Charged EVs | Nidec Machine Tool launches hobbing machine to reduce gear manufacturing labor

Nidec Machine Tool, a division of Japanese electric motor maker Nidec, has launched the GE25CF, a hobbing machine that can perform gear cutting and chamfering operations to fulfill the need for better productivity, automation and labor saving in producing high-precision gears.

This process-intensive model can perform hobbing, a coarse process in gear manufacturing, as well as chamfering and deburring both ends of a gear in a machining process. By adopting the generating method to machine high-precision gears with high efficiency, GE25CF can chamfer a shape more accurately than in the conventionally mainstream phrasing process, a plastic method, and remove burrs from coarse processing as well. By integrating the hobbing and chamfering process, the GE25CF can help shorten cycle times.

To ensure accurate chamfering after a hobbing process, GE25CF adopts a generating-method-based cutting and removal system that uses ChamferX, a dedicated tool that the company developed. Unlike in the phrasing process, this system does not generate any metal embossment  toward tooth flanks and end faces, securing a high quality of gear faces. In addition, the system can chamfer a root—which is an operation difficult to perform using the phrasing process—secure a chamfering width of 1 mm or wider, and remove burrs from the hobbing process.

GE25CF has a wide opening to its front door and an operating board with a rotary joint, making it operator-friendly and maintainable. The narrow width of the chamfering unit helps in designing compact line layouts.

Source: Nidec Machine Tool