By combining shaping and milling actions, or smilling, the cutting tool can move through the entire usable portion of the spline and machine a tool relief into the face of the adjacent feature such as a shoulder before retracting, reversing direction, and repeating the cycle. The smilling apparatus and manufacturing method eliminates the need for an annular spline relief and the full length of spline engagement can be utilized for strength. The effective width of the spline connection apparatus manufactured by the smilling process conserves space and increases the load carrying capability of the spline connection.

The invention relates to a method for loading and unloading an internally toothed workpiece or a workpiece that is to be provided with internal toothing into/out of a clamping position, in which the workpiece, which is held by a retaining device, is brought into the clamping position by means of a conveying movement so that said workpiece, when clamped, has internal toothing cut by a gear cutting tool that occupies a cutting chamber and, after cutting, said workpiece, which is held by the retaining device, is returned from the clamping position in a return movement, wherein, prior to cutting, the retaining device is permitted to carry out an evasive movement that is different from the return movement/reverse conveying movement and that frees the cutting chamber, or the cutting chamber is already kept free of the retaining device as soon as the clamping position is reached.

The invention relates to a method for machining the tip circle diameter of a tooth system (4) of a gearwheel (6), in which the gearwheel (6) rotates about a workpiece axis of rotation (Rw), and in which at least one tooth (9) of the tooth system (4) is machined, by removing chips, by means of a tool (7, 7) that rotates about a tool axis of rotation (Rz) oriented at an axial distance (A, A) relative to the workpiece axis of rotation (Rw). According to the invention, the tool (7, 7) is disk-shaped, the disk-shaped tool (7, 7) machines the tip surface (8) of the tooth (9), by removing chips, with at least one partial segment (10a) of its circumferential edge configured as a defined blade (10), wherein a relative movement between the tool (7, 7) and the gearwheel (6), oriented in the axial direction of the tooth system (4), is carried out during the chip-removing machining, as a consequence of which movement the tool (7, 7) sweeps over the tip surface (8), and the tool axis of rotation (Rz) is oriented at an axis intersection angle (?) of 5? to 40? with respect to the workpiece axis of rotation (Rw). In this way, efficient and highly precise machining of the tip circle diameter is made possible. The invention also states a method for producing a gearwheel, in which the tooth system (4) is produced on a gearwheel blank (5) by means of hob peeling before machining of the tip circle diameter according to the invention, as well as a combination tool, in which a hob-peeling wheel for producing the gearwheel and a disk-shaped tool for machining the tip circle diameter according to the invention are combined with each other.

A method for producing gears, wherein in a first step a set of teeth is formed by means of a skiving wheel rotationally driven by a tool spindle in a workpiece gear rotationally driven synchronously thereto by a workpiece spindle, wherein the workpiece spindle and the tool spindle are at an axis intersection angle to each other and the advancement occurs in the tooth-flank extension direction, and wherein in a second step at least some teeth of the set of teeth are machined by means of a tooth-machining tool. A combined tool is used, in the case of which the toothmachining tool and the skiving wheel are fixedly connected to each other. Between the two steps, the combined tool remains connected to the tool spindle and the workpiece gear remains connected to the workpiece spindle. Between the two steps, merely the relative position of the tool spindle in relation to the workpiece spindle and the rotational speed ratio of the two spindles are changed.

The present invention achieves a machining apparatus which can easily be composed and a machining method which can perform gear machining or splined shaft machining easily by using an existing lathe. More specifically, the invention achieves a machining apparatus 1 comprising: a cutter 11 which includes a blade part 20 formed in the shape of a ring around a peripheral surface thereof and which is driven to rotate about an axis thereof; a workpiece holder 13 which holds a workpiece W rotatably; and a cutter driver 12 which moves the cutter 11 and the workpiece W relative to each other along an axial direction, wherein a gear or a splined shaft is formed on the peripheral surface of the workpiece W by synchronizing the rotation of the workpiece W with the relative movement of the cutter 11 and the workpiece W and by rotating the cutter 11, and wherein a plurality of the blade parts 20 are disposed side by side along the axis, the cutter driver 12 drives the cutter 11 to rotate in one direction around the axis and to reciprocate relative to the workpiece W along the axis, the workpiece holder 13 rotates the workpiece W in a forward/reverse direction in accordance with reciprocation of the cutter 11, and cutting is performed on the workpiece W so as to form thereon an external shape of a gear or a splined shaft by placing each of the blade parts 20 of the cutter 11 in contact with the peripheral surface of the workpiece W.

A method for providing teeth on working gears by cutting, wherein the working gear and the cutting tool are driven in rotation at a predetermined speed ratio along axes oriented at an intersection angle. The flanks of the cutting teeth form edges having flank cutting sections arranged on the edges of a gap between two adjacent teeth and extend along a first contour line, and which as a result of an advance in the direction of the working gear engage in a cutting manner to produce teeth having a flank contour predetermined by the shape of the cutting edge. Each of the flank cutting sections is adjoined by a tip cutting section which extends along a second contour line in the region of the base of the cutting tooth gap, wherein the second contour line is curved such that at least partially rounded tooth tips are produced on the teeth.

By combining shaping and milling actions, or smilling, the cutting tool can move through the entire usable portion of the spline and machine a tool relief into the face of the adjacent feature such as a shoulder before retracting, reversing direction, and repeating the cycle. The smilling apparatus and manufacturing method eliminates the need for an annular spline relief and the full length of spline engagement can be utilized for strength. The effective width of the spline connection apparatus manufactured by the smilling process conserves space and increases the load carrying capability of the spline connection.

The present invention achieves a machining apparatus which can easily be composed and a machining method which can perform gear machining or splined shaft machining easily by using an existing lathe. More specifically, the invention achieves a machining apparatus 1 comprising: a cutter 11 which includes a blade part 20 formed in the shape of a ring around a peripheral surface thereof and which is driven to rotate about an axis thereof; a workpiece holder 13 which holds a workpiece W rotatably; and a cutter driver 12 which moves the cutter 11 and the workpiece W relative to each other along an axial direction, wherein a gear or a splined shaft is formed on the peripheral surface of the workpiece W by synchronizing the rotation of the workpiece W with the relative movement of the cutter 11 and the workpiece W and by rotating the cutter 11, and wherein a plurality of the blade parts 20 are disposed side by side along the axis, the cutter driver 12 drives the cutter 11 to rotate in one direction around the axis and to reciprocate relative to the workpiece W along the axis, the workpiece holder 13 rotates the workpiece W in a forward/reverse direction in accordance with reciprocation of the cutter 11, and cutting is performed on the workpiece W so as to form thereon an external shape of a gear or a splined shaft by placing each of the blade parts 20 of the cutter 11 in contact with the peripheral surface of the workpiece W.

The present disclosure relates to a gear cutting machine for gear cutting a workpiece, in particular a toothed wheel, by form milling having at least one cutter head for mounting at least one end mill, wherein the cutter head or the end mill and/or the workpiece mount are adjustable and the end mill axis can be aligned approximately parallel to the machined tooth flank of the clamped workpiece, and wherein the cutter axis can be applied to the flank contour and the end mill has an outer contour corresponding to the flank contour.

The invention relates to a method for loading and unloading an internally toothed workpiece or a workpiece that is to be provided with internal toothing into/out of a clamping position, in which the workpiece, which is held by a retaining device, is brought into the clamping position by means of a conveying movement so that said workpiece, when clamped, has internal toothing cut by a gear cutting tool that occupies a cutting chamber and, after cutting, said workpiece, which is held by the retaining device, is returned from the clamping position in a return movement, wherein, prior to cutting, the retaining device is permitted to carry out an evasive movement that is different from the return movement/reverse conveying movement and that frees the cutting chamber, or the cutting chamber is already kept free of the retaining device as soon as the clamping position is reached.