POSTED ON 7/19/2019 – Many shops shy away from manufacturing jobs involving parts that require some form of gear machining operations. These shops believe that such work is very complicated and requires specialized expertise and equipment, including individual machines dedicated to gear skiving or hobbing. But instead of refusing gear work or farming it out to gear specialists, job shops can easily keep gear work in-house – and even attract new customers – with the power of the INTEGREX Auto Gear (AG) series.
With the power of the INTEGREX AG and the onboard SMOOTH Gear Machining package, user-friendly interfaces and production-data input processes make gear production approachable for shops concerned about complexity. Mazak’s SMOOTH Gear Machining software allows for the conversational input of project parameters on the MAZATROL SmoothX CNC machine controls, making it easy for virtually any operator to handle gear-related projects with SMOOTH Gear Milling, Hobbing and Skiving functions to machine parallel-axis O.D., I.D. and spline-type gears.
These advanced gear-making applications require no 3D models or CAD/CAM programming steps. Instead, operators simply enter workpiece parameters into a conversational dashboard interface and the software creates the necessary machine instructions. Operators can then modify tooth profiles and leads, set up edge tapers, and take advantage of SMOOTH Gear Machining’s sub-micron profiling capabilities.