Patent ID: 7462092

Claim:
A method of grinding at least one tooth flank of a bevel gear with a grinding tool rotatable about a tool axis of a gear grinding machine having a plurality of machine axes, said method comprising: rotating said tool and bringing said tool and said at least one tooth flank into engagement; providing relative movement between said tool and said gear to traverse said tool across said at least one tooth flank in accordance with a predetermined relative rolling motion, said rolling motion comprising a plurality of contact lines between said tool and said at least one tooth flank thereby producing a predetermined number of grinding flats and a plurality of grinding scratches on said at least one tooth surface; simultaneously with said generating roll, revolving said tool axis about an eccentric axis spaced from said tool axis, whereby a grinding tool generating cone is formed; shifting the generating cone surface to introduce grinding flat modifications to at least one grinding flat during the predetermined relative rolling motion, said shifting comprising a shift in a direction of the root line of said at least one tooth flank and a shift in a direction generally perpendicular to the tooth profile symmetry line of said at least one tooth flank.