Rack gears (also called gear racks or racks) convert rotational motion into linear motion or vice versa. Industries that use rack gears for the transmission of rotational motion into linear motion or linear motion into rotational motion are aerospace, automotive, utilities and marine. Industrial equipment such as metrological instruments, metal working machines and automation devices extensively use rack gears.

Important features of gear racks are their module, rack length and number of teeth. Gear rack suppliers offer gear racks made of stainless steel, brass or plastic.

Some important parameters you must consider before buying a rack gear are:

1. Loads acting on the rack gear
2. Pressure angle for the rack gear
3. Tooth form: straight or helical
4. Properties of the rack gear such as length, width and number of teeth

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy a gear rack from reputable gear rack manufacturers

Once you have identified your power transmission requirements and have enough rack gear information, check out standard industrial gear racks available on the market.

I recommend: Rush Gears, a reputable gear manufacturer, provides a range of rack gears made of steel, aluminum, bronze and delrin. Innovative Rack and Gear Company is another gear rack manufacturer that supplies gear racks for several industries, including the machine tool and automation industries. You can buy a helical tooth gear rack and a straight tooth gear rack at Atlanta Drive Systems.

Buy a gear rack from gear rack distributors or retailers

You can compare different rack gears based on their features and prices at distributors or retailers' websites.

I recommend: Quality Transmission Components, a reputable gear distributor, supplies different types of rack gears including a flexible rack gear, a brass rack gear, a plastic rack and a stainless steel rack gear. CDW is a distributor of transmission drive components, including automotive class racks and gears. You can buy rack gears from other distributors such as Industrial Products and Bearing Industrial & Supplies. ThomasNet and Zycon provide lists of gear rack suppliers.

Buy specialty or customized rack gears

If standard rack gears available in the market do not meet your requirements, opt for a specialty or customized rack gear.

I recommend: Cogmatic Machines, a reputable gear rack supplier, manufactures gear racks used in furnace and mining equipment. Performance Gear Systems designs and manufactures plastic gears including rack gears. Commercial Gear and Sprocket is another rack gear manufacturer that supplies rack gears as per customers’ requirements. You can also buy customized rack gears at Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument, a supplier of electromechanical components and assemblies.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Make sure your rack and pinion gears are compatible with the complete rack and pinion system.