Posted by The gears and tools are the souls of the equipment and machinery manufacturing industries. Various types and sizes of tools are required to well-function the machines. Similar is the case with “Gear Hob.” A “Gear Hob” is a cylindrical tool with cutting edges on the outer surface. It is specialized for cutting the gear teeth.
When the worker attaches the hob to a gear-cutting machine, it cuts the teeth present on the gear blank while rotating in a circular motion. This whole apparatus is known as a “Hobbing Machine.” Numerous famous manufacturers produce the gear hobs. One of them is “,” from which you can get the perfect tools to get maximum productivity in the various industrial processes.
What are Gear Hob Cutters?
The “Gear Hob Cutters” are cylindrical tools with helical cutting teeth to cut the workpiece to produce different gears. The teeth present in the grooves of the hob along its length help to cut the workpiece into the desired shape while thoroughly removing the chips during the cutting process. The process of generating the gears continuously is called “Gear Hobbing.” These tools are perfect for producing spline gears, helical hearing-bone gears, sprocket gears, and spur gears.
Types of Gear Hobbing Processes
The gear hobbing processes are categorized into three major types based on the directions of cutting the gear hobs. The three different types of gear hobbing processes are-
- Axial Gear Hobbing: In the process of axial gear hobbing, the worker feeds the gear hob along the parallel axis of the gear blank. This process is mainly used for manufacturing spur gears and helical gears.
- Radial Gear Hobbing: Here, the gob and the gear blanks are set at their axis. In the process of radial gear hobbing, the worker feeds the gear gob along the radial or perpendicular direction of the axis of the gear blank. This process is mainly used for making worm wheels.
- Tangential Gear Hobbing: In the process of divergent gear hobbing, the gear gob is set at the maximum depth of the tooth at its horizontal axis perpendicularly to the blank’s axis. Then, the worker feeds the gear hob to the face of the gear blank in the tangential direction to get the desired results. This process is also used for manufacturing worm wheels.
Advantages
There are several advantages of using gear hob cutters in the manufacturing processes of gear hobs. Some of the key advantages are-
- It is a continuous process that results quickly compared to other contemporary methods for producing gear hobs.
- It is economically beneficial because of the manufacturing process’s fast production rate and short cycle time.
- Manufacturers greatly admire this method because it can produce various gears like spline gears, sprockets gears, helical gears, worm gears, spur gears, etc.
- It involves a simple process of indexing, due to which it can produce an accurate number of teeth with high precision.
Conclusion
The gear hob cutters are multipoint cutting tools. They have teeth all around the external surface, which can cut the workpiece by consuming less time. It is very beneficial for manufacturers because it produces desirable results quickly.