Method and apparatus for manufacturing bevel gears
AssigneeThe Gleason Works
InventorsHermann J. Stadtfeld, Mark J. Boch, William G. Landry, Andrew S. Price, Joseph A. Courtney, Markus J. Bolze
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Abstract
Method and apparatus wherein the front machining of a gear blank (40) are carried out on a CNC bevel gear generating machine (44) utilizing the motions available in such machines with minimal modifications to the existing machine tool.
Claims15
A machine for manufacturing bevel and hypoid gears comprising:
- a workpiece spindle rotatable about a workpiece axis of rotation;
- a tool spindle rotatable about a tool axis of rotation, said tool spindle residing in a non-rotatable tool spindle housing;
- said workpiece spindle and said tool spindle being translatable with respect to one another in up to three different directions;
- said workpiece spindle and said tool spindle being angularly movable with respect to one another about at least one pivot axis;
- a tool holder connected to said non-rotatable tool spindle housing, said tool holder comprising one or more metal removing tools.
A method of machining bevel and hypoid gears on a machine including a workpiece spindle rotatable about a workpiece axis of rotation, a tool spindle rotatable about a tool axis of rotation with said tool spindle residing in a non-rotatable tool spindle housing, said workpiece spindle and said tool spindle being translatable with respect to one another in up to three different directions, said workpiece spindle and said tool spindle being angularly movable with respect to one another about at least one pivot axis, and a tool holder connected to said non-rotatable tool spindle housing, said tool holder comprising one or more metal removing tools, the method comprising:
- mounting a tool on said tool spindle;
- mounting a workpiece on said workpiece spindle;
- moving said tool spindle relative to said workpiece spindle along at least one of said three different directions and/or about said at least one pivot axis to engage said one or more metal removing tools with said workpiece;
- machining one or more predetermined surfaces of said workpiece,
- rotating said tool on said tool spindle,
- bringing said rotating tool into engagement with said workpiece to form one or more teeth in said workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.