US 11,786,985 B2
Gear machining apparatus and gear machining method
Takuya Nakayama, Nagoya (JP); and Minoru Sato, Okazaki (JP)
Assigned to JTEKT CORPORATION, Kariya (JP)
Filed by JTEKT CORPORATION, Osaka (JP)
Filed on Jan. 16, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/744,432.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-006809 (JP), filed on Jan. 18, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0230724 A1, Jul. 23, 2020
Int. Cl. B23Q 3/157 (2006.01); B23F 5/16 (2006.01); B23F 5/20 (2006.01); B23F 17/00 (2006.01); B23F 21/12 (2006.01); B23F 21/10 (2006.01)
CPC B23F 5/20 (2013.01) [B23F 5/163 (2013.01); B23F 17/006 (2013.01); B23Q 3/15713 (2013.01); Y10T 29/5114 (2015.01); Y10T 29/5176 (2015.01); Y10T 409/105406 (2015.01); Y10T 409/105565 (2015.01); Y10T 409/106201 (2015.01); Y10T 409/108586 (2015.01); Y10T 409/108904 (2015.01); Y10T 483/1705 (2015.01); Y10T 483/1707 (2015.01); Y10T 483/1736 (2015.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gear machining apparatus configured to generate a gear tooth to a workpiece in which a finished shape of a tooth surface of the gear tooth includes an involute shape, the gear machining apparatus comprising:
a rough working tool having
a cylindrical rough working tool main body with an end surface including a plurality of triangular-prism shaped grooves circumferentially arranged on the end surface of the rough working tool main body, and
a plurality of replaceable tool blades formed in a shape of a rhombus or an equilateral triangle, the plurality of replaceable tool blades being fitted in the plurality of grooves of the rough working tool main body and attached to the rough working tool main body, such that the plurality of replaceable tool blades are arranged in a circumferential direction of the rough working tool main body and a respective blade tip of each of the plurality of replaceable tool blades is oriented outward in a respective radial direction of the rough working tool main body;
a finish working tool having
a cylindrical finish working tool main body, and
a plurality of tool blades provided to the finish working tool main body, such that the plurality of tool blades of the finish working tool are arranged in a circumferential direction of the finish working tool main body and a respective blade tip of each of the plurality of tool blades of the finish working tool are oriented outward in a respective radial direction of the finish working tool main body;
a tool spindle which rotatably supports each of the rough working tool and the finish working tool;
a workpiece spindle which rotatably supports the workpiece and which is movable relative to the tool spindle;
a tool magazine which is capable of housing the rough working tool and the finish working tool;
a tool changer which is configured to replace the rough working tool and the finish working tool with respect to the tool spindle;
a rough machining controller which is configured to control the tool spindle and the workpiece spindle to perform a rough machining on the workpiece to perform a skiving operation to generate the gear tooth such that the gear tooth has an unfinished shape, such that the rough working tool is rotated about a center line that extends in an axial direction of the rough working tool, the workpiece is rotated about a center line that extends in an axial direction of the workpiece, and the workpiece spindle moves axially so that the workpiece is moved relative to the rough working tool along the center line that extends in the axial direction of the workpiece; and
a finish machining controller which is configured to control the tool spindle and the workpiece spindle to perform a finish machining on the workpiece to generate the finished shape of the tooth surface of the gear tooth, such that the finish working tool is rotated about a center line that extends in an axial direction of the finish working tool, the workpiece is rotated about the center line that extends in the axial direction of the workpiece, and the workpiece spindle moves axially so that the workpiece is moved relative to the finish working tool along the center line that extends in the axial direction of the workpiece,
wherein the rough working tool is a shape that cannot generate the involute shape by a skiving operation, and
wherein the finish working tool is a shape that can generate the involute shape by a skiving operation.