The material removal process is the first and one of the key gear manufacturing techniques for cutting the teeth in every gear blank. These processes employ specific tools to cut the desired geometry into the gear blanks.
Following are the different material removal processes of gear cutting:
Milling
The right milling machine can actually become a gear cutting machine. Today’s technology can produce spiral bevel gears in one setup with face milling. The gear blank could be positioned either vertically or horizontally. During the process, a rotary cutter removes the unwanted part of the gear blank forming the individual tooth spacing. When the right tooth spacing is achieved, the blank gear returns to its original position and is indexed for the next cut.
Broaching
Broaching is one of the machining processes that can provide you with the fastest, most precise and most reliable output. Furthermore, this process can offer a better surface finish and closer tolerances when creating splines or gear teeth. The secret lies in the broach’s ability to perform roughing, semi-finishing and finishing in a single pass.
First, the roughing part of the broach cuts a large amount of unwanted material. Next, the semi-finish part of the broach reduces the amount of the material removed. Lastly, the finishing part smoothens out the material and ensures proper dimensional characteristics.
Hobbing
Widely used for creating spur and helical gears, hobbing is one of the most important generative processes in gear manufacturing. The hob or the cutting tool has serrations that cut the gear blanks either in an axial or in a perpendicular direction. During the process, both the hob and the gear blank in a continuous and timed relationship to obtain the desired specifications of the gear teeth.
Gear Shaping
Gear shaping is another generative process. Gear shaping offers the most flexibility when it comes to manufacturing internal and external parts with interfering contours, and when gear hobbing is not feasible.
During the operation, the cutter’s oscillating movement (cutting stroke and return stroke) ensures the cutting opertrue-gear.com/cnc-gear-cutting-hobbing/services.htmlation. The return stroke or the relieving action is important to avoid any damage to the tooth flanks and the cutter. The process continues until the desired teeth configuration is achieved.
Indeed, each removal material process offers unique advantages from speed to accuracy. Nevertheless, talking to the experts will help you choose the right gear cutting process to achieve the desired output.