Gear Cutting Operations
Basic Purpose Of Use Of Gears
Gears are widely used in various mechanisms and
devices to transmit power and motion positively
(without slip) between parallel, intersecting ( axis)
or non-intersecting non parallel shafts,
without change in the direction of rotation
with change in the direction of rotation
without change of speed (of rotation)
with change in speed at any desired ratio
Categories of gear manufacturing
process
General Applications Of Gears
Speed gear box, feed gear box and some other kinematic units of
machine tools
Speed drives in textile, jute and similar machineries
Gear boxes of automobiles
Speed and / or feed drives of several metal forming machines
•Machineries for mining, tea processing etc.
Large and heavy duty gear boxes used in cement industries, sugar
industries, cranes, conveyors etc.
Precision equipments, clocks and watches
Industrial robots and toys.
Types Of Gears And Their
Characteristics
1.According to configuration
• External gear • Internal gear
2. According to axes of transmission
• Spur gears – transmitting rotation between parallel shafts as shown in
o Straight toothed
o Helical toothed
⎯ Single helical
⎯ double helical (herringbone)
3. According to pattern of motion
Rotation to rotation : wheel type gears
Rotation to translation or vice versa –
e.g. rack and pinion
Straight toothed
Helical toothed
Types of Gear Cutting Operations
Gear milling or Forming
Gear shaping
Gear Hobbing
Gear Finishing
1.Gear Milling or Forming
The gear milling operation is used for gear cutting. All
types of gears can be made by using gear milling.
Milling cutter is selected specifically for a particular type of
gear and module. The periphery of the gear blank is divided
into required number of equi-spaced parts.
The required number of parts should be equal to the
number teeth to be made on the gear blank.
The method of dividing the periphery is called indexing
which is an integral part of the operation of gear milling.
Gear Milling
In gear form cutting, the cutting edge of the
cutting tool has a shape identical with the shape
of the space between the gear teeth.
Disadvantages of Gear Milling
Gear milling is a slower process of gear
generation as compared to other gear generation
process.
In this process gear is generated by cutting one-
by-one tooth.
Gears are to be made, it is not suitable for larger
batch size.
The other methods required very high capital
cost and setup cost as compared to gear milling
so these are not economical for smaller batch
size, only gear cutting by milling operation is
recommended for smaller batch size.
2. Gear Shaping
Gear shaping used a cutting tool in the shape of a gear
which is reciprocated axially across the gear blank to
cut the teeth while the blank rotates around the shaper
tool.
It is a true shape-generation process in which the gear-
shaped tool cuts itself into mesh with the gear blank as
shown in fig.
The accuracy is good, but any errors in one tooth of the
shaper cutter will be directly transferred to the gear.
Internal gears can be cut with this method as well.
i). Shaping with a pinion-shaped
cutter
Gear Shaping Machine
ii).Shaping with a rack-shaped cutter
2. Gear Hobbing
Gear hobbing is a machining process in
which gear teeth are progressively
generated by a series of cuts with a
helical cutting tool (hob).
All motions in hobbing are rotary, and the
hob and gear blank rotate continuously as
in two gears meshing until all teeth are
cut.
4. Gear Finishing
As produced by any of the process described,
the surface finish and dimensional accuracy may
not be accurate enough for certain applications.
Several finishing operations are available,
including the conventional process of shaving,
and a number of abrasive operations, including
grinding, honing, and lapping , shaping.
1. Grinding
II. Lapping and Honing:
III. Gear shaving
While interacting with the gears, the
cutting teeth of the shaving cutter keep
on smoothening the mating gear flanks by
fine machining to high accuracy and
surface finish.