Inside Gear Expo 2015
Billed as “The Drive Technology Show,” this year’s event featured new machine designs and cutting tools, heat-treat processes, and materials and hardening processes for hybrid transmission applications.
Attendees crowded the registration desk on the first day of Gear Expo, held in Detroit at the Cobo Center in October. Major machine tool OEMs, cutting tool manufacturers and suppliers, and service providers from around the world displayed their latest technologies and abilities.
Delta Research exhibited its pride in being named winner in the machining technology category of the 2014 Top Shops benchmarking competition by Modern Machine Shop. Its booth centered around capabilities including bevel (spiral, hypoid and Zerol), ground and internal gears.
A steady crowd moved through the Kapp Niles booth to see demonstrations of the ZE 800 Profile Gear Grinder—capable of grinding 25-module external gears, and also equipped for internal grinding—and the PM 750/1250 portable gear inspection system from R&P Metrology GmbH.
Gleason—the “Total Gear Solutions Provider”—featured technologies including the Genesis 200GX Threaded Wheel Grinding Machine and the 300GMS P Analytical Gear Inspection System at its well-appointed Gear Expo booth.
The latest in Gleason's workholding devices and cutting tools were also on display.
The Star SU booth was a particular draw, highlighting a wide variety of gear manufacturing machinery for hobbing, grinding, shaping and shaving as well as cutting tools including hobs, milling cutters, shaper cutters and shaving tools, among others. It also provides tooling for Profilator scudding machines from the German Machine Tool Association (GMTA), which was co-located with Star SU.
In addition to other machine models, Koepfer America spotlighted a K160 “Repowered” CNC Gear Hobbing Machine— the first Fanuc re-control of that particular model (interior shown on cover). The company also demonstrated its Model 200 gear hobber and featured its line of Helios Ra-Cut hobs, providing excellent material removal rates with twice the number of cutting faces in similar designs.
Known for its expertise in both traditional and hybrid multitasking machines—as well as five-axis machining, milling, turning, CNC controls and automation—Mazak featured its adaptive machining solutions for gear cutting on an Integrex i-100ST with Smooth X CNC control.
The SKE 120 shaping head was on display at the Liebherr Gear Technology booth. Designed for its Platform 2 (LSE/LFS 200 to 500) and Platform 3 (LSE/LFS 600 to 1600) machines, this option eases the electronically controlled machining of spur and helical gear teeth.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries caught the attention of attendees with its GE10A dry-cut hobbing machine for mass producing small-diameter gears—diameters ranging to 100 mm—for automotive transmission systems. A power skiving machine was also on display, all beneath a banner congratulating the AGMA on its upcoming 100-year anniversary.
With a selection of cutting tools on display at its booth, Horn USA announced that it is expanding its range of standardized gear milling cutters for DIN 3972 teeth in the reference profile 1 category, so that it now offers products to cover modules 0.5 to 4 in their entirety.
DMG MORI presented its gear milling portfolio at Gear Expo, focusing on its GearMill software and multitasking machines. Demonstrations took place on an NTX2000-series multi-axis lathe featuring a second spindle and lower turret, which is capable of producing a wide selection of gears—spiral bevels, spur, helical and internal—using InvoMilling, flank milling, hobbing, gashing and power skiving processes.
A pioneer in the field of Isotropic Superfinishing, REM Surface Engineering offers a range of processes for metals including titanium, stainless steels, carbon, and more, helping gear manufacturers produce performance-driven gearing.
Gear grinding technology—also called the “Circle of Competence”—from Reishauer includes machine tools, diamond dressing tools and CBN tools for hard finishing transmission gears.
Oerlikon Drive Systems specializes in the development of engineered gear, drive and shifting solutions. It produces bevel gears (spiral, hypoid, Zerol), ground gears, and splines and shafts, as well as gear units and planetary and epicyclic drives.
For more than a century, Scot Forge has built its reputation as an expert source for open die and rolled ring forging. It has the ability to forge parts weighing as much as 100,000 lbs and to produce seamless rolled rings up to 252 inches in diameter.
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Poised to celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2016, the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) returned to the Motor City for an excellent Gear Expo October 20-22, 2015. Immediately following the association’s Fall Technical Meeting, the event was co-located with the ASM Heat Treating Society’s Conference & Exposition. Education sessions were conducted throughout the day at the Solution Center found on the convention hall floor.
Identifiable themes included new materials, designs and processes for producing cutting-edge gearing for hybrid drive systems, gear-specific automation presented by companies such as ABB, spindle rebuild services provided by Cincinnati Gearing Systems and a program to “repower” certain existing machines available from Koepfer America.
