To produce helical running gears by a forming process is a great challenge to be taken in order to substitute the cost-intensive production processes such as gear broaching and gear shaping. Cost reduction can be maximized by introducing a one-piece design instead of the current two piece-design. With the development of the tapered roll forming process a unique, cost-saving potential was introduced to the producers of helical running gears. The tool life problem was addressed and solved. In addition, a very accurate and robust forming process was developed that is based on very simple off-the-shelf components. Even though a couple of hundred parts have already been produced without any problems, there is still some work to be done. First of all, the reliability and capability of the tapered roll forming process has to be proven in a long-term production over a couple of thousand parts. In addition, the produced parts must have a gear quality DIN 7 in all features to satisfy the quality demands of the automotive industry. Based on the findings of the long-term study an adequate and competitive machine concept will be developed. In parallel, the already promising development of the radial roll forming process will be pushed, so two alternative forming processes for running gears will be available in the near future, namely by the beginning of the year 2000. First rough calculations based on an assumed tool lifetime of 3000 parts have shown that the part's cost can be reduced by approximately 75% if the helical running gear is produced by the tapered roll forming process. This is a great potential, which will open new dimensions for flow forming.
展开▼
