The Growing Adoption of CNC Machining in Manufacturing Gears

The greatest benefit of modern technology is the amazing advancements it brings to all areas of the manufacturing industry. This particularly includes the production of gears of any kind. One of the most innovative technologies introduced in gear manufacturing is the adoption of CNC machining. It offers a lot more precision in producing gears than the conventional machining process. With the utilization of computers in regulating various types of machine tools, including mills, grinders, lathes, and routers, the manufacturing process can be repeated in the same manner for endless times.

Because of the high precision using CNC machining, it enables the creation of even the most complicated shape of gears possible. If you were wondering how this becomes possible, just like other prototype technologies out there, CNC heavily relies on digital software (CAM or CAD) to perform its machining job. The design saved in the digital file is then being interpreted by the CNC machine as instructions for cutting prototype gear parts. This ability of the machine to regulate the highly technical and labor intensive process of gear manufacturing enhances productivity and efficiency.

Moreover, most often, the processes involved during gear manufacturing require the application of different tools to make the desired cuts on the gear blank. CNC machining brings together such tools into a common cell from which the machine can automatically draw. Though standard machines can move in just one or two axes, CNC machines can move in multiple axes, either laterally and longitudinally, and even rotationally. This multi-axis movement of the more sophisticated CNC machines made it possible to flip gear parts over automatically and enable cutting on all sides eliminating the need for human intervention.

The resulting cuts are typically more accurate compared to that created with manual inputs from workers. Hence, it is not surprising that gear manufacturing has fully embraced the use of CNC machining in nearly every stage of the process.