From simple to complex gear designs, we keep your products moving.

For more than 80 years our Gear Works teams in South Bend, Ind. and Roscoe, Ill. have taken ideas from rough drawings through the fabrication of prototypes to assembly. Each 0.125” to 36” diameter gear is manufactured to print for industries as diverse as recreational vehicles to underground mining. Our facilities’ capacity and mixture of manual and robotic assembly processes ensure your low- to high-volume orders will arrive on-spec, on-time, every time.

Don’t see the solution you need for your complex gear in our portfolio? We will design a new one.

Have a gear or splined shaft, but no documentation or standard defining its geometry or gear data? We can reverse engineer your sample to determine its specifications then reproduce it. 

Want to make your existing design better? Our engineering expertise will provide you with the precision that cuts downtime. Reduces scrap. And saves your operation money. It’s easy to start. Contact us now.

Here are Gear Works capabilities that will help you stand out in your markets.

Volume Production

South Bend, Ind., 0.125” to 18” Diameter Gears: 
  • Higher Volume Gear and Shaft Machining & Assembly Lines
Roscoe, Ill., 1.5” to 36” Diameter Gears:
  • Lower Volume Gear and Shaft Fabrication & Assembly Lines

Gear Grinding

  • Profile Grinding
  • Generating (Threaded Wheel) Grinding up to 39" Diameter

Cylindrical Grinding (I.D. & O.D.)

  • 0.5” – 21” Internal Grinding Capability
  • 0.1” – 21” External Grinding Capability with shafts up to 26” OAL
  • Capability on .0003” Tolerances
  • High Volume – Robotic and Gantry Loading Available
  • Tapered Grinding

Hard Turning

  • 0.5” – 31” ID/OD and Length Hard Turning Capabilities
  • .0006” Capability on Tolerance
  • High Volume Robotic and Gantry Loading Available

Heat Treatment

  • All Types Available Through Outsourcing, Please Inquire

Gear Cutting

  • 0.125” – 36” Gear Hobbing Capability with Auto Loading
  • 0.125” – 36” External Gear Shaping
  • 0.5” – 36” Internal Gear Shaping
  • Spline Rolling
  • Spline Milling
  • Broaching

Multi-axis Machining

  • 7-Axis Mill -Turn Capabilities
  • 4-Axis Milling Capabilities
  • 2- and 3-Axis Lathes

Assembly

  • Sub-Component level assemblies

Part Marking

  • Laser
  • Vibro PEEN
  • Dot peening
  • Inking 

Keeping costs competitive with lean manufacturing

At Schafer Gear Works we watch our costs to keep your costs in line, too. Our commitment to lean manufacturing eliminates unnecessary expenses and reduces our prices. Partner alliances in India, Taiwan and Italy give you greater product diversity, production capacity and cost efficiency than any of our competitors can offer. 

Our international partners provide partially completed components that we heat treat, final machine, assemble and quality inspect at our South Bend, Ind. and Roscoe, Ill. plants. This blended manufacturing approach gives you the best of both worlds – exceptional quality and lower prices.

A leader in on-time delivery

Missed delivery dates are one of the biggest frustrations in your business. If the gears, spline shafts and components aren’t on your dock when you need them, you deal with costly production downtime. That’s why Schafer Gear Works sets the bar high for on-time delivery in our industry. We’ve invested in the Theory of Constraints model of lean manufacturing to ensure your orders arrive when you expect them. And if you face unanticipated production needs, call us. We are small enough to be agile, yet have the capacity to respond quickly so your lines keep running.