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.