Rack and pinions are used for lifting mechanisms (vertical movement), horizontal motion, positioning mechanisms, stoppers and also to permit the synchronous rotation of a number of shafts generally industrial machinery. On the other hand, also, they are used in steering systems to improve the direction of vehicles. The characteristics of rack and pinion systems in steering are the following: simple framework, high rigidity, Spur Gear Rack little and lightweight, and excellent responsiveness. With this mechanism, the pinion, installed to the steering shaft, is usually meshed with a steering rack to transmit rotary motion laterlly (transforming it to linear motion) to ensure that you can control the wheel. In addition, rack and pinions are used for several other purposes, such as playthings and lateral slide gates.

As a mechanical element to transfer rotary into linear motion, gear racks tend to be compared to ball screws. There are benefits and drawbacks for using racks in place of ball screws. The advantages of a equipment rack are its mechanical simplicity, large load carrying capacity, no limit to the space, etc. One drawback though may be the backlash. The advantages of a ball screw will be the high precision and lower backlash while its shortcomings include the limit in duration due to deflection.

There are applications where the gear rack is stationary, while the pinion traverses and others where in fact the pinion rotates on a fixed axis while the gear rack moves. The previous is used widely in conveying systems as the latter can be used in extrusion systems and lifting/lowering applications.

To provide many variants of rack and pinion, KHK has various kinds of gear racks in share. If the application requires a long duration requiring multiple equipment racks in series, we have racks with the tooth forms correctly configured at the ends. They are described as “gear racks with machined ends”. Whenever a gear rack is created, the tooth cutting process and heat treatment process can cause it to try & walk out true. We can control this with special presses & remedial processes.