Method of designing gear-honing-wheel geometries (Considering of relative sliding velocities)

The present paper describes the geometries of honing wheels used in the final tooth-flank-finishing process of automotive transmission gears. For micro geometries of honed gears to keep their required gear accuracy, improper geometries of a gear-honing wheel cause the dressing interval to be short. That is because stock removals are not uniform over honed tooth flank, then the wear of honing wheel is also not uniform. As a result, micro geometries of honed gears are out of their tolerances. The amount of the stock removal could depend on sliding velocities between tooth flanks of a honed gear and a honing wheel so that uniform sliding velocities could yield uniform stock removals. In this paper, a geometrical approach is proposed to determine geometries of gear-honing wheels for minimizing the sliding-velocity variations. Gear-honing wheels were designed with the proposed method and were tested through honing experiments. The results showed micro geometries of honed gears keep their tolerances within a longer dress interval. Therefore, the proposed method for the determination of gear-honing-wheel geometries could extend the tool lives of honing wheels in mass production.