Design and manufacture of gear cutting tools and gears with an arbitrary profile.

Abstract

The authors introduced a new method (element removal method) for calculating the profiles of the tools (hob, form grinding wheel, etc.) used for finishing gears with an arbitrary tooth profile. Because this method simulates exactly the metal removing process in the gear tooth profile generation, it is possible to calculate the generated tooth profile when interference occurs between the cutting edge and the finished tooth profile. Using this method, the authors calculated the exact wheel profile which can produce and involute tooth profile with a tip relief at a transverse section of the involute helical gears. The wheel profile was generated by a single point diamond dresser using a universal NC milling machine with an attachment made by the authors. The tooth flank and root of test gears were ground at the same time to prevent a step (notch), which is apt to be produced at the boundary of ground and unground surfaces. The accuracy of the form ground test gears was in the zero class of JIS and the surface roughness was in the range of 0.5 to 1.0 μm Rmax.