31-Jul-21

Today’s topic:
Gear Manufacture

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Generating Methods
The generating principle is employed in the following processes for producing gears--
-gear planing using rack cutter
-gear shaping using pinion cutter and
-gear hobbing

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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 31-Jul-21

Gear Planing Using Rack Cutter

Gear planing process employ a
rack cutter which reciprocates
across the face of the blank.
The blank rotates in correct
relationship to the longitudinal
movement of cutter as if they roll
together as a rack and pinion.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Planing Using Rack Cutter

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Gear Planing Using Rack Cutter

The sequence of operations involved in gear planing are as follows:
-Initially the cutter is fed into full depth with cutter reciprocating and blank stationary.
-Blank then rotates and cutter is fed longitudinally to generate involute shape on the
gear teeth flank.
-After completing one or two teeth, the blank and cutter feed is stopped. The cutter is
withdrawn and returned to its starting position.
-The blank is then indexed. The cutter is fed to full depth again and the cycle is repeated.
The process is ideally suited for cutting large, double helical gears and external spur
gears. The rack controls the pitch and pressure angle, and the machine gearing controls
the number of teeth produced on the gear.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Planing Using Rack Cutter

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Gear Shaping Using Pinion Cutter

Gear shaping process is carried out on a vertical type shaper.
The blank is mounted on a vertical arbor and a pinion cutter is fixed to the cutter spindle
which is carried by a saddle.
A guide controls the path of the cutter spindle. The guiding unit can be changed
depending upon the type of gear production. For cutting helical gears special helical
guideways are provided for the cutting spindle. The saddle can be fed along sideways.
The cutter spindle and the work spindle are connected to each other through gearing.
The desired gear ratio between the pinion cutter and blank depends upon the number of
teeth on the cutter and the number of teeth required on the blank.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Shaping Using Pinion Cutter

The process employs a pinion cutter which reciprocates across the blank face and cuts
during one stroke. The pinion cutter is essentially a gear with cutting edges.
The cutter and blank are geared together to establish a correct relationship so that they
rotate together as if the two gears are in mesh.
The reciprocating motion of cutter is obtained by some form of crank and lever
mechanism.
The setting of centre distance and infeed for the tooth depth is effected by the travel of
the work table with the blank.
Cutter and blank slowly rotate at proper speed ratio until all the teeth are generated on
the gear blank.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Gear Shaping Using

Pinion Cutter

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Shaping Using Pinion Cutter

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Gear Shaping Using Pinion Cutter

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Shaping Using Pinion Cutter

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Gear Shaping Using Pinion Cutter

Application of gear shaper -
It is employed for cutting external and internal spur gears. Helical gears can also be cut
with the use of special guideways for cutting spindle. In addition to this, gears with many
special shapes such as cam profiles can also be cut.
Advantages and limitations -
The racks which cannot be produced by hobbing can be conveniently and accurately
produced by gear shaping.
However, worms and worm wheels which cannot be generated by gear shaping can be
easily produced by gear hobbing.
The cutting action is intermittent in gear shaping.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Hobbing
Gear hob -hob is a special type of cutter
used for generating the involute tooth
form. The teeth lie on a helix like a
worm and it cuts like a milling cutter.
The thread on a hob has the profile of
the involute rack teeth of desired pitch
and pressure angle. Gashes parallel to
the axis are cut across the thread of a
hob at convenient intervals to provide
the cutting teeth. These cutting teeth
are form-relieved behind the cutting
edges.
SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Gear Hobbing
Gear hobbing machine -It is used to generate
gears at a faster rate. The hob is mounted on
a spindle which is carried in the hob slide.
Hob slide can be traversed vertically in either
direction. The spindle head can be tilted
about its axis and set at any desired angle for
cutting helical gears.
The gear blank is mounted on a vertical arbor
which is carried on the work table. The arbor
is supported at the top by a bracket which is
mounted upon slideways on vertical stay. The
vertical stay is fastened to the work table. An
over-arm is provided for stiffness and to
ensure rigidity during cutting.
SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Hobbing
Principle of hobbing -The hob rotates and is fed into
the gear blank which is in rotation. The hob and blank
are geared together so that they rotate in a correct
relationship as if they are worm and worm-wheel in
mesh. The hob in rotation, feeds across blank face and
generates involute teeth form.
For cutting straight spur gears, the hob axis is set at an
angle in order to bring the hob teeth in line with the
cut gear teeth. For cutting helical gears, the hob is set
at an additional angle equal to the helix angle of the
gear. When cutting worm gear, the hob axis is placed
in a position perpendicular to the gear blank, and the
hob is fed tangentially as the gear blank rotates.
SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Gear Hobbing

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Hobbing
Application of gear hobbing-It is employed for generating spur and helical gears. It is
an ideal method for producing worm wheels. It can also be used for the production of
splined shaft as well as sprockets.
Advantages-
-Continuous cutting action makes it fastest generating process
-Does not require reciprocating or indexing movements.
-Rate of production is high.
-Produces accurate gears
Limitations-
-Cannot cut internal gears, bevel gears and gears with adjacent shoulders.
-Hob is complicated and an expensive tool and require careful re-grinding.
SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Comparison of Gear Generating Processes

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Finishing
Surface finish and dimensional accuracy of gear teeth produced by various processes may
not be accurate enough for certain applications. The gears may be noisy and mechanical
properties may not be sufficiently good. For precise gear tooth profile, gears are finished
by some method which increase the accuracy and surface quality of gear teeth.
The following methods are commonly used for finishing gears-
Gear shaving
Gear burnishing
Gear grinding
Gear lapping and
Gear honing
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Gear Shaving
It is most widely used for finishing spur and helical gears after machining but prior to
hardening. The cutter used is in the form of gear for rotary shaving and rack for rack
shaving. Shaved gears may be subsequently heat treated to improve mechanical properties
such as hardness and wear resistance.
Rotary shaving cutter and work gear are meshed together with their axes at an angle and
rotated. The work gear also reciprocates simultaneously. The combination of rotary and
axial motion of the work gear causes the cutting edges of the cutter to skid and thus
remove chips from the teeth flanks. The thickness of chips ranges from 0.005 mm to 0.1
mm. The process is used to finish internal as well as external gears.
Rack shaving is used for finishing external spur and helical gears. The work gear is rolled in
contact with rack cutter which reciprocates across the gear. The motion of the rack imparts
rotary motion to the gear. The cost of rack cutter is high and cannot finish internal gears.
SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Burnishing
This process is used for improving surface finish and to provide little hardness
to the surface of gear teeth.
It also induce residual compressive stresses on the teeth surface thus improving
fatigue life.
Burnishing consists of rolling the work gear with one or more burnishing gears
whose teeth are very hard smooth and accurate. One of the burnishing gears is
power driven.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Gear Grinding
It is employed for increasing accuracy and surface finish of gears and for eliminating
distortion caused by hardening. Grinding can be done by two methods.
-Form grinding or profile grinding
-Generating method
In form grinding method, the grinding wheel has a profile corresponding to the tooth
space shape. The wheel can be profiled at one or both sides.
During grinding, the grinding wheel moves parallel to the work gear axis. After full
stroke of wheel the work gear is indexed for the next tooth. The process is repeated to
complete grinding of entire gear.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Grinding

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

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Gear Grinding
Generating gear grinding.
This method is based on reproducing the mesh
of the work gear with the rack whose tooth is
represented by a grinding wheel. Work gear is
rolled along an imaginary rack and the grinding
wheel reciprocates across the face of the gear.
After grinding one tooth flank, the roll
movement is reversed so that opposite flank in
the same tooth space is machined. Then the
wheel is withdrawn from the tooth space and
the gear is indexed for next tooth.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Lapping
Hardened gears are finished to size by this
process. Lapping improves surface finish and
correct small errors. The work gear is rotated
with cast iron lap pinion of true form. The
cutting is assisted by fine abrasives mixed
with oil. When machining with three lapping
gears, the axes of two of these cross the gear
axis at an angle of about 4 degrees while the
axis of the third is parallel to the axis of the
gear. The lap pinion may also have a quick
reciprocating motion relative to the work.

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Gear Honing
This is performed to finish teeth of hardened gears. Machining is done by a hone
which is a gear manufactured from an abrasive impregnated plastic. Hone may
be also made of steel for strength with abrasive or cemented carbides
embedded in the tooth space.
The relative movements are similar to gear shaving but the speed is about twice
as high. Honing is generally performed after gear shaving to give fine surface
finish on the gear flank. Honed gears are used in gear trains where low noise is
desirable.

SREERAJ A S, ST.MARY'S POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Gear Materials
Gears are made from ferrous and non-ferrous metals and non metallic materials.
Selection of material depends on the strength and service requirements.
Ferrous materials - Steel and cast iron are typical ferrous materials used for
manufacture of gears. Steel is used for high strength gears. High carbon steel and alloy
steel gears can be hardened and tempered to get desired toughness and wear
resistance. Cast iron gears can be easily machined and possess good wearing qualities.
They have low impact strength and are not suitable for shock loads.
Non ferrous materials - Gears for light applications are made from brass and
aluminium alloys. Bronze possess good toughness and wearing qualities.
Non metallic materials - Gears made from plastic materials like resins and nylon have
excellent wear resistance and can run in mesh with metallic gears.

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