Gear Grinding Machine Introduction
The gear grinding machine is a machine tool used to grind various cylindrical gears, bevel gears, and other toothed parts. Gear grinding machines are widely used in various manufacturing industries such as automobiles, tractors, machinery, engineering machinery, mining machinery, metallurgical machinery, petroleum, instrumentation, aircraft, and spacecraft.
Traditional Indexing Head
The indexing head is a machine tool attachment installed on a milling machine used to divide the workpiece into arbitrary equal parts. It uses an indexing scale ring and a vernier to locate pins and indexing discs as well as exchange gears to divide the workpiece into any angle. It can divide the circumference into arbitrary equal parts and assist the machine tool in using various tools of different shapes to perform various machining operations such as grooves, spur gears, helical gears, and camshafts. Universal indexing head has the following functions:
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It can divide the workpiece into any number of equal parts or divide it into linear intervals.
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It can clamp the workpiece at the required angle (vertical, horizontal, or inclined).
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By exchanging gears, the indexing head can be connected to the worktable drive system, allowing the indexing head spindle to rotate continuously with the worktable feed motion, thereby cutting helical surfaces and contour surfaces.
Gear Hobbing Machine
A gear hobbing machine is used to rough and finish various types of gears, such as straight gears, helical gears, herringbone gears, and worm gears. The gear hobbing machine has a wide range of applications and can achieve high precision or high productivity. Gear hobbing is a commonly used machining method for manufacturing various gears. The gear shape can be created in a single hobbing process by adjusting the machining parameters. Due to the simplicity of the gear hobbing process, the manufacturing efficiency of gears is very high, and the machining quality is excellent. Compared with other gear machining methods such as gear grinding and gear planing, gear hobbing is indeed an important machining method.
Gear Grinding Machine
A gear grinding machine is a high-precision machine tool used for grinding the tooth surfaces of hardened cylindrical gears or gear cutting tools using a grinding wheel. This course introduces gear grinding machines that are structurally similar to gear hobbing machines, but the gear cutting tool spindle is replaced with a grinding wheel.
Gear Shaping Machine
A gear shaping machine is a machine tool that uses a shaping cutter to machine the tooth profile of gears, racks, and other toothed parts. This machining method is called "gear shaping." When gear shaping, the shaping cutter performs up-and-down cutting motion, while simultaneously rotating with the workpiece. The gear shaping machine is mainly used for machining multi-link gears and internal gears. With the addition of special attachments, it can also machine racks. Moreover, using dedicated tools on a gear shaping machine, non-circular gears, incomplete gears, and inner and outer forming surfaces, such as square holes, hexagonal holes, and keyways (keys integrated with the shaft) can also be machined. The machining accuracy can reach 7-5 levels, and the maximum machinable workpiece diameter is 12 meters.
Conclusion
Gear cutting machines are essential tools in the manufacturing industry for producing a wide range of gears for various applications. The different types of gear cutting machines, such as gear hobbing machines, gear shaping machines, and gear grinding machines, offer different advantages and are used depending on the specific requirements of the gear being produced. These machines have made it possible to produce gears with high precision and consistency, making them an integral part of modern manufacturing processes.
