Gear Cutting Components?

[RVJimD]

Good Morning,

i ordered a mill the other day so now I'm shopping for tooling.

the one thing I can't seem to find on Enco is the tooling I need for cutting gears. I don't know enough about it yet to even put in the right search criteria.

I'm looking for the arbor and cutters to make small bevel and spur/pinion sets. I ultimately want to try making some differentials and transfer cases for my RC construction equipment. From my reading here and elsewhere I thought I would find a set of cutters and an arbor. What else would I need to get started. Sorry for the noob question, it's okay if you roll your eyes!

thanks

jim

 

[Bill Gruby]

First off you need to learn the nomenclature for a gear, ie. diametral pitch etc. The cutters you are searching for are called "Involute Gear Cutters". The standards are 1-7. You will need to know the formulas to figure out which one you will need. There is a lot more to gear cutting than just buying a cutter, mounting it and making a gear.

"Billy G"

 

[RVJimD]

I agree. Is there a favorite reference people use?

jim

 

[Bill Gruby]

I'm lucky, I have a Gear Shop close and the owner is a good friend. If you have a Machinerys Handbook it's a good place to start. I will see what I can find for you on the net.

"Billy G"

 

[Bill Gruby]

Here is one, just scroll past Servo Motors.

http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/gears/gears_nomenclature.cfm

"Billy G"

 

[jpfabricator]

Mark leclure on you tube has a down to earth video of the fundamentals making gears.

Jake Parker

 

[RVJimD]

I hadn't thought of looking at Marc's videos yet, I really like his presentations!

here is the book I thought I would start with. It is written by Ivan law.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/08...&pf_rd_r=0DPRF7GM0TNSAZB0KN7P#customerReviews

Jim

 

[DMS]

The book [h=1]Gears & Gear Cutting (Workshop Practice Series 17)[/h]
Is a good general resource. You will also need an indexing fixure, like a spindexer, or dividing head.

 

[RVJimD]

I have a rotary table and indexing plates and tailstock.

Jim

 

[rgray]

I have that Ivan Law book, it is pretty good info. I got most of my gear cutters on ebay. usually can get them under $25.00

If you need a specific one and can't find it on ebay, ...Travers is about the only machining catalog I've found them in.

A gear cutter set is 8 cutters. I have a few sets of 8, but you will probably find that you do not often need all 8. Once you figure out what sizes of gears you need to cut you can get cutters that cut those specific sizes.

English system is DP (diametrical pitch)
Metric gears are modual

DP gears have larger teeth with a lower number. 6DP tooth is much bigger than a 14DP.
Modual gears have larger teeth with a larger number. 1 mod is much smaller than 5 mod.

If that's not confusing enough...the DP cutter numbers and the modual cutter numbers are reversed (#1 DP cutter cuts 135T-rack and a #1 modual cutter cuts 12-13 teeth same as a #8 in DP)

Lots to learn when it comes to gears. If you want to cut helical you might find that easier with a dividing head that can be tilted. You can tilt the mill head but I refuse to do that.