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The Adams Company

Name: The Adams Company
Address: 8040 Chavenelle Road, Dubuque, IA, 52002, US
Telephone: +15635883890
Price range: $$

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The Adams Company

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The Adams Company manufactures precision gears and shafts to our customers' specifications.

Empowering global innovators through persistent craftsmanship since 1883, The Adams Company is a premier manufacturer of power transmission and industrial motion control components, specializing in comprehensive gear and shaft machining. We manufacture bevel gears, helical gears, spur gears, worms and worm gears, sprockets, and couplings. We also produce a variety of shafts: keyed, pinion, threaded or splined.

10/06/2026

Northend Gear & Machine was founded in 1988 by three guys, with a lathe and an air compressor, in a small Ohio shop. Now, they've joined Vector Companies as our sibling brand.

When a gear or gearbox outgrows what we can cut on our own floor, we call Northend. Their shop now handles gears up to 72 inches in diameter and shafts up to 80 inches long, with full gearbox rebuild and reverse engineering work done under one roof. Inside their shop you'll see a gearbox torn down and rebuilt on-site, and parts reverse-engineered from a sample when the original print no longer exists.

Learn more about Northend Gear & Machine: northendgear.com

09/14/2026

A small pinion may look simple, but it requires more than one operation to become a finished part. The blank gets turned to size before a single tooth is cut.

The Adams Company turns these blanks on dual-spindle machines such as the Okuma 2SP-150H, machining the bore, OD, and face on two parts simultaneously to produce stable blanks for the subsequent gear-cutting step.

Have a print on a tight schedule? Schedule a call today to get started on a manufacturing quote.

🔗 theadamscompany.com/processes/cnc-machining

09/01/2026

Nobody wants to be the one nodding along when a supplier starts talking AGMA grades and heat treatment. Gear School 2026 gives your purchasing, engineering, maintenance, and operations people two days to elevate their knowledge, on the shop floor and in the room with any supplier.

Now in its fourth year, The Adams Company is moving the program to a new venue, the Q Casino & Resort's Reflections Event Spaces in Dubuque, Iowa, on September 30 and October 1. Sessions cover gear nomenclature, hobbing, heat treatment, AGMA accuracy grades, and inspection. This year's class also pivots toward an expanded focus on design work, led by industry instructors from Helios Gear Products, Advanced Heat Treat Corp., and KAPP NILES, paired with a guided tour of our manufacturing floor. Space is limited, and only a few spots remain.

Registration can be arranged through your Vector Companies sales representative, or reach out to [email protected].

📍 Dubuque, IA

08/19/2026

Round stock gets cut to length before anything else, then turned and hobbed to print, the same way, part after part, through the whole order.

That consistency is what makes an 8-week turnaround possible. We're not rushing; we already know how to hold the tolerance because we've held it the last 500 times.

176,000 gears, shafts, and parts a year, out of Dubuque.

See how a part moves from raw stock to finished: https://www.theadamscompany.com/processes/cnc-machining

08/04/2026

A shaft can pass a visual check and still be wrong. Spline form only shows its true fit once it's under load, and by then it's too late to catch.

So every shaft goes onto the CMM before it ships. We map the profile, check it against the print, and send the data out with the part.

That's been the habit from the beginning.

More on how every part gets verified: https://www.theadamscompany.com/processes/gear-inspection

07/22/2026

Gear School 2026 is back. September 30 and October 1 in Dubuque, IA, at the Q Casino + Resort Reflections Event Spaces.

The sessions cover nomenclature, hobbing, heat treatment, AGMA accuracy grades, and inspection, taught by the machinists and engineers who do this work at The Adams Company every day. Then we take it to the floor. Same processes, same parts, right in front of you on the machines.

Registration opens soon.
🔗 theadamscompany.com/news/gear-school-2026-save-the-date

07/08/2026

Most shops can cut a shaft. Knowing whether the tooth form actually landed on spec is where it gets harder.

Pressure angle, lead, surface finish: all of it has to land in spec, and a good machine alone won't get you there. The machinist has to know what they're looking at. That's what 140 years in Dubuque actually buys you.

Splined, helical, worm - cut to print, measured at every stage, shipped with the inspection records.

If your shaft spec has been giving other shops trouble, send it our way.
🔗 https://www.theadamscompany.com/shafts

06/23/2026

Helical gears carry heavier loads and run quieter than spur gears, but only if the lead angle is machined correctly. Get the helix geometry wrong, and you're dealing with uneven tooth contact and a shortened service life, usually traced back to a cut that was close but not right.

We hob helical gears in-house in Dubuque. Lead, involute profile, and surface finish are all verified before a part ships. ISO 9001 isn't something we apply at the end. It runs through every step, so we get it right on the first part.

Spur gears get more of the spotlight. Helical gears do more of the work. We've perfected both. If you have a helical gear program to quote, send us your print.

🔗 https://www.theadamscompany.com/gears/helical-gears

06/09/2026

Gear School is back for its fourth year, and we're moving to a new home.

Gear School 2026 is set for September 30 and October 1 in Dubuque, Iowa, this year at Q Casino & Resort's Reflections Event Spaces. The new venue gives us more room for attendees, sessions, and the networking dinner that has become a signature part of the two-day program.

The curriculum is the same: two days of practical, experience-based learning covering gear nomenclature, hobbing processes, heat treatment, AGMA accuracy grades, and inspection standards. Sessions are led by industry instructors from Helios Gear Products, Advanced Heat Treat Corp., and KAPP NILES, paired with a guided tour of our manufacturing floor, where those processes are in production.

Whether you're an engineer, a buyer, or someone who works with these parts every day and wants more context, the program is built on what actually happens on the floor.

We'll have registration details out soon. Questions in the meantime: [email protected]

🔗 Full details: https://www.theadamscompany.com/news/gear-school-2026-save-the-date

05/27/2026

Custom splined shafts often need more than a single operation. From hobbing and shaping through ISO 9001 inspection and final packaging, we handle every step in-house in Dubuque.

Straight, involute, internal, and external teeth across a wide range of sizes. Spur, helical, or bevel gears can also be hobbed or shaped directly onto the shaft when the application calls for it.

Every shaft ships with complete documentation. If you have a tough spec to hit, we want to see it.

🔗 theadamscompany.com/shafts/splined-shafts

Address

8040 Chavenelle Road
Dubuque, IA
52002

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4pm
Tuesday	8am - 4pm
Wednesday	8am - 4pm
Thursday	8am - 4pm
Friday	8am - 4pm

Telephone

+15635883890

Website

http://www.theadamscompany.com/

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