During its Discover 2021 event, Mazak showed shops how they can add gear cutting to their part-processing repertoires and eliminate farming out such work with the company’s INTEGREX i-630V AG HYBRID Multi-Tasking Machine. Equipped with Mazak’s MAZATROL SmoothAi control, SMOOTH Gear Cutting software suite and additional rotary axis scale feedback, the machine eliminates the guesswork often associated with gear cutting, particularly in terms of programming and the synchronization of turning/milling spindles at high rpm. The results are a far more refined cutting action and smoother gear teeth surface finishes.

Designed for heavy-duty 5-axis machining and large, highly complex parts, the INTEGREX i-630V AG employs a powerful turning spindle with C-axis control and a rigid milling spindle with B-axis tilt of -30/+120 degrees, both of which are monitored via rotary axis scale feedback.

For effective gear skiving, machine spindle rpm must remain high and constant, as any fluctuation in the turning spindle or milling spindle speeds will cause vibration and poor surface quality. If either spindle starts to fluctuate or drift off target speed, the SMOOTH Gear Cutting software automatically adjusts cutting parameters. Without the software, such corrections are very difficult to make in real time, if not impossible.

The software operates in the background, allowing the machine to achieve synchronization autonomously. It provides a graphical user interface on the machine’s control, and users simply fill in various fields with information such as number of gear teeth, pressure angles and the like. With this information, the control then generates a program that will run in the background as the toolpath is created.

Working in tandem with the SMOOTH Gear Cutting software, the MAZATROL SmoothAi CNC, Mazak’s next generation of control technology, delivers powerful digital enhancements that add efficiency and value throughout the machining process with the power of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and advanced data management technology. The control incorporates a wide variety of advanced programming functions that allow it to offer complete ease of use along with high-speed, high-accuracy machining performance.