Cutting Machine for Gears, Splines, & Other Shapes
AssigneeBourn & Koch, Inc.
InventorsLoyd L. Koch, Hans Grass, Wayne Densmore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cutting machine for gear shaping or the like is provided. The cutting machine includes a gear shaping head. The gear shaping head has a ram that is guided by and reciprocates along a linear guide mounted between a saddle of the gear shaping head and the ram. At least one linear motor reciprocates the ram along a stroke axis relative to the saddle. The ram also carries a rotary drive and a spindle that reciprocate in unison with the ram. The rotary drive directly drives the spindle to journal the spindle through incremental angular positions during gear shaping.
Claims22
A gear shaping machine, comprising:
- a saddle;
- a linear guide mounted to the saddle and defining a shaping axis;
- a ram slidable on the linear guide along the shaping axis;
- a spindle carried by the ram;
- and
- at least one linear motor supported by the saddle and acting on the ram, the at least one linear motor operable to reciprocate the ram and the spindle back and forth along the shaping axis in unison relative to the saddle.
A gear shaping machine, comprising:
- a support structure;
- a gear shaping head carried by the support structure, the gear shaping head having a ram movable relative to the support structure, the ram carrying a spindle and a rotary drive, the rotary drive operably connected to the spindle to impart a torque to the spindle;
- and
- wherein the spindle and the rotary drive reciprocate together with the ram and relative to the support structure.
A method for shaping a blank into a gear with a gear shaping machine, the method comprising:
- cutting a portion of the blank during a cutting stroke with a tool operably connected to a spindle of the gear shaping machine, wherein the spindle travels from a first position to a second position during the cutting stroke, the cutting stroke occurring along a stroke axis;
- returning the spindle to the first position during a return stroke, the return stroke occurring along the stroke axis;
- and
- indexing the spindle from a first angular position to a second angular position after completion of the return stroke.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.