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Deburring – The Underestimated Task

Karl-Martin Ribbeck, Klingelnberg GmbH

Deburring or chamfering of gear teeth is gain- Why are bevel gears deburred or chamfered? The reasons vary
ing attention in practical settings. And with a view greatly. In bevel gears, the edge area between the concave flank
to make the production sequence as efficient as possible, it is (gap) and the component’s outer contour must be deburred in
becoming increasingly important to be able to implement the every case. That is where the bevel gear cutting tool normally
deburring tasks directly on the cutting machine after spiral cut- exits the material and leaves behind a more or less conspicuous
ting. Read on to find out how complex this seemingly simple burr. This area is extremely sharp-edged and must be cham-
task can turn out to be, and how a new deburring concept pro- fered to avoid the risk of injury. As wear on the bevel gear cut-
vides for enhanced efficiency. ting tool increases, a burr can also develop in the cutting area
between the convex flank (gap) and the component’s outer con-
tour. This area should therefore also be taken into account and
deburred as necessary.
How complex the task of deburring is depends significantly
on the outer contour of the component, as well as on the area
to be deburred, in accordance with the user’s specifications.
The outer contour can be straight in the area of the edge to be
deburred, but it can also comprise a number of contour ele-
ments. A straight chamfer can usually be processed easily in
just one cut using a deburring tool. Complex deburring edges
typically do not allow this. In these cases, several deburring tool
positions and cuts must instead be considered.

Deburring Directly on the Cutting Machine

Deburring outside the cutting machine (in a second clamping)
always entails additional component handling, in which the
reference of the position of the deburring edge must again be
Figure 1 Deburring tools.

30 GEAR TECHNOLOGY | September/October 2018

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established for the deburring task. Manual deburring, by con-
trast, involves a risk of component damage, in addition to a sig-
nificant time factor, and is therefore avoided in most cases.
It is therefore noticeably more efficient when deburring takes
place directly on the cutting machine. In this case, component
clamping is already quite stable, and the position of the gaps
after cutting is known and does not change even in the event of
multiple setups.
Accordingly, the gap position does not have to be reassigned
for repeat production, which significantly decreases the work
involved in setup. If several different deburring positions are
defined for an extremely complex component contour, their
assignment remains stable and they can be sequentially exe-
cuted in the familiar clamping. The processing times and thus Figure 2 3D view of all components involved in the deburring task.
the competitive capacity can be optimized in this way. Modern
bevel gear cutting machines make high-productivity cutting
processes feasible – with extremely high, reproducible gear cut-
ting quality. These machines also allow complex deburring tasks
to be realized. The chamfer generated here can be accurately
represented, and the deburring tools have a long tool life.

Simulating Highly Complex Requirements

In bevel gear production, deburring directly on the cutting
machine is already being required – and performed – with
increasing frequency. The implementation can have varying
degrees of complexity and therefore suitably adapted, and vary-
ing technological approaches, all of which must satisfy one
condition: Avoiding collisions. The risk of collision can occur
between the deburring tool and the gap, where the opposite
flank can become damaged. However, the collision situation
between the deburring tool and the clamping device must also
be considered. This collision situation is usually less critical for
Figure 3 Edges to be deburred, resulting from the cutting area
deburring of ring gears. For deburring of pinions, however, col- between the component envelope and the component gap.
lision analysis is often particularly important.
A simulation of this complex task makes it possible to also
analyze the penetration of the component/clamping device with
the drive of the deburring tool. Such a simulation includes three
different elements. These three elements must be made com-
patible in advance with the capabilities of the specific cutting
machine:

1. The simulation starts with a definition of the deburring tool

geometry. The deburring tools consist of carbide stick blades
that are clamped in a holder. The stick blades can have a vari-
ety of profile shapes, with the technological angles specifically
adapted to suit requirements. To minimize setup costs on the
machine and reduce tool costs, as many deburring tasks as
possible are executed with the same deburring tool.
2. The second element includes definition of the suitable exit Figure 4 Component clamped in device, deburring tool trajectory in green.
angle for the deburring tool cutting edge, from the material to
be deburred. An exit angle must be selected that will prevent
another (secondary) burr from developing as a result of the
deburring task, which itself is also a chip-removing operation. For Related Articles Search
Both the deburring tool geometry and the movement exe-
cuted by the tool in the space play a role here. To thoroughly deburring
analyze the deburring task, testing is necessary to determine at www.geartechnology.com
how many different cuts are required to completely capture
the area to be deburred. The exit angle of the cutting edge
must be checked for each of these tool positions.

September/October 2018 | GEAR TECHNOLOGY 31

 feature DEBURRING – THE UNDERESTIMATED TASK

When the component contour description is as precise as pos-

sible, it facilitates targeted optimization of the deburring tool
positions. Turned part descriptions are increasingly available
in digital format. This component contour can be imported
into the simulation as a contour element frequently in the
form of a Drawing Interchange file (DXF).
3. The third element is a collision and traversing path test for
the specific cutting machine. Collision testing is required
with reference both to the opposite flank in the gap and to
the clamping device used to hold the component in the cut-
ting machine. For this test, the deburring tool trajectory
is represented in an adequate spatial expansion. When the
clamping device description is done precisely, it facilitates tar-
geted optimization of a collision-free deburring tool position.
This clamping device contour is generated automatically for
Klingelnberg clamping devices and can also be imported as a
DXF element.
Testing of this deburring task and the collision check can be
tailored to suit the circumstances, such as, machine concepts
and machine sizes of individual machine types.
Machine Axes Determine Flexibility
For spiral bevel gear production, there are different machine
designs on the market. Various deburring options are available,
depending on the design. In terms of deburring versatility, the
number of available machine axes always plays an important
role. Depending on the component size and clamping device
Figure 5 Envelope contour of a clamping device and component
(red); collision range of all deburring positions (green). concept, the available traversing paths also influence the deburr-
ing task options. Compared with older models, new machine
generations have a significantly increased range of functions
with regard to deburring. This development is reflected in the
fact that in modern concepts, great emphasis is placed on the
capability to thoroughly implement deburring tasks.

A Variety of Methods for Component Deburring

Deburring facets can be generated in different ways – and com-
binations are also possible. These include:
• For Klingelnberg’s horizontal cutting machines with only four
axes available for the deburring task, the single-cut method
is used. The tooth root can also be deburred by turning the
component in the final position of deburring.
• The numerable-cut method can be employed on Klingelnberg
Figure 6 Action of the deburring blade cutting edge at the tooth root machines with a vertical machine concept and the capability
and final shape of the deburring edge after a single cut.

Figure 8 Contour generated with many different positions of the

deburring tool.
Figure 7 Contour generated with five different positions of the
deburring tool.

32 GEAR TECHNOLOGY | September/October 2018

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 Figure 9 Comparison of the two possible coupling situations for the same deburring task.

to use six simultaneously controlled NC axes. Here a contigu- Klingelnberg has therefore developed a way to create this
ous edge is deburred through several cuts located one after
coupled movement so that the component flank moves away
the other in the heel area. Figure 7 shows the result of five
selected positions. These are necessary because the tooth from the deburring blade. The spatial expansion of the trajec-
flank has an extremely pronounced curvature in the profile tory for this coupling relationship has a significantly different
direction, which is offset by three cuts, and because there is a form and requires considerably less space. Collision-critical
peculiar contour change on the back cone of the component. tasks can therefore be performed with much better results using
This requires an additional, extremely steep cut. Lastly, the this deburring principle.
gap root is deburred with a tightly-turned final cut. Between
each deburring position, the tool is withdrawn from the gap Conclusion
and re-situated for the next position with a feed movement. The seemingly simple task of performing deburring tasks
• The many-cut method can also be employed on Klingelnberg on a cutting machine can turn out to be quite complex. This
machines with a vertical machine concept and the capability is evident in the variety and diversity of ways deburring can
to use six simultaneously controlled NC axes. A contiguous take place on a cutting machine – and also in the difficulty of
edge is deburred through innumerable cuts located in close reliably determining process parameters such as risk of colli-
proximity to each other. The special thing about this method sion. Simulation provides valuable support in this respect: The
is that the deburring tool does not lift out from one position machine settings determined during the simulation can be
to the next – rather, it executes every deburring position along
loaded directly on the cutting machine, removing all obstacles
the edge directly with a rapid feed movement. The cutting is
performed primarily by the tool tip radius. to manufacturing real, burr-free components.
The fact that more versatile solutions are being offered and
New Coupled Movement Optimizes the Collision demanded with increasing frequency reflects just how important
Curve the capability to implement the deburring tasks directly on the
All of the component deburring methods presented are based cutting machine after spiral cutting has become for customers.
on a principle of continuous motion. This has the advantage of
extremely short auxiliary times, and therefore a short deburr-
ing time overall. This continuous operation principle requires Dipl.-Ing. Karl-Martin Ribbeck
is Head of the Bevel Gear Competence
a coupled movement of the rotation of the deburring tool axis Center at Klingelnberg GmbH.
and the component axis.
All familiar coupled movements used so far for deburring are
set up in such a way that the component flank moves toward
the deburring blade. This movement requires a specific spa-
tial expansion relative to the trajectory of the deburring blade.
In a number of deburring tasks, however, this spatial expan-
sion of the trajectory relative to the collision situation is a key
challenge.

September/October 2018 | GEAR TECHNOLOGY 33