GE25CF, the hobbing machine that can perform both cutting and chamferingJapan-based
Nidec Machine Tool Corporation has launched the
GE25CF, a hobbing machine that can perform both gear cutting and chamfering operations. Amid the growing demand for lower noise and better transmission efficiency for electric vehicles (EVs) and other products, the company has developed the GE25CF to fulfill the needs for better productivity, automation, and labour-saving in the manufacturing of high-precision gears.
In addition, by adopting the generating method, a gear-machining method that uses screw-type tools to generate a shape based on a synchronised motion of the tools and a gear to be machined to manufacture high-precision gears with maximum efficiency, GE25CF can chamfer a shape more accurately than in the conventionally mainstream ‘phrasing process’, a machining method that uses a phrasing cutter to roll both ends of a gear to generate a chamfering shape, and remove burrs from coarse processing as well.
Furthermore, GE25CF boasts a smallest-in-class size as a hobbing machine with an integrated chamfering function. The highly accurate machine, while based on the the company’s established GE series hobbing machines, is a process-intensive model equipped with both hobbing and chamfering functions. To ensure accurate chamfering after a hobbing process, the GE25CF adopts a generating-method-based cutting and removal system that uses ChamferX, a dedicated tool that the company developed.
Unlike in the phrasing process, this system does not generate any metal embossment (secondary burrs) toward tooth flanks and end faces, and thus secures a high quality of gear faces. In addition, the system can chamfer a root (an operation difficult to perform with the phrasing process), secure a chamfering width of 1mm or wider, and remove burrs from the hobbing process.
Pictured right: a gear (left) and ChamferX (right), a dedicated chamfering toolBetter productivity and operability — to secure better productivity, GE25CF adopts a ring loader for workpiece (object to be machined) exchange, enabling simultaneous hobbing and chamfering operations. Capable of performing chamfering within hobbing time, GE25CF has successfully shortened cycle time.
Further, to be a user-friendly product, GE25CF has, among other features, a wider opening to its front door, and an operating board with a rotary joint, making itself highly operator-friendly and maintainable. Moreover, the width of its chamfering unit at a smallest-in-class level, the GE25CF is ideal for making compact line layouts, and for automated and labour-efficient operations via process integration.
ChamferX, the dedicated tool that works with machines to realise high-speed and high-accuracy processing, is designed, manufactured, and sold by Nidec Machine Tool, and leverages cutting-edge tool-designing simulations to enable on-target chamfering and deburring. In addition, thanks to their long lives, ChamferX’s tools boast low exchange frequency, while the company provides after-sales services such as resharpening and recoating, reducing ChamferX’s total running costs.