Spur cylindrical gears are usually cut using a hob and therefore present an essentially straight face to which crowning can be added to prevent edge contact. Rather than using a rack or hob, it is possible to cut cylindrical gears with a face mill cutter. In the following presentation, these gears are termed "spurved," i.e. — a contraction of "spur" and "curved."

Is a left-hand cutter required for a left-hand face mill part?

When I graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1978, I landed a job in the “cold section” at Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) in Montreal. In those d...

Contrary to what appears to be popular belief, 5-axis CNC gear manufacturing is not limited to milling with end mill, ball mill or CoSIMT (Conical Side Milling Tool — it is the generic form of the Sandvik InvoMill and Gleason UpGear tools.) tools, where throughput is too low to prevent production at any significant level. Straight and spiral bevel gear manufacturing on 5-axis CNC machines using face mill cutters provides essentially the same throughput as conventional gear cutting machines — with added benefits.

The theory behind the latest bevel gear cutting tools is explained in detail.

Watching the movie Deepwater Horizon got me thinking about current attitudes on workplace safety. (Full disclosure — I am a bit of a cr...