Gear manufacturing refers to the making of

gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic ...

s. Gears can be manufactured by a variety of processes, including

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...

, forging,

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex ...

powder metallurgy Powder metallurgy (PM) is a term covering a wide range of ways in which materials or components are made from metal powders. PM processes can reduce or eliminate the need for subtractive processes in manufacturing, lowering material losses and ...

, and blanking. As a general rule, however, machining is applied to achieve the final dimensions, shape and surface finish in the gear. The initial operations that produce a semifinishing part ready for gear machining as referred to as blanking operations; the starting product in gear machining is called a gear blank.

Selection of materials

The gear material should have the following properties: * High

tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or F_\text within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials t ...

to prevent failure against static loads * High endurance strength to withstand

dynamic load An active load or dynamic load is a component or a circuit that functions as a current-stable nonlinear resistor. Circuit design In circuit design, an active load is a circuit component made up of ''active devices'', such as transistors, intende ...

s * Low coefficient of

friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of ...

* Good manufacturability

Gear manufacturing processes

There are multiple ways in which gear blanks can be shaped through the cutting and finishing processes.

Gear forming

In gear form cutting, the cutting edge of the cutting tool has a shape identical with the shape of the space between the gear teeth. Two machining operations, milling and broaching can be employed to form cut

gear teeth A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic p ...

Form milling

In form milling, the cutter called a form cutter travels axially along the length of the gear tooth at the appropriate depth to produce the gear tooth. After each tooth is cut, the cutter is withdrawn, the gear blank is rotated, and the cutter proceeds to cut another tooth. The process continues until all teeth are cut

Broaching

Broaching can also be used to produce gear teeth and is particularly applicable to internal teeth. The process is rapid and produces fine surface finish with high dimensional accuracy. However, because broaches are expensive and a separate broach is required for each size of gear, this method is suitable mainly for high-quality production.

Gear generation

In gear generation, the tooth flanks are obtained as an outline of the subsequent positions of the cutter, which resembles in shape the mating gear in the gear pair. There are two machining processes employed shaping and milling. There are several modifications of these processes for different cutting tool used.

Gear hobbing

Gear hobbing is a machining process in which

are progressively generated by a series of cuts with a helical cutting tool. All motions in hobbing are rotary, and the hob and gear blank rotate continuously as in two gears meshing until all teeth are cut.

Finishing operations

As produced by any of the process described, the surface finish and dimensional accuracy may not be accurate enough for certain applications. Several finishing operations are available, including the conventional process of shaving, and a number of abrasive operations, including

grinding Grind is the cross-sectional shape of a blade. Grind, grinds, or grinding may also refer to: Grinding action * Grinding (abrasive cutting), a method of crafting * Grinding (dance), suggestive club dancing * Grinding (video gaming), repetitive and ...

, honing, and

lapping Lapping is a machining process in which two surfaces are rubbed together with an abrasive between them, by hand movement or using a machine. Lapping often follows other subtractive processes with more aggressive material removal as a first ste ...

.Gear Generation and Finishing Operations, Chap #6

References

Gears {{Mech-engineering-stub