El machining It is the set of industrial processes, carried out on a raw material, by means of which material is eliminated in it in a controlled manner. Generally It is made on metallic material, from which both the desired shape and size are obtained for numerous applications in all types of industrial fields.

At CLR, the processes used for gear machining are those of Chip removal and, to a lesser extent, that of abrasion.

In this article we will learn how manufacturing is carried out Of gears at CLR and what parts we can manufacture to obtain the best results.

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What is gear machining

El gear machining is the set of industrial processes by which the different gears are manufactured and shaped from a raw material that undergoes different treatments.

For these purposes,And file and cut the material (usually metallic, but it can also be another raw material, such as Plastic which is becoming more widespread) in a controlled way until the desired size and characteristics are obtained.

Nowadays it can be said that gears are used in all industrial sectors in their most diverse forms; usually all or almost all of the machines used throughout manufacturing processes include gears. In particular, all those machines that incorporate thermal or electric motors use them.

The fact that there is a great need for gear machining means that this process, which was once done by hand, has lived important technological developments, both in the machines and in the tools used for the machining, turning and milling of gear teeth.

• La gear cutter can carve ribbed axes with few splines or with a divider mechanism, although the latter modality is in disrepair.
• In the industry, each cutter is intended for a specific use of production, which is why each of these machines has a programming of specific transmissions and specific work constants.
• Large-production cutters are used to machine normal helical and straight cylindrical gears.

Depending on the different types of machining that are carried out, they result different types of gears, such as straight teeth, screw and wheel gears, conical gears (both straight and oblique teeth), helical tooth gears and hypoids.

Phases of gear machining

The main phases are as follows:

1. Raw material

La raw material from which it is started for gear machining it is usually the steel in its different forms (cast, malleable, etc.), ferrous metals, cast iron, superalloys or hardened materials.

However, they can also be used synthetic materials of very different types or, even, wood. As for the type of surface of these raw materials, they can be curved or flat, with grooves, notches, etc.

2. Turned (bolt)

The gear turning process is based on the rotation of the part you want to work on.

The machine being used performs a Forward displacement, fixing the part between the centering points or holding it in the head. The tool also performs the Cutting motion.

Thanks to turning, the part called bolt, a cylindrical-shaped piece, which is obtained by removing chips.

They exist different types of lathe in a machining center, such as:

• El frontal, designed for short but large diameter parts
• El vertical, so called because in it the main axis, in reference to the ground, adopts that position
• El parallel lathe, which adjusts the cutting motion to the rotating part
• The lathe CNC, the most advanced of all, it uses numerical control. This is the one we use at CLR for our part machining.
• El automatic lathe, that does not require the presence of an operator and works according to a schedule. It is used especially with metal parts and its purpose is to produce high volumes of parts with the same dimensions and peculiarities.

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3. Milling (pinion)

Milling is the phase of machining that makes it possible to achieve the gear pinion with different shapes.

Whereas, in traditional milling machines, the different shapes are achieved by moving the areas to be machined towards the tool, In advanced milling, the entire process is carried out with a CNC machine, also called numerical control.

An ISO programming code is responsible for guiding the operations, through which it goes 'indicing' to the machine which routes they are the ones you should follow. The numerical control of this entire process guarantees the best results.

4. Drilled

El Drilling is the process for making holes in the pieces. It consists of carrying out a Cut in the material thanks to the rotation of a drill bit, which makes a hole in the material removing chips.

In the drill The shape and diameter are programmed, among other characteristics, of the material available.

Among the various types of drilling, the following stand out:

• Spot drilling, central drilling or deep drilling.
• For small diameter holes, micro drills are applied.
• High-speed interpolation drilling and vibration drilling meet specific needs.

What are the processes for machining sprockets and gears?

The two main processes for machining sprockets and gears are abrasion and chip removal.

1. Machining by abrasion

Machining using an abrasion process consists of detachment of material from the surface of the raw material, due to the friction produced by the grinding wheel.

La millstone It is made up of small very hard and abrasive particles, joined together by a binder.

One of the great advantages of this process is that offers great precision and an excellent finish.

As for the drawbacks, it should be noted that it requires long production times.

2. Machining with chip removal

In the chip removal technique, the roughing processes. This is based on remove a lot of material crudely and, in the finishing process, whose objective is to give the piece the surface finish of the different faces, eliminating the material with great precision.

For chip removal to occur, there must be both the Main movement - the cutting one - Like the forward movement.

• The main or cutting movement is responsible for removing the material from the part according to the desired finish.
• The forward movement directs the trajectory while the main movement is being carried out.

The main advantages of this gear machining system are:

• La versatility, since it offers the possibility of making a wide variety of shapes.
• The fact that it allows the raw material retains all its properties mechanical.
• In addition to this, it is possible to obtain a good finish.
• This machining process is easily automatable when you have the right machinery.

On the contrary, among the drawbacks of this technique are the large number of wasted material, the largest energy use which requires or certain limitations in finishing and precision. The size of the pieces being worked on is limited, since it has to adjust to the characteristics of the machine-available tool.

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Machines for machining parts

For the machining of the parts, a series of specific machine tools are used in the industry, which can be manual, semiautomatic or automatic. The most used in CLR are the following:

Windlass

The lathe is a set of machines and tools with which you can Cut the chip from geometrically shaped pieces (MP) until you get the finish you are looking for.

Its operating system is rotate the part to be machined, which is held in the head, while, at the same time, one or more cutting tools perform a regulated movement of Move against the surface of the part.

Sometimes, the lathe allows working with rotating motorized tools and leaving the part fixed, allowing operations such as off-center drilling, keyrings, interfaces and others.

A first distinction between lathes can be between a parallel and a vertical one:

• In the case of the former, parallel, the chip removal is Adjust to the rotating part.
• In the vertical, the lathe is driven by a CNC and is usually used for large parts. A CNC CNC lathe with numerical control is the most ideal, due to its functional structure, for revolving parts.

In the case of needing the mechanization of pieces with several steps, is usually used to copier-type lathe, in which an electronic and a hydraulic device are used in combination.

Milling machine

Along with lathes, milling machines are the most versatile and universal tools.

Its operating system is Rip off the chip from the semi-finished piece through the movement of a rotary tool with several cutting edges, called a milling cutter.

What characterizes milling machines is that The forward movement is held by the base of the milling machine on which the part is fixed, while the rotary tool is responsible for carrying out the cutting movement.

At CLR we have both fconventional milling machines such as with numerical control milling machines. Milling machines are very useful for obtaining rollers, prototypes, supports, ball joints, valve bodies or spindles.

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Mortzer

The mortiser, also known as vertical filing machine, is a machine that manufactures parts by removing chips, just like the lathe and the milling machine.

The difference, in this case, is that the cutting motion is caused by the tool that moves lengthwise and vertically; on the other hand, the forward movement is carried out by the table of the machine on which the part is fixed.

With the mortiser it is possible obtain geometric shapes copying the tool profile.

This type of machinery has a intensive use for contouring for levers, cams or plates, as well as for machining grooves.

Broaching machine

The broaching machine is a machine tool that allows Mechanize the keychain of the fixed gears, with the intention of fixing them to the axle with a key and giving rise to a connecting element.

The tool used for this purpose is called a brush and its design allows Each tooth cuts through the material in small proportions.

The broaching machine processes surfaces that are arranged parallel to its generator with a rectilinear movement.

It is used for create slots using multiedge cutting tools. When, starting from cylindrical holes, Do you want to obtain polygonal shapes, broaching is used, although it is also used for the manufacture of helical surfaces, since it provides great precision to the process and allows it to be developed in a short time.

The broaching machine is composed of the Bench, which is the main support; the table, in which the part to be machined is held; and the tractor arm or impeller, which transports power in a rectilinear direction.

The mortiser and the broaching machine are very similar machines. They are usually spoken of as if they were the same.

Types of numerical control machines

We have already mentioned throughout the article that there are machines that can be numerically controlled. This means that these machine tools are automated and operate using commands programmed into a storage medium.

There are three types of numerical control machines depending on the trajectory they carry out:

• Those of point-to-point control: neither the trajectory, nor the speed, nor the path are mechanized, but rather the starting and ending points. A punching machine and a drilling machine would fall into this section.
• Those of interpolar control: they are the most versatile. They allow machining to be carried out along different trajectories.
• Las pariaxial control: for example, lathes. These do allow the programming of both movements and speed throughout the trajectory, although this must be parallel to the axes.

What mechanized products CLR can offer

Through the different machining processes, CLR can manufacture a wide variety of parts and components, among which the following stand out:

• Sinfines: auger carving made of brass, aluminum and all types of steels. From module 0.10 to module 2.
• Gears: carving of helical gears, globoidal and straight up to 120 mm and a modulus of 0.10 to 2.
• Personalized products: made of CNC lathes, made of steels and different alloys. Up to a maximum diameter of 200 mm and a length of 400 mm.

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