Patent ID: 7310863

Claim:
A hobbing machine comprising: a rotatable clamp fixture adapted to retain a gear blank; a rotatable cutter translatable into engagement with the gear blank, said cutter configured to cut the gear blank and thereby produce a plurality of gear teeth and potentially burrs; a first rotatable de-burring tool translatable into engagement with a first end surface of the gear blank, said de-burring tool configured to remove said burrs from the first end surface of the gear blank as the gear teeth are being cut by the rotatable cutter; and a powered spindle driveably connected to said de-burring tool and operable to rotate said de-burring tool at a predefined speed and direction, the speed and direction selected to facilitate the removal of the burrs, and wherein the de-burring tool includes a peripheral edge sharpened to shear off and thereby remove some of said burrs, the de-burring tool also including a contact surface configured to grind off and thereby remove others of said burrs.