Stainless Steel Gears
304 and 17-4 PH gears for washdown and corrosive service, cut after heat treat where needed.
Stainless gears for food plants, marine drives and cleanrooms. They cut harder than carbon steel and cannot be case hardened, so the class you get is the class you cut.
4–6 weeks
5 pieces
ISO 9001:2015
Technical Specifications
| Parameter | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Module range | 1–6 | module |
| Tooth quality | AGMA 8–10 | class |
| Bore tolerance | H7 | - |
| Hardness (17-4 PH) | To 44 | HRC |
| Case hardening | Not applicable | note |
| Surface roughness | Ra 1.6 | µm |
Available Materials
- Stainless 304
- Stainless 316L
- Stainless 17-4 PH (H900)
- Stainless 420
Typical Applications
- Food processing drives
- Marine gearboxes
- Chemical plant drives
- Washdown conveyors
- Cleanroom equipment
Surface Finishes
- As-cut
- Passivate
- Bead blast
- Polished flanks
- None (corrosion resistant)
Industries Served
- Food Processing
- Marine
- Chemical Processing
- Pharmaceutical
- Water Treatment
What drives the price of this part
Derived from the callouts on this page. Where a driver is not on the drawing, it is not on this list.
- Tolerance
- Bore tolerance at H7 is the tightest callout this family carries. Tightening a callout is a process decision, not a machining decision: below the standard ±0.005 mm the work moves to grinding or jig boring, and the price moves with it.
- Part size
- Module range at 1–6 module decides which machine the part lands on and how many setups it needs. Size is the driver buyers most often leave out of a first enquiry, and it is the one that changes the quote fastest.
- Surface finish
- Surface roughness at Ra 1.6 µm. Every step below the ordinary as-machined Ra 1.6 µm adds a finishing pass; a callout on a face nobody touches is the most common over-specification we quote.
- Material
- The first material listed, Stainless Steel 304 / 304L, rates 4/10 on our machinability scale at 201 HB. On this shop's scale a harder alloy means slower passes and more tool changes, and that is cycle time the quote has to carry.
- Order size
- Minimum order is 5 pieces, so on a first order setup and programming are spread over very few parts and they are most of the price. Repeat orders at the same quantity are cheaper without anything on the drawing changing.
See how cycle time is calculated in the machining time calculator and what else moves a price in the cost driver reference.
How these parts are inspected
Matched to the callouts above and the instruments actually on the floor.
- Coordinate measuring machine (Zeiss CONTURA G2, two machines, GR&R 8.4% on the critical feature)
- Dimensional report against the drawing, with a 100% check on critical features rather than a sample
- Certificate of conformance and the mill certificate with every shipment
- Surface roughness tester (Mitutoyo) against the Ra callout
- Rockwell hardness tester on the part, not only against the mill certificate
- Bore gauges and an optical comparator for hole position and edge form
The full equipment list, with counts, is on the capability page; the inspection sequence is on quality and inspection.
Questions buyers ask
- Why is a stainless gear usually a lower class than a steel one?
- Because you cannot case harden it and then grind. On carbon steel, heat treat plus a grind buys the class; on 304 you cut the final geometry in one go, which limits how tight you can hold it.
Related part families
Precision Spur Gears
AGMA 8–12 spur gears, hobbed and profile ground, from 12 mm to 800 mm pitch diameter.
Bronze Gears
Bronze gears for wear pairs against steel, run-in quickly and resist corrosion.
Gear Blanks
Turned and hardened gear blanks with the bore and faces finished, ready for cutting or grinding.