Dual-hand cutter head for gear manufacture

A cutter head of a gear cutting tool for bevel and hypoid gears, said cutter head being generally disc-shaped and rotatable about an axis, said cutter head comprising:

• a plurality of cutting blade positioning slots arranged in a face of said cutter head, wherein each of said plurality of cutting blade positioning slots extends through said cutter head from said face to an opposed surface of said cutter head;
• wherein a first portion of said plurality of blade positioning slots are oriented to accommodate cutting blades whereby said cutter head is operable for right-hand cutting, and wherein a second portion of said plurality of cutting blade positioning slots are oriented to accommodate cutting blades whereby said cutter head is operable for left-hand cutting.