Gear Cutting

Gear Cutting
• Gear cutting is the process of machining or creating gears. Toothed gears are
essential elements in mechanical power transmission, and their accurate
production necessitated the development of intelligent tools and processes.

• Gears may be manufactured by casting, stamping, machining, or by powder

metallurgical processes.

• Out of all such processes, the most common and accurate method of production
of gears is by hobbing, broaching, milling, and grinding.
 Various gear cutting processes
Following are the various gear cutting processes that are used for making gears:

• Gear Broaching

• Gear Hobbing

• Milling gear cutting

• Gear Grinding

• Gear Shaping

• Templet Gear cutting

 Gear Shaping
• Gear shaping is one of the gear generating methods. In this process gear tooth are
accurately sized and shaped by cutting them by a multipoint cutting tool. Various gear
shaping processes are:

(a) Gear cutting by gear shaper.

(b) Rack planning process.

(c) Hobbing process.

 a. Gear cutting by gear shaper
• This process uses a pinion shaped cutter carrying clearance on
the tooth face and sides and a hole at its centre for mounting it on
a stub arbor or spindle of the machine.

• The cutter is mounted by keeping its axis in vertical position. It is

also made reciprocating along the vertical axis up and down with
adjustable and pre-decide amplitude.

• The cutter and the gear blank both are set to rotate at very low
rpm about their respective axis.

• The relative rpm of both (cutter and blank) can be fixed to any of ➢ The specific advantages of the process over
the available value with the help of a gear train. other processes, its product cycle time is very
low and negligible dimensional variability from
• This way all the cutting teeth of cutter come is action one-by-one
one unit to other in case of mass production
giving sufficient time for their cooling and incorporating a longer
tool life.
 a. Gear cutting by gear shaper: Main parameters
Cutting Speed

• Shaper cutter can move vertically upward and downward during

the operation.

• The downward movement of the cutter is the cutting stroke and

its speed (linear) with which it comes down is the cutting speed.

• After the completion of cutting stroke, cutter comes back to its

top position which is called return stroke.

• There is no cutting in the return stroke.

• Length of cutting stroke can be adjusted to any value out of

available values on the machine.
 a. Gear cutting by gear shaper: Main parameters
Indexing Motion

• Indexing motion is equivalent to feed motion in the gear shaping

operation.

• Slow rotations of the gear cutter and workpiece provide the

circular feed to the operation.

• These two rpms are adjusted with the help of a change gear
mechanism. The rpm are relatively adjusted such that each
rotation of the cutter the gear blank revolves through n/N
revolution.

where n = Number of teeth of cutter, and

N = Number of teeth to be cut on the blank.

 a. Gear cutting by gear shaper: Main parameters
Depth of Cut

• Indexing movement or circular feed and reciprocating motions

continue until the required numbers of teeth to the required
depth are made all along the periphery of the gear blank.

• The required depth is maintained gradually by cutting the teeth

into two or three pass. In each successive pass, the depth of
cut is increased as compared to its previous path.

• This gradual increase in depth of cut takes place by increasing

the value of linear feed in return stroke.
• The whole of this process is carried out an a gear shaping machine
Gear Shaping Machine
which is of the shape of a column and knee type milling machine.

• All the motions gear blank, feed cutter, spindle stroke motion,
rotary gear, work spindle, shaper cutter given to gear blank and
gear cutter are set controlled very precisely.

• Advantages of Gear Shaping Process

Main advantages of gear shaping process are described below :

(a) Shorter product cycle time and suitable for making medium and
large sized gears in mass production.

(b) Different types of gears can be made except worm and worm
wheels.

(c) Close tolerance in gear cutting can be maintained.

(d) Accuracy and repeatability of gear tooth profile can be maintained

comfortably.

(e) For same value of gear tooth module a single type of cutter can be
used irrespective of number of teeth in the gear
• Limitations of Gear Shaping Process Gear Shaping Machine
Main limitations of gear shaping process are described below :

(a) It cannot be used to make worm and work wheel which is a

particular type of gear.

(b) There is no cutting in the return stroke of the gear cutter, so

there is a need to make return stroke faster than the cutting
stroke.

(c) In case of cutting of helical gears, a specially designed guide

containing a particular helix and helix angle, corresponding to the
teeth to be made, is always needed on urgent basis.
 b. Gear Shaping by Rack Shaped Cutter
• In this method, gear cutting is done by a rack shaped cutter
called rack type cutter.

• The working is similar to shaping process done by gear type

cutter.

• The process involves rotation (low rpm) of the gear blank as the
rack type cutter reciprocates along a vertical line.

• Cutting is done only in the downward stroke, the upward stroke

is only a return movement.

• The main difference of this method with the previous one is that
once the full length of the rack is utilized the gear cutting
operation is stopped to bring the gear blank to its starting
position so that another pass of gear cutting can be started.

• So this operation is intermittent for cutting larger gears having

large number of teeth over their periphery.
 Gear Shaping by Rack Planning Process
• This process is used for shaping of spur and helical gear teeth
with the help of a rack type cutter. In this process the gear blank
is mounted on a horizontal aims and rotated impertinently.

• At the same time the gear blank is kept in mesh with a

reciprocating rack type cutter.

• The teeth cutter gradually removes material to cut the teeth and to make the required profile. The whole
operation includes some important operations.
• These are feeding cutter into the blank, rolling the blank intermittently and keeping cutter in mesh with the rolling
gear blank.
• After each mesh the gear blank is rolled by an amount equal to one pitch of gear tooth.
• After each cutting, the rack is withdrawn and re-meshed after the rotation of gear blank.
• A few of the initial teeth of rack type cutter perform the cutting action and remaining teeth to very small removal
of workpiece material, these are used to maintain dimensional accuracy of the already cut teeth and to provide
them a good finishing.
 c. Gear Hobbing Process
• In this process, the gear blank is rolled with a rotating
cutter called hob.

• Gear hobbing is done by using a multipoint cutting tool

called gear hob.

• It looks like a worm gear having a number of straight

flutes all around its periphery parallel to its axis.

• These flutes are so shaped by giving proper angles to

them so that these work as cutting edges.

• In gear hobbing operation, the hob is rotated at a

suitable rpm and simultaneously fed to the gear blank.

• The gear blank is also kept as revolving.

 c. Gear Hobbing Process
• rpm of both, gear blank and gear hob are so synchronized that
for each revolution of gear bob the gear blank rotates by a
distance equal to one pitch distance of the gear to be cut.

• Motion of both gear blank and hob are maintained

continuously and steady.

• The hob teeth behave like screw threads, having a definite

helix angle.

• During operation the hob is tilted to helix angle so that its

cutting edges remain square with the gear blank.

• Gear hobbing is used for making a wide variety of gears like

spur gear, helical, hearing-bone, splines and gear sprockets,
etc.

• Three important parameters are to be controlled in the process

of gear hobbing indexing movement, feed rate and angle
between the axis of gear blank and gear hobbing tool (gear
hob).
 Setup for Gear Hobbing Machine
• The aims of hob are set at an inclination equal to the helix angle of the hob
with the vertical axis of the blank.

• If a helical gear is to be cut, the hob axis is set at an inclination equal to the
sum of the helix angle of the hob and the helix angle of the helical gear.

• Proper gear arrangement is used to maintain rpm ratio of gear blank and
hob.

• The operation of gear hobbing involves feeding the revolving hob till it
reaches to the required depth of the gear tooth. Simultaneously it is fed in a
direction parallel to the axis of rotation.

• The process of gear hobbing is classified into different types according to the
directions of feeding the hob for gear cutting. The classifications are:

• Hobbing with Axial Feed

• Hobbing with Radial Feed
• Hobbing with Tangential Feed
 Setup for Gear Hobbing Machine
• Hobbing with Axial Feed: In this process the gear hob is fed
against the gear blank along the face of the blank and parallel to
its axis. This is used to make spur and helical gears.

• Hobbing with Radial Feed: In this method the hob and gear
blanks are set with their axis normal to each other. The rotating
hob is fed against the gear blank in radial direction or
perpendicular to the axis of gear blank. This method is used to
make the worm wheels.

• Hobbing with Tangential Feed: This is also used for cutting

teeth on worm wheel. In this case, the hob is held with its axis
horizontal but at right angle to the axis of the blank. The hob is
set at full depth of the tooth and then fed forward axially. The hob
is fed tangential to the face of gear blank.
 Advantages of Gear Hobbing Process
a) Gear hobbing is a fast and continuous process so it is realized as economical process as compared to other gear generation
processes. Direction of Gear hob hob reed Work piece Bevel rears in mesh Bevel gear Connected to drive Indexing gear
Indexing warm

b) Lower production cycle time, i.e. faster production rate.

c) The process has a larger variability’s in the following of sense as compared to other gear machining processes.

(i) Capable to make wide variety of gears like spur gear, helical gears, worms, splines, sprockets, etc.

(ii) Process of required indexing (named so) is quite simplified and capable to make any number of teeth with consistent
accuracy of module.

(iii) A special type of gear named harringbon gear cam be generated by gear hobbing exclusively.

(iv) Wide variety of batch size (small to large volume) can be accommodated by this process.

e) Several gear blanks, mounted on the same arbor, can be processed simultaneously.

f) Hob is multipoint cutting tool having multi cutting teeth or edges at a time few number of cutting edges work so lots of time is
available to dissipate the generated heat. There is no over heating and cutting tool.
 GEAR FINISHING OPERATIONS
• Surface of gear teeth produced by any of the generating process is not accurate and of good quality (smooth). Dimensional
inaccuracies and rough surface generated so become the source of lot of noise, excessive wear, play and backlash between
the pair of gears in mesh.

• These all result in loss of power to be transmitted and incorrect velocity ratios. This can be summarized as inefficient power
transmission. In order to over come these problems some finishing operations are recommended for the produced gears.

• Sometimes poor quality of finish and dimensional inaccuracies occur due to hardening of a produced gear. The prepared
(generated) gear is subjected to various hardening processes leading to various problems creating inaccuracies. So finishing
operations are to be done at last. Commonly used gear finishing operations are:

• Gear Shaving

• Roll finishing of gear tooth

• Gear Burnishing

• Gear grinding

• Gear lapping

• Gear Honing
 Gear Shaving
• Gear shaving is a process of finishing of gear tooth by running it at
very high rpm in mesh with a gear shaving tool. A gear shaving tool is
of a type of rack or pinion having hardened teeth provided with
serrations.

• These serrations serve as cutting edges which do a scrapping

operation on the mating faces of gear to be finished. Both are gears in
mesh are pressed to make proper mating contact
 Roll finishing of gear tooth
• This process involves use of two hardened rolling dies
containing very accurate tooth profile of the gear to be
finished. The gear to be finished is set in between the two
dies as shown in figure and all three are revalued about their
axis.

• Pressure is exerted by both the rolling dies over the gear to

be finished.

• The material of the die is very hard as compare to the

material of gear so there is a plastic deformation of high
points and burrs on the profile of gear tooth resulting to
smooth surface
 Gear Burnishing
The gear to be finished is mounted on a vertical reciprocating shaft and it is
kept in mesh with three hardened burnishing compatible gears. The burnishing
gears are fed into the cut gear and revalued few revaluations in both the
directions. Plastic deformation of irregularities in cold state takes place to give
smooth surface of the gear.

Gear Grinding

• In this operation abrasive grinding wheel of a particular shape and geometry

are used for finishing of gear teeth. Gear to be finished is mounted and
reciprocated under the grinding wheel. Each of the gear teeth is subjected
to grinding operations this way.
Lapping of a Gear

• The process of lapping is used to improve surface finish of already made teeth. In this process the gear to be lapped is run
under load in mesh with cast iron toothed laps. Abrasive paste is introduced between the teeth. It is mixed with oil and
made to flow through the teeth. One of the mating members (either gear or lapping tool) is reciprocated axially along with
the revaluations.
 Gear Honing

• It is used for super finishing of the generated gear teeth. Gear

honing is a hard finishing process similar to hard shaving.

• The flanks of an external teeth gear and an internal teeth honing

ring are in rolling contact with a specified radial pressure at a
low cutting speed.

• The driven work-piece and tool spindles are crossed at a

defined angle.

• The superposition of the in-feed movements gives a resulting

gliding movement running diagonally from tip to root of the tooth
flank.

• This produces a micro-cutting process with short cutting point

engagement.
 Bevel Gears
• A bevel gear is a toothed rotating machine element used to transfer
mechanical energy or shaft power between shafts that are intersecting,
either perpendicular or at an angle. This results in a change in the axis of
rotation of the shaft power.

• Aside from this function, bevel gears can also increase or decrease
torque while producing the opposite effect on the angular speed.

• Bevel gears are gears where the axes of the two shafts intersect and the
tooth- bearing faces of the gears themselves are conically shaped.

• Bevel gears are most often mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees
apart, but can be designed to work at other angles as well.

• In straight bevel gears the teeth are straight and parallel to the
generators of the cone. This is the simplest form of bevel gear. It
resembles a spur gear, only conical rather than cylindrical.
 Straight Bevel Gears

• This is the simplest form of a bevel gear. The teeth are in a straight line
which intersects at the axis of the gear when extended.

• The teeth are tapered in thickness making the outer or heel part of the
tooth larger than the inner part or toe.

• Straight bevel gears have instantaneous lines of contact, permitting

more tolerance in mounting.

• A downside in using this type is the vibration and noise.

• This limits straight bevel gears to low-speed and static loading

applications. Common application of straight bevel gears are differential
systems in automotive vehicles.

• Straight bevel gears are the easiest to manufacture. The earliest

manufacturing method for producing a straight bevel gear is by using a
planer with an indexing head.
 Spiral Bevel Gears
• This is the most complex form of bevel gears. The teeth of spiral gears are curved
and oblique, in contrast to the teeth orientation of straight bevel gears.

• This results in more overlap between teeth which promotes gradual engagement
and disengagement upon tooth contact.

• This improved smoothness results in minimal vibration and noise produced during
operation.

• Also, because of higher load sharing from more teeth in contact, spiral bevel gears
have better load capacities. This allows them to be smaller in size compared to
straight bevel gears with the same capacity.

• Spiral bevel gear sets are made either right-hand or left-hand.

• Spiral bevel gear teeth are typically shaped by gear generating types of machines.

• This process creates high accuracy and finish.

• Also, lapping is done to finish the teeth and further obtain the desired tooth bearing.
 Gleason Method of Generating Bevel gear tooth using Disc type
• Determine gear tooth proportions
form Cutter
• Making arrangements for indexing

• Setting the gear blank at the cutting edge

• Calculating offset

• Selecting proper cutter

• Determining speed, feed and depth of cut

• The revolution of cutter about their own axis provides cutting velocity during
rotation

• After one tooth space is cut the cutters are withdrawn and blank is indexed
through the required angle.

• This processes is comparatively faster than the milling process