Gear Cutting

Gear cutting encompasses a range of processes essential for creating functional gears. Among the most common methods are hobbing, broaching, and machining. Additionally, shaping, forging, extruding, casting, powder coating, heat treating, flame hardening, carburizing, and lapping are integral techniques in the gear cutting realm.

Broaching

When dealing with large gears or splines, the vertical broach reigns supreme. This apparatus comprises a vertical rail carrying a single-tooth cutter tailored to shape the tooth profile. Some machines are equipped to cut to a specific depth on the Y-axis and automatically index the rotary table, making them ideal for producing the largest gears.

Broaching is particularly effective for cutting teeth on the inside, although it tends to be costly due to the necessity of different broaches for varying gear sizes. Consequently, it finds its niche in high-production runs.

Hobbing

Hobbing stands as a pivotal method wherein a hob is employed to carve teeth into a blank. The cutter and gear blank rotate simultaneously, transferring the hob’s profile onto the gear blank. This process, utilized extensively across all production scales, excels in medium to high-volume scenarios.

Machining

Gears undergo cutting or grinding on milling machines and gear cutters, utilizing numbered gear cutters and any indexing head or rotary table. The choice of gear cutter corresponds to the tooth count of the gear to be crafted. Machining helical gears on manual machines demands the use of a true indexing fixture, ensuring precise rotation and linear movement for impeccable results.

Various types of gear hobs and cutters contribute to the creation of gears, including rack shapers, helical cutters, planetary gear cutters, herringbone gear cutters, spiral bevel gear cutters, straight-tooth gear cutters, and spline cutters. Form cutting emerges as a popular technique, involving the rotation of a cutter around the periphery of a blank gear to achieve the desired tooth pattern and fit.

Shaping

Traditionally, gear cutting through shaping involves mounting a gear blank in a shaper and utilizing a tooth-shaped tool to carve the desired tooth profile. This method, suitable for cutting internal splines as well, represents a time-tested approach to gear fabrication. Another technique involves a pinion-shaped cutter in a gear shaper machine, where a gear blank is cut by a gear-like cutter. Ensuring parallel rotating axes between the cutter and the blank, this method excels in both low and high-speed gear applications.

Finishing

Upon completion of the cutting process, gears undergo finishing touches through methods like shaving, burnishing, grinding, honing, or lapping. These refinements not only ensure precise tolerances but also offer options for achieving high mirror or reground finishes, guaranteeing gears within “0” tolerance.

Grinding

Grinding, a crucial step in gear production, involves surface finishing using abrasive materials. Gears requiring grinding and carburizing undergo processes like surface grinding, lapping grinding, internal and external grinding, blanch grinding, and other specialized techniques. Our rebuilding and reconditioning services offer cost-effective alternatives to purchasing new equipment.

Spray Metalizing

Metalizing presents a sprayed process for restoring worn areas on various machinery parts. In traverse hardening systems, workpieces progress through induction coal, followed by quench spray or ring application. This method, extensively used in shafts, drive shafts, trunnion rolls, excavator bucket pins, and rotating equipment production, extends equipment lifespan and wear resistance. By adjusting speed and power, we can tailor hardening along the entire shaft length or specific areas, including steps in diameter or splines. Our expertise covers rotating welding, metalizing, heat treating, and flame hardening, ensuring your equipment’s longevity and performance.

Metal Hardening

Metal hardening encompasses various heat treating processes aimed at enhancing the durability and performance of metal parts. Induction hardening, a prevalent method, involves heating a metal part through induction heating and subsequently quenching it. Case hardening offers another option, selectively hardening specific areas of a part while applying physical barriers to prevent undesired carburization and hardening.