Factories of the Future project CAxMan has helped a small Italian engineering company to produce an innovative gearbox through 3D printing technologies. This has made their manufacturing process 20% cheaper and 40% faster.

STAM is a small engineering company based in Genoa (Italy) which develops power transmission systems in the fields of space, automation & robotics, transport and energy.

The SME has been working since 1997 on offering the best solutions to their customers; this motivation led them to invent and patent an innovative gearbox called NUGEAR (NUtating GEARbox). This gearbox couples the mathematical concept of nutation with bevel gears, reducing the high speed ratios reached by the motors in planes, satellites, rockets and other space applications, while multiplying the power (torque) of the motor.

However, producing the internal components of such a gearbox became a challenge for the Italian SME. While traditional gears are produced through conventional technologies such as hobbing, shaping and milling, the innovative gearbox required new techniques.

Thanks to their participation in the CAxMan project, STAM was able to find a cost-effective solution for this challenge: 3D printing.

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