MACHINE TOOLS AND METROLOGY

MET 307

Module III

SYLLABUS

• Broaching machines –different machines – cutter for broaching – different broaching processes –
internal external broaching.
• Gear cutting –methods used in gear production – form cutters – gear generating machines – gear
hobbing machines – gear broaching.
• Bevel gear cutting – straight and spiral gears-worm gear cutting –gear finishing operations
Broaching

• Method of removing metal by pushing or pulling a cutting tool called a broach which cuts in fixed
path.
• The tool may be pulled or pushed through the surfaces to be finished.
• Surfaces finished by broaching may be flat or contoured and may be either internal or external.
• Broaching is generally limited to the removal of about 6 mm of
stock or less.
• A broach is a multiple-edges cutting tool that has successively
higher cutting edges along the length of the tool.

Types of Broaches :

Broaches may be classified in various ways, according to,

1. Type of operation: internal or external.

• Broaching of inside surfaces is called internal or hole broaching and of outside surfaces, external or
surface broaching.
• Internal broaching tools are designed to enlarge and cut various contours in holes already made by
drilling, punching, casting, forging, etc.
• External surface broaching competes with milling, planing, shaping, shaping, and similar operations.
High degree of accuracy and excellent surface finish, combined with high output rate and low
downtime.

2. Method of operation : Push or Pull.

• Push broach is one that is designed to be pushed through the W.P by special press or a push
broaching matching.
• Because of the tendency to bend under compressive loads, the push broach must be short & stocky
• Which means fewer teeth are in the broach and, less material can be removed for each pass
• Holes are machined by push broaches only for sizing.
• Pullbroach, the tool is entirely in tension and long slender broaches are possible, having a large
number of teeth, consequently more stock can be removed for each pass
3. Type of construction: solid, built up, inserted tooth, progressive cut, rotor cut,

• When a broach is made in one piece, it is called a solid broach. Internal broaches are
usually of the solid type.
• Broaches are sometimes built up of several sections, and sometimes made up of a
series of teeth inserted in a block of steel. Surface broaches are usually of the built up
or inserted tooth type
• Progressive cut broaches have teeth, a part of which are of the same height along the
broach but have different widths. In progressive cut broaching metal is removed in
thick layers by each tooth from only part of the work-surface. The last teeth of a progressive cut
broach remove a thin layer over the entire profile of the work surface as in ordinary a broaching.
• Rotor cut broaches are used for removing large amounts of material in holes in forgings or castings
where a primary cutting operation is not desired. Teeth are staggered around the periphery at
different sections so as to shear the work and allow chip clearance.
• Burnishing broach makes a glazed or finished surface in a steel, cast iron or nonferrous hole.
Burnishing teeth are round and do not cut but compress and rub the surface metal. The amount of
stock left for burnishing should not exceed 0.025 mm.

4.. Function surface, keyway, round hole, splint, spiral, burnishing, etc.

Cutter for broaching- Broach Elements

• Pull end: This is designed to permit engagement of the broach with the broaching machine
through the use of a puller head.
• Front pilot: This centres the broach in the hole before the teeth begin to cut.
• Roughing and semifinish teeth: They remove most of the stock in the hole.
• Finishing teeth: They are for sizing the hole and must have the shape required of the
finished' hole.
• Rear pilot and follower rest : They
support the broach after the last
tooth leaves the hole.
The form of broach teeth reveals features like those of other cutting tools.

• Land: The top portion of a tooth is called the land and in most cases ground to give a slight
clearance.
• Back off or clearance angle: This corresponds to the relief angle of a single point tool. This is 1.5° to
2° for both cast iron and steel. Finish teeth have a smaller angle ranging from 0 to 1.5°.
• Rake or hook angle or face angle: This corresponds to the rake angle on a lathe tool. The rake angle
varies according to the material being cut, and in general, increases as the ductility increases. Values
of this angle for most steels range from 12 to 15º.
• Pitch: The linear distance from the cutting edge of one tooth to the corresponding edge on the next
tooth is called the pitch and differs for cutting (roughing and semifinish) and finishing teeth.

The height of the roughing and semifinish teeth gradually increases from the shank to the finishing teeth.
This increment, called the cut per tooth, depends on the material being machined and the hole size.

Different broaching processes

Broaching, according to the method of operation, may be classified as follows:

Pull broaching:

• The work is held stationary and the broach is pulled through the work.
• Broaches are usually long and are held in a special head.
• Pull broaching is used mostly for internal broaching but it can do some surface broaching.

Push broaching:

• The work is held stationary and the broach is pushed through the work.
• Hand and hydraulic arbor presses are popular for push broaching
• This method is used mostly for sizing holes and cutting keyways.
Surface broaching:

• Either the work or the broaching tool moves across the other.
• This method has rapidly become an important means of surface finishing.
• Many irregular or intricate shapes can be broached by surface broaching, but the tools must be
specially designed for each job.

Continuous broaching:

• The work is moved continuously and the broach is held stationary.

• The path of movement may be either straight horizontal or circular.
• This method is very suitable for broaching a number of similar works at a time.

Broaching machines – different machines

• Consist of a work holding fixture, a broaching tool, a drive mechanism, and a suitable supporting
frame.
• There are two principal types of machines : horizontal and vertical.
• In addition to these standard types, there are special and continuously operating machines.
• Broaching machines usually pull or push the broach through, or past a W.P that is held in a fixture.
• On some machines the W.P is moved past a broach that is fixed in its position.

Horizontal broaching machines:

• Nearly all horizontal machines are of the pull type.

• Used for either internal or external broaching
• Consists of a bed or a base a little more than twice the length of the broaching stroke, a broach pilot
and the drive mechanism for pulling the broach.
• Used for broaching keyways, splines, slots, round holes, and other internal shapes or contours.
• Take more floor space than do the vertical machines.
Vertical broaching machines:

• Obtained in either push or pull type. The push type is the most popular.
• Vertical machines are employed in multiple operations, since they are
convenient to pass work from one machine to another, and they are
more likely to be found doing surface operations.
• Of the three models available, pull up, pull down, and push down, the
pull up type is most popular.
• Vertical machines require an operator platform or a pit and are
economical of floor space than the horizontal type.

Surface broaching machine:

• Broaching tools attached to a ram or rams forced in a straight path along guideways past the W.P.
• On some machines the ram moves horizontally, on others vertically.
• When two rams are used, the machine is called a duplex broach.

Continuous broaching machines:

• For mass production of small parts, the highly productive continuous broaching method is used on
rotary or horizontal continuous-broaching machines.
• Rotary continuous broaching machines
✓ W.P is loaded on the table which rotates continuously.
✓ During the operation the broach is stationary.
• Horizontal continuous broaching machines
✓ [Link] travel as they are carried by an endless chain.
✓ [Link] are loaded into work holding fixtures mounted on the continuously moving chain.
✓ During the operation, the broach is stationary as before.
✓ Such machines are used for broaching small parts.
Gear Manufacturing

• Manufacture of gears needs several processing operations in sequential stages depending upon the
material and type of the gears and quality desired
• The most commonly practiced method is preforming the blank by casting, forging etc. followed by
pre-machining to prepare the gear blank to desired dimensions and then production of the teeth by
machining and further finishing by grinding if necessary.
• Those stages generally are :
– Preforming the blank without or with teeth
– Producing teeth or finishing the preformed teeth by machining
– Finishing teeth, if required, by shaving, grinding etc.

Preforming Gear Blanks

Casting
Gear blanks and even gears along with teeth requiring substantial to little machining or finishing are
produced by various casting processes.

• Sand casting :
– The blanks of large cast iron gears, made one or few pieces.
– Then the blank is prepared to appropriate dimensions and the teeth are produced by machining
that cast preform.
– Complete gears with teeth can also be directly produced.
– Used at low speed in machineries like farm machinery and hand operated devices where gear
accuracy and finish are not that much required.
• Die casting
– Large lot or mass production of small gears of low melting point
– Reasonably accurate gears are directly or after little further finishing
– Used under light load and moderate speeds, for example in instruments, camera, toys.
• Investment casting
– Near-net-shape method. For producing small to medium size gears
– High accuracy and surface finish hardly requiring further finishing.
– These relatively costly gears are generally used under heavy loads and stresses.
Manufacture of gears by rolling
• Straight and helical teeth of disc or rod type external steel gears
• Small to medium diameter and module are generated by cold rolling
• Imparts high accuracy and surface integrity of the teeth which are formed by
material flow unlike cutting.
• Gear rolling is reasonably employed for high productivity and high quality
• Larger size gears are formed by hot rolling and then finished by machining

Powder metallurgy
• Small size high quality external or internal spur, bevel or spiral gears
• Large size gears are rolled after briquetting and sintering for more strength and life.
• Powder metallurgically produced gears hardly require any further finishing work.

Blanking in Press tool

• Mass production of small and thin metallic gears requiring less accuracy and finish
• Blanking from sheets by suitably designed die and punch.
• Gears are used for clocks, watches, meters, toys etc.
Extrusion process
• High quality small metallic or non metallic external gears in large quantity by extrusion.
• Number of gears of desired width are obtained by parting from the extruded rod of gear – section.

Production of Gear Teeth by Machining

• The preformed blanks of approximate shape and irregular surface are machined to desired
dimensions and finish.
• Then the teeth are produced generally by machining and occasionally by rolling.
• Gear teeth are produced by machining based on:

Forming / Form Cutting:

• Involves finish machining of gear teeth to a predetermined profile by means of form cutters or single
point reciprocating form tools.

• The gear cutter that has the same form or shape as the space between two adjacent teeth.
1. Gear milling (form milling)
– Sub-divided into milling by disc cutters and milling by end mill cutter which are having the shape
of tooth space
– Gear teeth can be produced by both disc and end mill type form milling cutter.
– Capable of cutting every type of gear by employing an indexing mechanism and a form cutter.
– Cutter may be operated on a vertical or horizontal type of milling machine.
– The cutter rotates on the spindle and work reciprocates under the cutter.
– After one tooth space is cut, the gear blank is rotated (indexed ) to cut another tooth

2. Shaping, planing and slotting

• Figure below shows teeth of straight toothed spur gear produced in shaping machine.
• Both productivity and product quality are very low in this process
• For repair and maintenance purpose
• Planing machine is used for making teeth of large gears
• Slotting for internal gears.
Gear Broaching

• Used to produce gear teeth and is particularly

applicable to internal teeth

• The process is rapid and produces fine surface finish with high dimensional accuracy.

• Broaches are expensive and a separate broach is required for each size of gear

• This method is suitable mainly for high-quantity production

Template methods

• Suitable for manufacturing large gears.

• A planer may be used, and a suitable template attached to the work gear may serve as a guide for
manually feeding a suitable cutting tool.

• The operator adjusts the cutting tool to follow the outline of the template.

• Larger straight tooth bevel gears are usually cut using a template method.

Generation

• Gear teeth are generated in the gear blank because of the relative rolling motion of the cutter and
the blank.

• The principle of generating process is based on the fact that any two involute gears of the same
module will mesh together.

• Out of two mating gears one is used as a cutter and is made to reciprocate or fed continuously along
the entire width of the gear blank while still rotating as a mating gear, So that the pitch surface of
the cutter rolls without slipping on the pitch surface of the gear, an accurate tooth profile can be
generated.

Gears may be by a generated by :

✓ Gear shaping:

1. Rack shaped type cutter

2. Pinion Shaped Cutter

✓ Gear hobbing
Rack Shaped Cutter

• Cutting action is similar to a shaping m/c.

• The cutter reciprocates rapidly & removes metal only during cutting stroke.

• Blank is rotated slowly but uniformly about its axis, & b/w each cutting stroke of the cutter, the
cutter advances along its length at a speed equal to the rolling speed of the mating pitch lines.

• Not practical to have more than 6 to 12 teeth on a rack cutter. Hence cutter must be disengaged at
suitable intervals & returned to the starting point

Gear shaping with a pinion-shaped cutter

• Similar to the rack type cutting process, excepting that, the linear type rack cutter is replaced by a
circular cutter.
• Both the cutter and the blank rotate as a pair of spur gears in addition to the reciprocation of the
cutter.
• Cutter is fed radially into the gear blank equal to the depth of tooth required.
• The cutter is then given reciprocating cutting motion parallel to its axis and the cutter and blank are
made to rotate slowly about their axis at speeds which are equal at the mating pitch surfaces.
• This rolling movement between the blank and the cutter is continued until all the teeth on the blank
are cut.
• The pinion gear may be reciprocated either in vertical or in horizontal axis.
Gear hobbing

• Method of generating gear teeth by the use of a

rotating worm shaped cutter called hob.
• Hob revolves like a milling cutter & flutes are cut
across the threads, forming rack shaped cutting teeth.
• The hobs are either single threaded ion or multi-
threaded.
• A single threaded hob will complete one revolution for generation of each tooth whereas a double
threaded will generate two teeth in its one revolution.
• In this way double threaded hob takes less time in finishing the gear blank.
• The advantage with the use of single case threaded hob lies in the fact that it is capable of giving
greater accuracy.

• The gear blank is first moved in toward the rotating hob until the proper depth is reached.
• As soon as the proper depth is reached, the hob cutter is fed across the face of the gear until the
teeth are complete, both gear and cutter rotating during the entire process.
Gear finishing operations

• After gear cutting, it is rare that a gear is entirely free of all errors in index, tooth profile,
eccentricity, surface smoothness and helix angle.
• The Purpose of gear finishing is to eliminate or substantially reduce these possible errors
• So that gears will run quietly and smoothly when transmitting large amounts of power at high
rotational speeds.

It includes:

✓ Gear Shaving
✓ Gear Burnishing
✓ Gear Grinding
✓ Gear Lapping

Gear Shaving

• Process of finishing gear teeth by running the gear at high speed in mesh with a gear shaving tool
which is in the form of a rack or pinion

Rotary shaving:

• Gives gears an over-all accuracy.

• The cutter used has the shape of an accurate gear, which will mesh with
work gear.
• Grooves/ gashes are cut in the sides of each cutter gear tooth extending
in the direction from top to bottom.
• The edges of these gashes are sharp so they are able to shave the tooth of a work gear.
• The cutter and work gear are meshed together in a gear shaving machine
• During shaving the cutter axis is set crossed to the work axis at an angle so as to avoid burnishing.
• While cutting, the cutter and the gear rotate in close mesh with each other.
• The work also traverses back and forth longitudinally, across the shaving tool.
Rack-type tool:

• Gear is mounted on a reciprocating arbor and is brought in

mesh with a horizontal rack situated under it.
• The rack is reciprocated longitudinally at high speed and
the gear across it.
• The lengthwise movement of the rack type tool also rotates the gear.
• Suits only small gears.

Gear Burnishing

• Cold-working operation accomplished by rolling the gear in contact and

under pressure with three hardened burnishing gears.

Gear Grinding

• Hardened gears are difficult to finish by the shaving & burnishing methods. Since the heat treatment
may cause severe distortion and oxide film formation on teeth.
• Therefore there is a necessity for removing considerable stock from the teeth.
• With the grinding method it is possible to finish the heat treated gears.
• The application of this method is limited because it is slower and more expensive.
• However, it guarantees production of highest quality gears.
• The grinding may be carried on generating principle or employing formed wheels.
• The disadvantage of gear grinding is that considerable time is consumed in the process.
• Also, the surfaces of the teeth have small scratches or ridges that increase both wear and noise.
• To eliminate the latter defect ground gears are frequently lapped.
Gear Lapping

• Gear lapping is a micro finishing process

performed on the gear after hardening.
• This method is based on the finishing of the gear
teeth profiles using a lapping tool (called a lap)
and fine-grained abrasive, with the purpose of
imparting a high accuracy and fine surface finish
to the gear teeth.
• It is, however, impossible to correct considerable errors by lapping.
• Prolonged lapping associated with large allowance, besides being time-consuming, may distort the
gear profile and impair the teeth accuracy.
• Usually, lapping is performed on special machines using three laps made of soft and fine-grained
cast iron, where a lapping compound (oil and fine abrasives) is applied to the tools.
• Figure shows a setup for lapping a spur gear.
• The gear meshes with the laps, one of which is the driver lap.
• The axis of one of the laps is parallel to the axis of the work gear, whereas the axes of other two laps
cross with the gear axis at an angle of 3-5°.
• This setup increases the sliding of the abrasive grains across the surface of the tooth. Besides
rotation of gear and laps, the work gear imparts an axial reciprocating movement to speed up the
process and improve its quality.

Gear Honing

• Honing is the last operation performed on the hardened gears. It also helps in
correcting gear errors.

• Honing removes minor nicks and burrs, gives a fine surface finish on the gear
contacting surfaces.

• Gears so finished find applications in gear trains where a low noise level is
desirable

• It is used for super finishing of the generated gear teeth.

• Honing machines are generally used for this operation.

• The hones are rubbed against the profile generated on the gear tooth.