The initial error of a blank or the residual error of machining surfaces ar
e partially corrected and partially inherited by the machining error of the
next operation. Locating surface error also exhibits a similar effect on m
achining error. This article establishes the degree of heredity of the prec
eding machining error and the locating surface error on the machining error
of the corresponding operation. The object under investigation was a spur
gear being produced under mass-production conditions. Both the integral and
the partial effects of the input residual error of the machining and locat
ing surfaces have been established by one factorial and two factorial corre
lational analysis, which analysis shows that in turning and gear machining
operations, the degree of heredity of the input locating surface error on t
he machining error of the corresponding operation is much greater than that
of the input machining surface error. A flow chart of the heredity of mach
ining errors in spur gear manufacturing operations has been developed. (C)
1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.