Gear Blanking

Rob~rt Endoy
Mandellii' Inc .., IFarm:ingt~onIHUI's, Mil

Scope· The sequence of operations and machinery

The term "blanking" refers to the initial metal required to produce blanks is characteristic for
cutting operations in the process planning se- each basic configuration.
quence which produce the contour of a part Disk-type parts, such as gears, are turned 011

starting from rough material. open-ended lathes or chuckers, which locate and
The scope of blanking is: clamp the part on internal or external diameters
• To remove the excess material in concentric chucks .
• To machine the part to print specifications, Shafts, on the other hand, are located between
except for those surfaces with subsequent fini h- centers. The fir t operation consists in machin-
ing operations. ing the end face of the shaft to a specific length
• To leave adequate machining stock for and drilling opposite and in-line center holes.
finishing operations Production Volume. The type of machine
• To prepar·e good quality surfaces for loca- used for a specific blanking operation and the
tion and clamping of the pan throughout the degree of automation is determined by the re-
process. q uired output. iI] pieces per hour of the operation ,.
Process Selection. Proce ses and machines Low-volume production is processed on
for blanking of driveline parts are selected based manually operated, universal machinery with
on part configuration and production volume. standard low-cost tooling, This type of job shop
Part Configuration. Gears, countershatt ,and equipment typically handles a wide variety of
cl uste I' gears can be de scribed as be ing rotational parts in lot sizes of one to several hundred.
parts. As such, the contour of the part can be A medium-volume production line is set up
generated by a Ingle point tool travelling l.ongi- to handle a family of 10 to 20 parts in quantities
tudinally along the axi of the part, while the part of everal thousand per year. Monthly require-
rotates around its axis. ments are produced in batches of 500 to a few
Depending on the diameter-to-length ratio, tho usand, with line change-over between pro-
rotational parts can be further classified as disk ducrion runs.
type and haft type parts (Fig. 1). This is the sector of the manufacturLng indus-
try where CNC machines are employed to their
fullest potential. The ver atlliry and change-
over flexibility of CNC equipment make it ide-
ally suited for short intermittent producticnnnts.
The universal tooling packages used on CNC
PRISMATIC PARTS
lathes and chuckers, combined with short
change-over time, result in efficient. batch pro-
housings
covers duction at low inventory level.
The inherent accuracy of CNC machines of-
fers the added advantage of roughing and finish-
ing in the same setup, reducing thenurnber of
machining operations in theprocess plan.
gears countershafts
couplers cluster gears Characteristically for a high-volume produc-
hubs shafts tion line, machining operations must be com-
pleted in very short cycle times. For instance, to
Fig. 1 - Basic classification of parts according 10 Iheir configuration.
make one million pieces per year in a three-shift
36IGEAR TECHNOLOGY
operating panernat 80% efficiency. machine
cycle time plus part handling must be Ie s than Table 1 - Process, MaChines. and Equipment Characteristics in low-.
Medlum-, and High Volume Manufacturing Operations
]5 seconds per part. ---- --

To meet. line peed demands, roughing and

L.ow Medium High
fini hing operation. are proces ed on eparate
Volume Volume, Vo!lume
machines. Muln- pindle machine. with pecial --I
dedicated tooling are used to cut more than one
pan per cycle. Automatic loading and unloading Machines and Equipment

of part i used extensively to reduce idle time [0

Universal Machines yes yes no
the minimum.
CNC Machines yes yes no
Rou~h Material. Barstock, forgings, extru- MuJti-spindle Machines no no yes
sions, or precision forgings are used to make Special Machines 110 no yes
driveline gears and shafts. The most suitable Manually Operated yes no no
raw material form is selected, based on a finan- Automatic Cycle no yes yes
cial evaluation which includes alii manufactur-
Materiall Handling
ing costs raw material. vendor tooling, in-
house machining cost, and investment in facili- Manual Part Handling yes yes 110
ties and tooling. Automated Part HandUng no no yes
Barstock is the simplest and cheapest. form of F,lexible Automation- IRobots no yes yes
raw material frequently used for small-lot sizes.
More complex fabricated forms like forging
and extrusions become economically attractive
Universal Tooling yes yes no
with increasing production volumes. Special Tooling 110 no yes
IBarstock
Hot wiled barstock is extensively usedinjob Operati.ng Conditions
shop work. The advantages of barstock are:
• Low purchase cost. Rolled barstock from Change Over yes yes no
the mill i .the least co tly material available.
Number of Different Parts >100 110·210 11
.• Short lead time. Barstock is offered in
standardizes whichare available from took. Labor Content High Low Low
• No vendor tooling cost. Bar tock i elect-
ed from existing tandard sizes and requires no F:loor Layout Stand alone Line Line
special operations by the vendor.
Retooling Cost for New Parts Low Low High
• Many source . Changing from one supplier
to another does not create problems. Purchasing Production Lot Sizes 1-500 500-2,000 Continuous'
is not locked in with only one supplier,
The disadvantages of barstock are: Annual Production Volumes 11-500 500-20,10100 > 1100,01010
• High material waste. Parts with large varia-
tion in diameter have a high percentage of rion becau eit avoid investment. ill vendor
wasted material. tooling and is readily available, The low mate-
• Long machi.n ing time. Removing ex- rial cost i, however, more than off et by the cost
cess material requires many turning passes of additional machining 311d the high proportion
on lathes. of wasted material.
•. More machining operation . Barstad When thevariation :in section is small. barstock
needs to be cut to individual lengths before it can be used economically for high-volume pro- IRoberi Endo1y
i~ S'yjlem~ Divis.ion Man-
can be prcces ed. duction. Examples are screw machine parts, ager III M.ondelll, JIIC., a
• Special handling for transport and storage. shifter tail • spool valves, pins, etc. producer o] [lexible
• Material strength may 'be affected due to fOllglings mallujacluril!8 S stems
and ceils. Educated in
the interrupted fiber How in the part. Forging are used for medium- and high- Holland . he is .Iht!author
In general. there is no cost advantage in using volume production, The fabricated form is made of Geelr Hobbhli, Shall-
i!!g (lIIdSha vi,,,: published
barstock instead of fabricated raw material. Itis as close as po sible to tile finish contour ·ofthe by SME and a contributer
the appropriate _01ution for lnw-vola me prodac- part to reduce machining time and to keepthe mGeqr Technqlpn

Io,IAYIJUNE 199.2 31 1
 amount of wasted material low, Forging toler-
ances are held within ±O.030" (0.8 mm) and
machining stockallowance is in the range of
0.080 to 0.120 per ide. The urfaee finish of
forged surface i ar-ound 500 micro-inches.
The advantages of forging. are:
•.Short machining times. The raw material i
shaped clo e to the final contour of the part and
exces . materia] can usually be removedin a
single turning pass.
• Less machining. Nonfunctional surfaces do
-------- - --- - --- not require machining. Forging 'tolerance and
Fig. 2 - Planet gear made from barstock.
---------
surface conditions permit usage of parts w.ith
BARSTOCK SAW TURN OTHEIR surface in forged condition,

-...£. .J:V SliDE • Higher material strength due to the ori-

L) ented fiber and the compact material tructure.
• Easy to handle and transport.
The disadvantages of forgings are:
•. forgings have parting lines, draft angles

'C' of 3 to 6°, and fla h trim mark which affect

ILOWVOI!.UME looling performance.
BARSTOCK TURN .0 Higher material cost in dollars per unit
&- COMPLETE of weight.
• orgings require vendor tooling and
lead time.
Forgings are economically feasible even at
relatively low volumes of 500 to 1.000 pieces
I per year ..Vendor tooling cost for drop forging
MEII).IUMI VOLUME and upset forgings commonly used for gears
ROUGH FINI'SH TURN' FIINI!SIHTURN I and shaft. can be written off over a few iheu-
BAR STOCK TURN ONE SliDE OTIHEIR SliDE and pieces.
-l1- -JU Precision hot forgings or fla hless forgings
~,
-I for automotive pans are produced on transfer
forging presses .. Precf ion forgings have mini-
mum draft angle of 1/2 to 10 and no parting
Lines. Machining stock allowance i only 0.040"
'C' (1.0 mm) and length and diameter dimensions
IHIGH VOLUME.
Fig. 3 - Process planning sequence for turning of gear blanks.
are held within ±O.OI2" (0.3 mm) tolerance.
ExCJ'us:ions
-
, Cold extrusion is the most sophi. ticated
form of tough material which finds economic
application in high-volume production of auto-
motive parts.
The advantage. of extruded pans are:
05.745
.• Cia e tolerance control. Extrusion toler-
ance can be held within 0.005" (0.13 mm) on
the diameter and 0.060" ([.5 mm) overall length.
• Excellent surface finish. Cold extrusion
produces surfaces with finishe ranging between
32 and 125 rnicroinehes (0.8 and 3 rnrn),
Fig. 4 - Transmission gear blank made from barslock lor low-volume and • Improved mechanical propertie . The
from forging for medium- and high-volume.
work hardening effect of cold forming in-
38 o e ... R lECtiN-OlOGY
creases the tensile strength and y.ield strength.
OPER10 OPEFl20 OPER 30
• Minimum wasted material beeau: e of tile BARSTOCK SAW TO LENGTH TURN ONE sIDe TURN
OTH,E:R sioe
dose tolerances which call be held with extru- -&/. ..,jd
- 1

-J:/ ..
. ion techniques.
I
• Machining aving . Extruded surface may
be u ed in the final product becau e they pro-
---
vide extremely smooth fini h and close toler-
ance control.
The disadvantages of extru ions are:
'C'
LOW VOLUME
• Hlgh piece cost FORGING OPER 1'0 OP,EFl20
• Very high vendor tooling CD t. Inve trnent TURN .oNE SIDE TURN OTHE.R SIDE
, C~
in equipment and tooling i vinuaUy never ju ti- &.. -:-=',
fled by low-and medium-volume production
requirements,
Exampl,es D.IBI'anking Oper,fltions
The following three examples of blanking
operations illustrate the principles explained in 'C'
this ection,
MEDIUMVO:I!.UME
Example .1. A small. planet gear which. because
FORGING OP,ER 10 .oPER 20 OPER 30 OPER 40
ohhe mall outside diameter and the uniformity
ROUGH TURN ROUGH TURN FINI'SHI TURN IFilNISH TIURN
in section, is made mo t ecenomieally from &
barstock (Fig. 2).
When a mall quantity of part i required ..a
for prototype work. the bar tock is sawed into
individual piece, and the part is turned com-
pletely in two' etups on at lathe (Fig. 3).
Short intermittent runs of' 500 to 2,000. pieces
are produced most effectively on a single spindle
HIGH V.QI..UME
CNC barchucker that performs the complete
Fig. 5 - Process planning sequence for turning of gear blanks.
rough and finish 'turning operation in one etup,
A mas .production manufacturer will utilize
a multi- pindle barchucker to perform the rough
turning operation, followed by two. eparate set-
up [Q fini h-turn both ide of the gear.
Example 2. Transmsssion gear blank made
from barstock for low-volume and from forging
for medium- and high-volume (Fig ..4).
The low-volume process consists of cutting
the bar rock to length and roughing and finishing
in two etups on a [allie (Fig. 5).
Medium-volume proces ing tarts with a
forging which is rough- and finish-turned in two
etups on a single-spindle CNC chucker,
I Fig. 6 . Transmission countershaft With a gear on one end ot the shaft.
To meet the required output per machine, the
high-volume process splits the turning opera- (Pig. 7). TWD turning operations are planned to'
tions in separate roughing and finishing setups finish-tum the external contour of 'the part.
on multi pindle machine .. This is followed by aniaternal tuming opera-
Example 3. Pig. 6 illu trates at tran mi sian tion on a checker where the psrti clamped and
countershaft with a gear on one end of the haft. located on the OUI ide diameter near the gear.
The low-volumeprocess starts with barstock This example illustrates the inefficient mate-
whilch i cut to lengthand prepared for turning rial. utilization of bar tock.as almost half the
by facing both ends and drilling center holes material is wasted in chip removal.
MAY/JUNE IIIi2 39
------------------------------------------------------------------~--~--~----~--~.~----~~--------

LOW VOLUME HIGHVO:LIUME

BAR STOCK
------------------4 E--EQ';"'.a
OP,ER 101
OPER 10 - SAW TO LENGTH FACE AND CENTIER
-&"
~---.----------_1

OPER:20· ,FACE AND CENTEIR

9-------------- .....
8.
.
-&.-

,.
OPIER: 20 - COPY TURN
----. ----:=-K
'C'
..,£... OPEIA 30 OPIEA 30
COPY TUAN

8
1~ TURN STEM lEND
_------3
I·

'C'

8_=N~C~DlA
OPER 40
~ OPER40
TURN GEAR I

OPIEA 50
'C'
OPEA SO - FINISH TURNIINTERNAL O,IA'S
TU""'~A~~_,
-&

~ .

C
-

Fig. 7 - Process planningl sequence for blanking of shafts. I

The high-volume process starts with a forg-

MEDIUM VOLUME
ing which is faced and centered 011 both sides,

3
while the interaal diameters are roughed in th
same setup. Two copy turning operations tum

-::==~F........ ~=R=GI=NG=,",,---
__ ,
the external contour. The outside diameter near
tne gear i ground in operatioJll40 to control the
nmout ofthe diameter u ed as loca'tOrilll opera-
Ilion 50 (Fig. 7) and inthe gear cutting opera-
OPIElA 10
FACE AND CENTER tion, which is not shown here.
'.0 A medium- olume proce s with fewer opera-
tion is pos ible by combining operations 30
and SOlin one setup. The external and intemal
diameter are rough- and fini. h-turned on OJ
CNC chucker in operation 30. Grinding of the

6-=~"N ~
-.JU OPEIA 20
location diameter is not required, provided
good runout tolerance can be maintained in
nperatton 20. If operation 20 alsois p erformed
UI1 II' N lathe. [he 10 ation diameter can be
'2' machined to close tolerances in one additional
OPER 30
FINISH TUANIINTEANAL DIA'S finishing pass (Fig. 8) .• 1

;)!I----- --------
Excerpted from Gear HQbbj"ll. Slmp;rrll &
Sh,n'illll by Robert Ell day. ©1990. SocielY of
Mmllljaclur.illg Engiueers, Dearborn, MI . .Re-
primed wilh permission. For illJarllla/ioll 011tbis
publication, L'1I11BOO-7J3-4SME.
400EAR TE.CHIOOLOOT