Mechanism and Machine Theory 44 (2009) 401411

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Mechanism and Machine Theory

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Prole correction of a helical gear shaping cutter using the lengthwise-reciprocating grinding method
Chin-Lung Huang a, Zhang-Hua Fong a,*, Shi-Duang Chen b, Kuang-Rong Chang b
a b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung-Cheng University, 168 University Road, Min-Hsiung, Chia-Yi 621-17, Taiwan, ROC Luren Precision Co., Ltd., No. 1-1, Li Hsin 1st Road, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Currently, the Isoform lengthwise-reciprocating grinding process is considered the most accurate method for generating the tooth prole of a gear shaping cutter. However, despite improving the prole accuracy of the grinding shaper, the Isoform ground helical shaping cutter, especially one with a small tooth number, still produces pressure angle, curvature and prole errors. Therefore, we propose a mathematical model to correct such errors and then validate the model numerically using the tooth prole of a cutter enveloping gear. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 28 November 2007 Received in revised form 10 March 2008 Accepted 10 March 2008 Available online 15 May 2008

Keywords: Helical shaper cutter Isoform grinding Cutter enveloping gear Pressure angle correction Curvature correction Prole correction

1. Introduction Gear shaping is a versatile, accurate means for manufacturing spur gears, internal gears, face gears, herringbone gears and helical gears. The helical shaping cutter resembles a helical gear but has addendum modications along the face width to provide an appropriate side clearance angle and a rake angle in the front face for proper cutting action. During the shaping stroke, its cutting edge forms the cutter enveloping gear, which is conjugate to the basic rack. The lead angle of this cutter enveloping gear must comply with the lead angle of the work gear; however, because of the rake angle and cutter tooth thickness, the prole of the cutter enveloping gear in the transverse (or normal) plane differs slightly from the desired prole. In addition, even though the basic rack pressure angle calculation of a shaper cutter has been derived based on geometric analysis [1], the formulas reported are valid only for spur shaper cutters: they are too inaccurate for helical shaper cutters, especially those with a small tooth number [2]. Therefore, a new method of pressure angle, curvature and prole correction is needed for the helical shaping cutter. Several investigations have explored the mathematical model of shaping cutters. For example, Chang and Tsay [3] analyzed the tooth prole and undercutting conditions of non-circular gears generated by shaping cutters, after which Tsay et al. [4] used an optimization method to examine the spur gear generated by shaping cutters and the effects of the cutter parameters on the generated tooth prole. Much earlier, Green and Mabie [5] presented a method of designing non-standard spur gears cut with a pinion cutter so that the pinion and gear are balanced for the static bending strengths. Subsequently, Rogers et al. [6] investigated the value of pinion cutter offsets for non-standard spur gears to satisfy two design constraints: maximum recess to the approach action or equalization of the tooth strengths for a spur gear pair. Kim and Kim [7] devel* Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 5 2720411x33303; fax: +886 5 2720589. E-mail address: imezhf@ccu.edu.tw (Z.-H. Fong). 0094-114X/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2008.03.009

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oped a process and computer software to design a pinion cutter, and Yoshino et al. [8] calculated the grinding wheel proles for nishing the pinion cutters for concave Novikov gears. This present paper studies the kinematic relative motions of generating involute helical shaper cutters using the Isoform grinding method, in which the cutter tooth form remains correct after re-sharpening and the usable tool life is longer than that of a gear shaper ground by the conventional process. Specically, the Isoform method grinds both anks of the cutters simultaneously in the same machine setup, which helps assure symmetry of the tooth form and makes the grinding process more efcient. We determine the mathematical models of the cutter tooth surface, the cutting edge and the cutter enveloping gear by the theory of gearing [9] and, based on the cutter enveloping gear, apply a new method for calculating a third-order correction for the grinding wheel that compensates for the pressure angle, curvature and prole errors. We then validate the proposed method using several numerical examples for correcting the pressure angle, curvature and prole errors of a cutter enveloping gear. 2. Geometric denitions of a helical shaper cutter As shown in Fig. 1, the tooth form of a helical shaper cutter is similar to the teeth of a cylindrical helical gear. However, as illustrated in Fig. 2, several cutting angles on the cutter tooth are required to perform a successful cutting action: the side clearance angle d on the cutter pitch cylinder; the top clearance angles on the cutter tip #x and #n in the axial and normal

Fig. 1. Helical shaper cutter.

Section A-A
Se ct B- ion B

Do w

B
k

ill

p
Up

hil l

nh

B B
Fig. 2. Cutting angles of a helical shaper cutter.

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directions, respectively; the cutting face lead angle bk and the rake angle c. These design parameters include the normal pressure angle ans and the helix angle bp of the cutter. With these cutting angles, the normal pressure angle ans of the cutter differs slightly from the desired normal pressure angle an of the gear. According to Ref. [1], the basic rack pressure angle can be obtained by Eq. (1), which is the most popular equation for calculating the basic shaping cutter rack tan ans tan an tan d tan c 3. Mathematical models of the cutter edge Because the Isoform [10] grinding method developed by Gleason Works is highly accurate and efcient for manufacturing shaping cutters, it forms the basis of the mathematical model of helical shaping cutter generation proposed here. The main concept of the Isoform grinding method is shown in Fig. 3: the grinding wheel with cone face rotates about its axis, and the axis moves rapidly and reciprocatingly along an inclining direction with respect to the horizontal plane to perform the addenda shifting of the shaper cutter. The shaping cutter rocks from side to side against the grinding wheel. The reciprocating grinding wheel envelopes an equivalence rack, which generates the grinding wheel tooth form shown in Fig. 4. 1

Grinder wheel

Shaper cutter
Fig. 3. Main concept of the Isoform shaper grinding method.

Yr

Reciprocating Grinder

Equivalence rack

nr
v

u Xr
ds 2

Zr
Fig. 4. Spatial relationship between the reciprocating grinding wheel and the equivalent rack.

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As shown in the Fig. 4 illustration of the reciprocating grinding wheel and the enveloped equivalent rack, the coordinate system Sr(Xr, Yr, Zr) is attached at the centre of the rack space, variables u and v denote the surface variables on the rack surface, and symbols anr and ds denote the pressure angle and the normal tooth space thickness on the pitch plane of the rack, respectively. Since the mathematical equations are similar for the left and right anks, only equations for the left part are given here. The position vector and the unit normal vector on the rack surface can be expressed as follows: rr u; v ds =2 u sin anr nr cos anr sin anr 0
T

u cos anr

2 3

The kinematic relative motion for generating a helical shaping cutter is shown in Fig. 5. Here, the coordinate system Sr is attached to the equivalent rack, dened as in Fig. 4, and is inclined with an angle g about the X1 axis to the coordinate system S1(X1, Y1, Z1) to produce a ank clearance angle d on the shaper tooth (see Fig. 2). The Y1Z1 plane is parallel to the horizontal plane. By geometrical analysis, parameters g, d and anr can be related as follows: sin g tan d tan anr 4

Additionally, the cutter pressure angle ans can be related by g, anr and d: tan ans tan anr cos g 5

Solving Eqs. (4) and (5) yields the following equations by which the equivalent rack pressure angle anr and the machine setup parameter g are obtained q tan anr tan2 ans tan2 d 6 tan g tan d tan ans 7

Coordinate system S2(X2,Y2,Z2) is rigidly attached to the equivalent rack, and X2Z2 coincides with the equivalent racks pitch surface; axis Z2 is parallel to the rotation axis Ze of the shaper cutter. Parameter bp is a machine setting angle between axes Z1 and Z2 that acts as the cutter helix angle. Coordinate system Sf(Xf, Yf, Zf) is xed to the machine frame and shifted a distance Rps along axis Yf to coordinate system S2(X2, Y2, Z2). Coordinate system Sp(Xp, Yp, Zp) is a movable coordinate system that moves along Xf with a shifting amount Rps us in a generating motion. Coordinate system Se(Xe, Ye, Ze) is rigidly attached to the cutter and rotated at an angle us about axis Zp in a generating motion. As of now, coordinate systems Sr, S1, S2, Sf, Sp and Se are typically used to describe the relative motion of helical shaper cutter generation.

Reciprocating Grinder Wheel

Y1, 2,f Yr Equivalence Rack Ye p Xr, 1 X2 Helical Shaper Cutter Rps

Z2

Zr Z1

Yp

s sRps
Zp,e Z
f

Xf,p Xe

Fig. 5. Coordinate systems applied to the generation of a helical shaper cutter.

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The front cutter face is determined using the following coordinate systems. As shown in Fig. 6, coordinate system Sd(Xd, Yd, Zd) is rigidly attached to the cutter coordinate system Se by shifting Rps along axis Ye so as to locate the origin Od at the centre of the tooth thickness on the pitch cycle. Coordinate system Sc(Xc, Yc, Zc) is rigidly attached to Sd and rotated at an angle bk about axis Yd to form the lead angle of the front cutting face. Coordinate system Ss(Xs, Ys, Zs) is rigidly connected to Sc and rotated at an angle c about axis Xc to form the rake angle of the front cutting face. The position vectors and the unit normal vectors on the equivalent rack surface can be transformed from coordinate systems Sr to Ss (see Figs. 5 and 6): rs u; v; us Mse Mer us rr u; v Msr us rr u; v ns us Lsr us nr where 3 cos bk 0 sin bk 0 7 6 6 sin c sin bk cos c sin c cos bk Rps cos c 7 7 Mse 6 6 cos c sin b sin c cos c cos b Rps sin c 7 5 4 k k 0 0 0 1 2 cos bp cos us cos g sin us sin g sin bp cos us 6 6 cos bp sin us cos g cos us sin g sin bp sin us Mer 6 6 cos bp sin g sin bp 4 2 0 0 8 9

sin g sin us cos g cos us sin bp sin g cos us cos g sin us sin bp cos g cos bp 0

Rps sin us us cos us

7 Rps cos us us sin us 7 7 7 0 5 1

and Lsr(us) is the upper-left 3 3 submatrix of Msr(us). It should be noted that, even though the position vector on the equivalent rack surface rr(u,v) has two variables, the position vector rs(u, v, us) in Eq. (8) is a three-variable vector. Moreover, since the cutter edge is the intersection of the generated cutter tooth surface and the cutting face (the XsYs plane in Fig. 6), two more constraints are needed to determine the cutter edges. One constraint can be determined by the following equation: zs u; v; us 0 Solving Eq. (10) allows further derivations in which variable v can be substituted by the variables u and us: vu; us sin anr E cos anr F G H 11 10

Ye,d,c Ys Cutter Face Plane Xc,s Xd

k
Zd Zc Zs Ze

R ps

Xe

Fig. 6. Coordinate systems applied to a dening cutter face.

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where E ucos ccos bk sin bp cos bp cos us sin bk cos bp sin c sin us F ucos gcos us sin c cos c sin bk sin us sin g sin c sin bp sin us sin g cos ccos bk cos bp cos us sin bk sin bp ds G cos ccos bp cos us sin bk cos bk sin bp cos bp sin c sin us 2 Rps cos c sin bk us cos us sin us sin ccos us us sin us H sin us cos c sin g sin bk cos g sin c sin bp cos us sin c sin g cos c cos gcos bk cos bp cos us sin bk sin bp The second constraint is the so-called equation of meshing [11]: fs u; us ns ors vu; us cos bp cos anr sin g sin bp sin anr ds =2 cos g cos bp sin anr cos gu cos bp Rps us sin anr ous 12

Thus, solving Eqs. (8), (11) and (12) simultaneously yields the helical shaper cutting edge. 4. Mathematical model of the cutter enveloping gear During the shaping processes of helical gears, the shaping cutter performs a helical motion that combines a rotational and a translational motion. Specically, the cutting edge uses the helical motion to swipt out a cutter enveloping gear that generates the work piece of the helical gear. The position vector of the cutting edge re, represented in the shaper coordinate system, can be expressed as follows: re u; us Mes rs u; us where cos bk 6 0 6 Mes 6 4 sin bk 0 2 sin c sin bk cos c cos bk sin c 0 cos c sin bk sin c cos c cos bk 0 0 3 Rps 7 7 7 0 5 1 13

In Fig. 7, which depicts the helical motion of the cutter, coordinate system SB(XB, YB, ZB) is rigidly attached to the cutter enveloping gear, and parameters uB and k are the rotational angle and translational distance of the helical motion, respectively. The position vector of the cutter enveloping gear can be expressed by the following equations: rB u; us ; uB MBe uB re u; us xB where cos uB 6 sin u 6 B MBe uB 6 4 0 0 2 sin uB cos uB 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 15 0 7 7 7 k 5 1 yB zB 1 T 14

Ye

B
Xe YB

XB Ze,B
Fig. 7. Helical motion of the cutter.

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The surface unit normal vector of gear B can be expressed as 2 3 nBx o rB o rB ouB ou 7  6 nB u; us ; uB   orB orB  4 nBy 5 ouB ou  nBz and, by Ref. [11], the planer curvature of gear B on the transverse plane as  0  r r00  B jB B  3 r0 
B

16

17

where r0B and r00 B are the rst and second differentiation of rB. Parameter jB is its planer curvature on the transverse plane. 5. Prole correction for the cutter enveloping gear This section introduces the method for correcting the transverse prole of the cutter enveloping gear up to a third-order correction. It comprises (a) a rst-order correction for the pressure angle, (b) a second-order correction for the curvature, and (c) a third-order correction to minimize the tooth prole error. Fig. 8 depicts the prole of the cutter enveloping gear in the major transverse plane, the XBYB plane. Here, the symbol rB,p depicts the position vector of rB located on the pitch circle; symbol n B;p depicts the surface unit normal vector projected on the major transverse plane at rB,p; symbols RpB and RbB are the radii of the pitch circle and the base circle of cutter enveloping gear, respectively; symbol B is the angle between n B;p and the horizontal axis; and symbol e is the angle between rB,p and the vertical axis. Determining rB,p requires the following equations: xB u; us ; uB 2 yB u; us ; uB 2 R2 pB zB u; us ; uB 0 18 19

Solving Eqs. (12), (18) and (19) simultaneously then yields the position vector and the unit normal vector of the intersecting point of the pitch circle and the cutter enveloping gear in the major transverse plane as shown in the following: rB;p up ; us;p ; uB;p xB;p nB;p up ; us;p ; uB;p nBx;p yB;p nBy;p zB;p T nBz;p
T

20 21

By Fig. 8, the transverse pressure angle of the cutter enveloping gear can be obtained as follows: atB e 1 tan1 xB;p yB;p !   nBy;p tan1 nBx;p

22

YB

rB,p

n*B,p RbB RpB

XB
Fig. 8. Prole of a cutter enveloping gear projected on the major transverse section.

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Yr XL Curve form rack profile YL

ds 2

Xr

*nr
Fig. 9. Geometry of the curve form equivalent rack.

However, the pressure angle calculated from Eq. (5) is inaccurate for helical shaper cutters. That is, because the cutting breast area of an individual tooth is vertical to the tooth course under the rake angle [2], it runs at a different angle for each cutting edge point in the radial direction. This difference occurs because, in helical shaper cutters, the rake angle only applies for the radius to the tooth center. To correct the pressure angle of the helical shaper cutter, the design parameter anr in Eqs. (2) and (3) is substituted by variable a nr and a re-derivation of Eqs. (20) and (21). Solving the following equation then yields a transverse pressure angle for the cutter enveloping gear that is equal to the desired gear pressure angle: !   xB;p nBy;p at tan1 23 tan1 yB;p nBx;p where at is the transverse pressure angle of the desired work gear. Although the pressure angle has been corrected by Eq. (23), the prole of the cutter enveloping gear is still not sufciently accurate. Therefore, to reduce the prole error, the prole of the grinding wheel (equivalent rack) is replaced by a polynomial curve in coordinate system SL(XL, YL, ZL), which is tangent to the tooth prole at the pitch point of the equivalent rack (see Fig. 9). The angle between axes Yr and XL is the corrected pressure angle a nr . The tooth prole of the equivalent rack can be represented as follows: rL u; v u a2 u2 a3 u3 v 1
T

24

where a2 and a3 are the second and third coefcients of the polynomial curve. Vector rL can also be transformed to Sr: 3 2 s sin a cos a 0 d nr nr 2 6 cos a sin anr 0 0 7 7 6 nr r 25 7 rL r MrL rL 6 4 0 0 1 0 5 0 r r 0 0 1 Here, vector is the modied equivalent rack with curved form. Replacing rr in Eq. (2) by r r and re-deriving Eqs. (14) and (16) give the modied prole of the cutter enveloping gear. The second-order curvature error for the shaping cutter can be corrected by adjusting coefcient a2 in Eq. (24). Curvature jB,p is the curvature of the cutter enveloping gear at the pitch point in the transverse plane, while curvature j is the theoretical transverse curvature of a gear having the same design parameters as the cutter. The coefcient a2 can be determined as follows: jB;p j 26

The skewed tooth prole error can be similarly minimized by adjusting coefcient a3 in Eq. (24); however, the corresponding equations are omitted here. Likewise, the tooth prole errors for pressure angle, curvature and skewness can be minimized by applying Eqs. (23) and (26) and then adjusting the coefcient a3. 6. Examples and discussion To validate the proposed mathematical model, we use a helical shaping cutter with a large helical angle. The initial design parameters of a helical shaper cutter are listed in Table 1, while the corresponding grinding wheel setting and the calculated

C.-L. Huang et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 44 (2009) 401411 Table 1 Design parameters of the helical shaping cutter Cutter parameters No. of teeth Module Flank clearance angle Rake angle Helix angle Pitch radius Face lead angle Cutter normal pressure angle Theoretical cutter gear parameters Normal pressure angle Transverse pressure angle Transverse pitch curvature

409

Ns Mns d c bp Rps bk ans an at j

34 3.6829 mm 2.3985 5 28 L 69.8634 mm 28 20.1825 20 22.4025 0.0375577

parameters of cutter enveloping gear are listed in Table 2. It should be noted, however, that because the transverse pressure angles and the transverse planer pitch curvatures on both anks listed in Table 2 are calculated by the proposed model, they do not equal the theoretical ones listed in Table 1. Fig. 10 shows the prole error of the cutter enveloping gear on the major transverse plane using the conventional design method. Obviously, the prole error of the right ank is larger than that of the left ank, and there are pressure angle and curvature errors in both left and right anks, but especially the right ank. The transverse prole errors after rst-order correction for the pressure angle are shown in Fig. 11, and the corresponding grinding wheel and cutter enveloping gear parameters are listed in Table 3. The error curves are tangent to the vertical axis at the pitch point, meaning that the pressure angle errors have been eliminated. Likewise, the transverse pressure angles on both anks equal their theoretical counterparts; however, the transverse pitch curvature errors remain. The transverse prole errors after second-order correction for the curvature are given in Fig. 12, and the corresponding grinding wheel and cutter enveloping gear parameters are listed in Table 4. The error curves coincide with the vertical axis near the pitch point, meaning that the pressure angle and curvature errors have both been eliminated. The remaining prole

Table 2 Grinding wheel and cutter enveloping gear parameters Grinding wheel parameters Inclining angle Pressure angle Tooth space Transverse pressure angles Left ank Right ank Transverse pitch curvature Left ank Right ank

g anr ds atB atB

L R

6.5 20.3051 5.6998 mm 22.3686 22.4326 0.0387058 0.0359376

jB;p jB;p
R

Rolling Arc (mm) 32.5 30 27.5 -10 -5 25 22.5 20 17.5 15 5 10

Right Flank Left Flank Profile Error ( m) 15

Fig. 10. Initial cutter enveloping gear prole error.

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Rolling Arc (mm) 32.5 30 27.5 -10 -5 25 22.5 20 17.5 15

Fig. 11. Prole error of the cutter enveloping gear after rst-order correction.

Right Flank Left Flank Profile Error ( m) 5 10 15

Table 3 Grinding wheel data after rst-order correction First-order parameters Left ank Right ank Transverse pressure angles Left ank Right ank Transverse planer curvature Left ank Right ank
L R

anr anr atB atB

20.3365 20.2774 22.4025 22.4025 0.0386521 0.0359845

L R

jB;p jB;p
R

Rolling Arc (mm) 32.5 30 27.5 -1 25 22.5 20 17.5 15 1

Right Flank Left Flank Profile Error ( m) 2

Fig. 12. Prole error of the cutter enveloping gear after second-order correction.

Table 4 Grinding wheel data after second-order correction Second-order parameters Left ank Right ank Transverse planer pitch curvature Left ank Right ank
L R

a2 a2

0.00052275 0.00074755 0.0375577 0.0375577

jB;p jB;p
R

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Rolling Arc (mm) 32.5 30 27.5 -0.075 -0.05 -0.025 25 22.5 20 17.5 15 0.025

Right Flank Left Flank Profile Error ( m) 0.05 0.075

Fig. 13. Prole error of the cutter enveloping gear after third-order modication.

errors are skewed as in Fig. 12, but the transverse prole errors have been reduced to 2 lm, which is acceptable for most shaping processes. L R The transverse prole errors after third-order modication using the third-order coefcients a3 2:0 105 and a3 5 1:53 10 are shown in Fig. 13. These errors have been reduced to 0.1 lm, which is considered negligible for the shaping process. 7. Conclusions The prole correction method proposed in this paper is based on the differential geometry of the cutter enveloping gear up to the third order. Our numerical results suggest the following conclusions: 1. The cone grinding wheel of a shaping cutter whose pressure angle is calculated by the conventional method [1] is not sufciently accurate for a high-precision shaping process. 2. Because the prole errors on the left and right anks of the cutter enveloping gear differ, curve prole modication on the grinding wheel is required for higher accuracy. 3. A polynomial prole correction curve up to the third-order can reduce the tooth prole error of the cutter enveloping gear down to sub-micron level in most cases, making it accurate enough for the shaping process.

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the National Science Council of ROC for their nancial support. Part of this work was performed under Contract No. NSC 96-2628-E-194-003-MY3. References
[1] LORENZ GmbH and Co, Gear cutting tools, Manual for Design and Manufacturing, third ed., Ettlingen, West Germany, 1980. [2] Klingelnberg, Screen guide to the shaper cutter software on the HP evaluation unit, West Germany, August 1991. [3] S.L. Chang, C.B. Tsay, Computerized tooth prole generation and undercut analysis of noncircular gears manufactured with shaper cutters, ASME J. Mech. Design 120 (1998) 9299. [4] C.B. Tsay, W.Y. Liu, Y.C. Chen, Spur gear generation by shaper cutters, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 104 (2000) 271279. [5] R.N. Green, H.H. Mabie, Determination of pinion cutter offsets required to produce nonstandard spur gears with teeth of equal strength, Mech. Mach. Theory 15 (1980) 491506. [6] C.A. Rogers, H.H. Mabie, C.F. Reinholtz, Design of spur gears generated with pinion cutters, Mech. Mach. Theory 25 (1990) 623634. [7] J.D. Kim, D.S. Kim, Development of software for the design of a pinion cutter, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 68 (1997) 7682. [8] H. Yoshino, M. Shao, A. Ishibashi, Design and manufacture of pinion cutters for nishing gears with an arbitrary prole, Int. J. JSME Ser. III 35 (2) (1992) 313319. [9] F.L. Litvin, Gear Geometry and Applied Theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1994. [10] Gleason Works, Gleason Cutting Tool, Loves Park, Illinois, USA, 2000. [11] F.L. Litvin, Theory of Gearing, Nauka, Moscow, 1956. second ed., 1968.