Multi-component gear cutting tool

A multi-component gear cutting tool that is rotatable about an axis of rotation. The gear cutting tool includes a tool body extending axially lengthwise between a first end and a second end with the tool body being made of a first material. The gear cutting tool further includes a cutting tip attached to the tool body at one of the first end and the second end. The cutting tip includes an outer axial-facing cutting end with the cutting end having a plurality of cutting faces. The cutting tip is made of a second material different than the first material and the cutting tip is attached to the tool body via brazing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to cutting tools and particularly to multi-component gear cutting tools for power skiving or shaping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Power skiving and shaping are well known processes for manufacturing internal and external teeth of spur and helical gears. In power skiving, while a gear-shaped tool meshes with the workpiece, the tool is also pushed axially in the direction of the axis of the workpiece to cut the gear while meshing. The cutting speed is generated by an inclination or “cross-axis” angle between the axis of the workpiece and the axis of the tool.

In gear shaping, a cutting tool in the form of an external gear reciprocates up and down to cut the teeth in a workpiece. Simultaneously, the tool and workpiece are rotated according to the ratio of their respective numbers of teeth (i.e. their gear ratio) which emulates the rolling of two gears in mesh.

In general, both power skiving and shaping processes primarily utilize cutting tools in the form of external gears with the front side of the tool comprising cutting edges. In some tools, the entire tool is formed from a single solid piece of material such as cemented carbide (e.g. tungsten carbide in a cobalt binder). Other tool comprise an exchangeable carbide cutting tip mechanically fastened (e.g. via a center bolt) to a carbide tool body. However, carbide material is expensive and difficult to machine and attaching a cutting tip to a tool body by bolting may not enable certain tolerance requirements to be met.

There remains a need for a more accurate, less expensive, and easier to manufacture gear cutting tool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a gear cutting tool that is rotatable about an axis of rotation. The gear cutting tool comprises a tool body extending axially lengthwise between a first end and a second end with the tool body comprising a first material. The gear cutting tool further comprises a cutting tip attached to the tool body at one of the first end and the second end. The cutting tip comprises an outer axial-facing cutting end with the cutting end having a plurality of cutting faces. The cutting tip comprises a second material different than the first material and the cutting tip is attached to the tool body via brazing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The terms “invention,” “the invention,” and “the present invention” used in this specification are intended to refer broadly to all of the subject matter of this specification and any patent claims below. Statements containing these terms should not be understood to limit the subject matter described herein or to limit the meaning or scope of any patent claims below. Furthermore, this specification does not seek to describe or limit the subject matter covered by any claims in any particular part, paragraph, statement or drawing of the application. The subject matter should be understood by reference to the entire specification, all drawings and any claim below. The invention is capable of other constructions and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Also, it is understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purposes of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

The details of the invention will now be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention by way of example only. In the drawings, similar features or components will be referred to by like reference numbers.

The use of “including”, “having” and “comprising” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Although references may be made below to directions such as upper, lower, upward, downward, rearward, bottom, top, front, rear, etc., in describing the drawings, these references are made relative to the drawings (as normally viewed) for convenience. These directions are not intended to be taken literally or limit the present invention in any form. In addition, terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., are used to herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply importance or significance.

FIG. 1-3show a power skiving tool2rotatable about axis A and having a tool body4and a cutting tip6. Tool body4comprises a first end8and a second end10with a portion11of the length of tool body4being tapered so as to fit into a complementary shaped opening of a spindle of a machine tool (not shown). First end8includes a suitably configured opening20for connection of a machine tool draw rod (not shown) for securing tool2in a machine tool spindle or loosening the tool2from the spindle as is well understood by the skilled artisan.

Second end10includes a projecting portion16preferably located and centered about axis A. The reduced diameter of the projecting portion16, with respect to the adjacent diameter of tool body4, defines radial surface17and the axial length of the projecting portion16defines axial surface18.

Cutting tip6comprises a tip body12having a plurality of cutting teeth14located about the body12with each cutting tooth14having a cutting face22and a cutting edge23(FIG. 3). Cutting face22may comprise a cutting insert. Cutting teeth14terminate at an outer end15. Collectively, cutting teeth14generally have the form of an external gear with one side of the gear being sharpened (22,23) so that it can move through a workpiece during power skiving or shaping.

The particular arrangement and orientation of cutting teeth14is dependent upon factors including the type of cutting process (e.g. power skiving or shaping), the type of workpiece (e.g. spur gear, helical gear, etc.) and geometry of the workpiece being machined as can be appreciated by the skilled artisan. The particulars of the cutting teeth, per se, form no part of the invention and additional discussion thereof is not necessary for a complete understanding of the invention.

Cutting tip6further includes a central opening19sized to accommodate the insertion of projection portion16into opening19. The cutting tip6is attached to tool body4by brazing, preferably brazing applied between axial surface18of the projection portion16and the inner axial surface21of opening19. Preferably the brazing material is of a suitable type to withstand the heat and/or vacuum conditions encountered in the application of wear coatings to the cutting teeth14and parts thereof, namely the cutting faces22and edges23. Appropriate braze materials are commercially available and may be characterized by the absence of zinc, cadmium or tin which enhances resistance to degradation in high heat and vacuum conditions. An example of a suitable braze material is PREMABARZE616a silver-copper-indium composition commercially available from Lucas-Milhaupt Inc.

When a cutting tip becomes worn and can no longer be sharpened, the cutting tip may be removed by heating to melt the braze material. Another cutting tip may be brazed to the tool body4.

With respect to application of wear coatings, an example of one such coating application process is physical vapor deposition (PVD). A preferred wear coating for the cutting teeth comprises aluminum-chromium-nitride (AlCrN) but any suitable wear coating may be utilized such as nitride or carbide compositions with metallic components such as titanium, aluminum, chromium, vanadium, silicon, etc.

While power skiving and shaping tools of a singular unitary construction and material are well known, the cutting tools of the invention enable different materials to be used for the tool body4and the cutting tip6. For example, the tool body4may be produced from steel or other iron-based alloys, particularly precipitation hardened alloys such as, for example, MC90 Intermet by Böhler. Many steels and iron-based alloys can be easily machined in the soft condition followed by heat treating to harden and then finish grinding if necessary.

Cutting tip6is preferably made from carbide materials such as cemented carbide (e.g. tungsten carbide in a cobalt binder, WC-CO). Cutting tip6may also include cutting inserts of either carbide material or polycrystalline diamond (PCD).

With the multi-component (e.g. two-part) cutting tool of the invention, the overall amount of carbide material is reduced given that the tool body4is made from another material. As a result, the cost of the tool is less compared to a tool made entirely of carbide.

Importantly, the attachment of the cutting tip6to the tool body4via brazing provides for a more accurate assembly of the components compared to mechanically fastening the tool body and cutting tip together such as by one or more bolts or other mechanical means. With mechanical fastening, the cutting tip must be removed from a tool body in order to reapply a wear coating after re-sharpening. This is because with a mechanically assembled tool, contaminants can enter into the interfaces between components such as, for example, between the tool body4and cutting tip6or between a bolt and a cutting tip. In order to successfully recoat a cutting tool, the tool must thoroughly washed so as to be contaminant-free. However, contaminants that exist in the tool interfaces cannot be completely washed away and, therefore, a mechanically-assembled tool must be disassembled in order to adequately wash the necessary components so they will be contaminant-free prior to recoating. With the disassembly and reassembly, the precise cutter tolerances that existed in the originally manufactured tool are difficult, if not impossible, to repeat and maintain.

However, with the cutting tool components, such as the tool body4and the cutting tip6, attached to one another by brazing as in the present invention, the braze material fills and seals the interface between the tool body4and the cutting tip6. Therefore, contaminants cannot enter the interfaces and hence, there is no need to disassemble the inventive multi-component tool prior to washing and recoating.

Although the invention has been discussed and illustrated with one projecting portion16and one opening19, the invention is not limited thereto. A plurality of projecting portions may be included at the first or second ends (8,10) of tool body4and a corresponding number of openings19included in cutting tip6with the plurality of projecting portions and openings being appropriately sized and positioned so as to line-up and insert when assembling the cutting tool.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particulars thereof. The present invention is intended to include modifications which would be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the subject matter pertains without deviating from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.