Disposable disk cutter
AssigneeFellows Corporation
InventorsErich Tlaker, Aaron Erisman, Donald Whitney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gear cutter assembly incorporating a toothed flexible disk which acts as the cutting element, mounted between a cutter back and a disk retainer. The cutter back includes a convex, conical mounting face, and the disk retainer has a complementary mounting surface, so that the disk is clamped between these surface and deflected to create a negative rake angle. The disk is formed with teeth which protrude beyond the cutter back and retainer, and it has a constant cross-section throughout its width. When the cutting edges of the disk teeth become dull, the disk may be inverted and reused due to its untapered profile; after such reuse, the disk is discarded. The cutter disk is easily fabricated in groups, and enjoys economical, high performance operation.
Claims20
An improved cutter tool for forming gear teeth and like profiles in workpieces, of the type comprising
- a cutter back of essentially circular cross-section having a convex mounting surface in the form of an annular section of a shallow cone;
- a retainer of essentially circular cross-section coaxial with said cutter back and having a mounting surface complementary to the convex mounting surface of said cutter back;
- a thin flexible annular cutter disk including a series of circumferential teeth, having cross-sections of constant dimensions throughout its width, said disk being flat in its unstressed state and being clamped between said cutter back and said retainer with one face against said cutter back mounting surface and the other face against said retainer surface to provide said cutting disk with the conical shape of said mounting surface of said cutter back, wherein the teeth of the clamped disk protrude beyond said cutter back and said retainer at a negative rake angle;
- and
- means clamping the cutter disk between said cutter back and said retainer.
A method for using a flexible annular cutting disk including a series of circumferential teeth for forming gears from gear blanks, said method comprising the steps of:
- clamping said cutting disk between a cutting back and a retainer in a first orientation such that a first axial face of said cutting disk abuts said retainer and a second axial face of said cutting disk abuts said cutter back, said cutter back having a mounting surface in the form of an annular section of a shallow cone and said retainer being generally circular and coaxial with said cutter back and having a mounting surface complementary to the mounting surface of said cutter back,
- while said cutting disk is clamped in said first orientation, urging said cutting disk against one of said gear blanks to chip said gear blank and thereby shape gear teeth,
- later clamping said disk between said cutter back and said retainer in a second orientation such that said first axial face of said disk abuts said cutter back and said second axial face of said disk abuts said retainer, and
- while said cutting disk is clamped in said second orientation, urging said cutting disk against one of said gear blanks to chip said gear blank and thereby shape gear teeth.
An improved cutter tool for forming gear teeth and like profiles in workpieces, said tool comprising
- a cutter back of generally circular cross-section having a convex mounting surface in the form of an annular section of a shallow cone;
- a retainer of generally circular cross-section coaxial with said cutter back and having a mounting surface complementary to the convex mounting surface of said cutter back;
- a thin flexible annular cutter disk including a series of circumferential teeth;
- and
- means clamping said disk between said cutter back and said retainer with one face against said cutter back mounting surface and the other face against said retainer surface to provide said cutting disk with the conical shape of said mounting surface of said cutter back and such that the teeth of the clamped disk protrude beyond said cutter back and said retainer at a negative rake angle;
- and wherein
- said disk is flat in its unstressed condition to make said disk invertible in its orientation between said cutter back and said retainer.
A cutter tool as set forth inclaim 16, wherein edges of the disk teeth which are outermost from the axis of the disk are perpendicular to the disk faces.
A cutter tool for cutting gear teeth and like profiles in workpieces, said tool comprising:
- a cutter back having a convex mounting surface in the form of an annular section of a shallow cone;
- an annular retainer coaxial with said cutter back and having a mounting surface which is complementary to the mounting surface of said cutter back;
- a thin, flexible annular cutter disk including a series of circumferential teeth, each of said circumferential teeth having first and second oppositely disposed cutting edges, said first cutting edge bordering on a first axial face of said disk and said second cutting edge bordering on a second opposite axial face of said disk, and
- means clamping said disk between said cutter back and said retainer such that said second axial face of said disk abuts said cutter back mounting surface and said first axial face of said cutter disk abuts said retainer surface, said teeth of said cutter disk protruding beyond said cutter back and said retainer at a negative rake angle such that said first cutting edge protrudes slightly further than said second cutting edge to engage said workpiece, said first cutting edge being relatively sharp and free of wear and said second cutting edge being relatively dull and worn due to previous use.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.