Which type of cutter should be chosen for Crowning Profile? Single Gear Cutter & Hobs Gear Cutter

What is the special form of pinion gears called crowning profile?

If you are interested in gear manufacturing, you may have heard of a technique called crowning. Crowning is a way of modifying the tooth surface of a pinion gear to improve its performance and reduce noise and vibration. In this blog post, I will explain what crowning is, how it works, and why it is beneficial for automotive applications. We will also find the answer to the question of what the most suitable cutter should be.

Crowning is a process that involves changing the chordal thickness of the tooth along its axis. This means that the tooth is thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends. This modification eliminates end bearing by offering a contact bearing in the center of the gear. Crowning also helps to compensate for gear axes misalignment, which is a common problem in car transmissions. Misalignment causes the shift of the bearing contact toward the edge of the gear tooth surfaces and transmission errors that increase noise excitation.

By applying crowning to the pinion gear, we can achieve a localized bearing contact and a favorable type of transmission error for misaligned gears. A localized bearing contact reduces the contact stress and wear on the tooth surface. A favorable type of transmission error means that the error is minimized or absorbed by the pinion tooth surface, resulting in less vibration and noise.

Crowning can be performed in different ways, depending on the desired shape and function of the pinion tooth surface. Some common methods are:

• Gear generation: This method uses a gear cutting machine with a modified cutter or grinding wheel to generate the crowned tooth surface. The cutter or wheel can have a convex or concave shape, or a combination of both, to produce different types of crowning profiles.
• Center-less finishing: This method uses a center-less grinding machine with a modified wheel to finish the pinion tooth surface after gear generation. The wheel can have a convex or concave shape, or a combination of both, to produce different types of crowning profiles.
• Topological modification: This method uses a computer-controlled machine with a special software to modify the pinion tooth surface according to a predefined function. This method can provide any desirable deviation of the crowned tooth surface from a regular involute tooth surface.

Crowning is a useful technique for improving the quality and performance of pinion gears, especially for automotive applications where noise and vibration are critical factors. Crowning can reduce noise by up to 10 times, as well as decrease vibration, wear and power draw. Crowning can also extend the life span and reliability of the gear drive.

This type of gear profile can be produced with Hobs Type Cutter tools, not with Single Cutter type. Additionally, since it is a high-cost cutting tool, you can work with experts in their field.

Therefore, I can do my best for you.