There are many different types of gears that are used in various products and machines, but some of the most common are plastic and metal gears. These gears are both quite useful, but it’s difficult to ignore the fact that plastic has a lot of benefits over metal gears. Here’s a look into the reasons why plastic gears are more useful.
Lightweight Options
First off, plastic gears are much lighter than metal gears, even when they’re the same size. This means you can create lightweight objects while still getting the gears that your product needs. While it depends on the metal and plastic, steel is about five times heavier than nylon or acetal, making it clear that plastic is the way to go.
Shock Absorption
Plastic is naturally a softer material than metal, which means it has a bit more give when it comes into contact with other items. This means plastic can absorb impacts and displace the forcer better than metal. This can be particularly helpful in the creation of gears, as they constantly rub and grind against each other.
Lower Cost
Metal is an expensive material that requires several processes to refine and forge into a usable shape. Plastic is much easier to shape, and the molding process makes production efficient and easy. You can save a lot of money with plastic gears and even stock replacement plastic gears with the money you save.
Various Designs
Another huge benefit of plastic gears over metal gears is that you can easily create whatever design you need. Plastic is much easier to mold, which means you can create more complex designs with precision and accuracy. However, you can’t make such designs with metal because the difficulty of creating the complex gears would increase the cost of production and eat into your profits.
These are some of the reasons why plastic gears are more prevalent in many products than metal gears. While metal certainly has its place in multiple industries, plastic gears are much better for the vast majority of items.
