ABSTRACT
Gear shaper cutter is one of numerous designs of cutting tools that are widely used in the production of spur and helical gears, herringbone, double-helical gears, and so forth. Designs of gear shaper cutters that are commonly used to cut gears are illustrated. Designing of shaper cutter begins with the determination of the generating surface of the cutting tool. It is instructive to point out here that that kinematics of the gear machining mesh is featured in another gear machining process—parallel-axes shaving. For this purpose, the kinematics of gear shaping operation is utilized. Several types of in-feed motion of the gear shaper cutter are used in practice. The conventional method of gear shaping features either intermittent radial feed of the shaper cutter with continuous rotary feed or radial feed without rotary feed. Continuous radial and rotary feeds are available in gear shaping machines of modern design. Shaper cutters are also used for machining noninvolute profiles.
