Multitask for Gear Cutting

For shops considering adding gear cutting to their process list, keep in mind that the multitasking machine you already have sitting on your shop floor can get you started with the process for low- to medium-volume production. Even if your shop doesn’t already have a multitasking machine, purchasing one can lead to many opportunities because of its flexibility with its process capabilities. Shops can turn a part’s ID and OD as well as cut its other mating features, and all on the same machine that will also power skive the part’s gear tooth pattern, according to “Cutting Gears with Multitasking Machines.” The fact that the machine can do all those things improves overall part accuracy because all the machined features run true to the gear teeth.

Power skiving is a gear shaping process in which cutting tools are shaped like gear teeth. The tools spin and mesh with workpieces to generate the gear teeth geometry, and it is this meshing that creates the gear teeth profiles.

Although dedicated skiving systems are fast, multitasking machines are much more cost effective in comparison, especially when they eliminate the need to outsource gear work. By keeping gear cutting in-house, shops also gain complete control over part processing.

Although synchronization and proper cutting ratio are key in power skiving, and there is little room for error, multitasking machines can also maintain skiving synchronization with high rpm. Synchronization at faster rpms helps shorten power skiving cycle times and allows the machine to cut a wider range of gear sizes.

Learn more about cutting gears with multitasking machines by reading “Cutting Gears with Multitasking Machines.”