Machining Center Completes Ring Gears in Single Clamping

Pittler’s PV315, part of the company’s PV3 series of machining centers, is capable of machining toothed gearbox parts such as ring gears complete in a single clamping. The machine turns, drills, grinds, mills and power skives workpieces as large as 315 mm in diameter, such as those required in the commercial vehicle industry. Equipped with a multi-function head, Y axis and tool magazine, the machining center performs continual, CNC-controlled power skiving to avoid the problems associated with other skiving and shaping processes. It produces inner and outer gear teeth to IT6-class quality, the company says, with surface quality reaching less than 2 microns Rz on the tooth flanks. The machine is said to produce ring gears with concentricity values less than 10 microns.

The PV315’s tool magazine can hold as many as 20 different tools and enables the use of a rough skiving tool on a gear first, followed by a finishing skiving tool. This method extends the life of the finishing tool. Directly afterwards, the gearing can be precisely deburred and chamfered using corresponding tools in the same machining compartment. With the addition of tools for turning, drilling, grinding and milling, the machine can flexibly machine ring gears complete. This capability eliminates reclamping faults and retooling processes, saving transport and holding times.

The machine can be extended both by custom-fit measuring technology (for example, a post-process measuring station for identifying and correcting deviations) as well as automation solutions which enable robot loading or integrated workpiece return. Other machines in the series are available for workpiece diameters ranging to 1,600 mm.