. For worn gears, we can wire-EDM the old teeth and machine a matched shaft to fit.

• Made-to-sample parts
• Gear & spline measurement
• Gearbox rebuilds
• Obsolete components

Send Us a Sample

EDM

Electrical discharge machining cuts hardened steel and exotic alloys with no cutting force, so it reaches sharp internal corners, keyways and forms that a tool can't. Grayco runs all three EDM processes in-house.

Typical EDM work: internal splines, a 5" metric keyway burned to a shoulder, 60° tapered grooves, solid-carbide grooving inserts, and holes as small as .010" through a 4 mm set screw. The most complex was a 30" custom air chuck, stellite-welded on every face and finished on our CHMER EDM, with compound angles throughout.

Wire EDM

CHMER. Profiles, keyways, tight internal corners

Sinker EDM

Blind cavities, internal splines, burned forms

EDM drilling

Small, deep start holes and through-holes

Materials

Hardened tool steel, stellite, exotic alloys

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