Face gear manufacturing method and apparatus

摘要

A face gear manufacturing operation wherein a set of oversized teeth are formed on a face gear or tapered pinion gear by a gear cutting operation. The oversized teeth are of a predetermined profile. The gear bearing the oversize teeth is then subjected to metallurgical surface hardening operation. At the conclusion of the heat treatment surface hardening operation, the face gear or pinion gear is subjected to a continuous grinding operation wherein a grinding wheel having a worm profile of a predetermined shape is rotated to grind the previously cut teeth to produce a finished tooth profile. The operation is CNC controlled. The gear producing apparatus requires only a slight modification to produce a face gear or a tapered pinion gear by the simple interchange of work heads.