BROACHES AND BROACHING MACHINES

At the end of this lesson you shall be able to

 State the various elements of a broach
 State the broaching process
 State the different types of broaching machines
 Identify the various broached profiles.
Broaching (Fig 1) is the process in which a cutting
tool called broach is pushed or pulled through a hole
or a surface to remove metal by axial force. Both
roughing and finishing can be done in a single pass.
A broach is a cutting tool with a series of cutting
edges A broach has three cutting zones such as
roughing teeth, semi-finishing teeth and finishing
teeth. (Fig 2)

The broach tapers from the roughing teeth to the finishing teeth. Normally all the
finishing teeth are of the same size.
Individual teeth have a land, cutting edge, hook or face angle, gullet and pitch.
The pitch of a broach is determined by:
 The length of the cut
 The material being cut
 The size of the gullet

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The length of the tool is determined by
 o The amount of metal that must be removed
o The length of the machine stroke
o The required accuracy and the degree of finish

The size of the tooth gullet is related to the material to be cut and the type of chips produced.
The radius of the tooth root is designed so that the chips can be carried away from the
cutting edges
Chip breakers are provided to control the chips
Broaches are mostly made of high speed steel. Some of the broaches have inserted carbide
cutting edges brazed on to the body of the broaching tool.
The beginning hole can be drilled or cored in a casting. The finished hole can be round,
square, rectangular or of any required shape. (Fig 4)

Broaches can be used to cut single or multiple keyways in pulleys, gears, splines in
NETTUR
hubs and teeth in internal gears, TECHNICAL
ratchets, etc. TRAINING FOUNDATION Page No - 2
 All machinable metals and non-metals can be broached.
External broaching can also be done. (Fig 5)

Broaching machines
Three types of broaching machines are normally used.
Vertical broaching machine
Horizontal broaching machine
Continuous surface broaching machine

Vertical broaching machine (Fig 6)

The majority of the broaching machines
used in industry are of the vertical type, their main
advantage being that minimum floor space is
required.
This machine can be of pull-down, pull-up
or push-down version
Pull-up machines are available with
capacities of 6 to 50 tonnes, strokes of up to 2m
while pull-down machines come in the range of 2
to 50 tonnes with strokes of up to 2.5m.
Pull-down broaching is more common than
pull-up broaching

Modern broaching machines

NETTUR generally haveTRAINING
TECHNICAL hydraulic drives
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Horizontal broaching machine (Fig 7)
 This is invariably a pull-
type. It is available with
capacities ranging from 2 to
60 tonnes and strokes up to
3m.
When the stroke
required is large and the
ceiling of the building is
limited, the horizontal version
is preferred.
Heavy duty horizontal surface broaching machine available with capacities of up to
100 tonnes and s1 of up to 9m.
Surface broaching can also be performed on horizontal broaching machines using special
fixtures.
Rotary continuous surface broaching machine
The work pieces are loaded on a
series of work holding fixtures which are
mounted on a moving endless chain. Thus
the workpiece is fed to the machine, guiding it
accurately through a rigid section of the
stationary tool where broaching is done.
For very high production rate, this type of
machine is used.
In this type of broaching, the
workpiece must have one open side. Half
rounds such as connecting rod caps are best
for chain-type continuous broaching.

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