THE REPARTITION OF THE CUTTING SPEED BY

SHAVING USING AXIAL FEED

Mrton MT1, Dnes HOLLANDA2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sapientia University of Cluj-Napoca
Trgu-Mure - Corunca, Aleea Sighioarei 1C.
Mailing address: 540485 Trgu-Mure, Op. 9., Cp. 4
1

mmate@ms.sapientia.ro
hollanda@ms.sapientia.ro

ABSTRACT
The cutting speed by shaving is currently estimated with the use of an approximate
formula that is useful for the calculus of the technological parameters, but is far from
giving adequate information about the cutting phenomenon. This is due to the fact that
classical formula returns the scalar value of the velocity, in only one particular point, the
tangent point of the rolling cylinders of the technological gear built up by the shaver and
the shaved gear. This paper purpose includes the exact calculus of the contact curve of
the workpiece and tools tooth flanks, the cutting speed vector direction and value on each
contact point, and finally it performs an analysis of the cutting speed distribution
depending on the axis crossing angle. The direction of the cutting speed vector returns
very important information regarding the efficiency of the cutting. The angle between the
cutting edge and cutting speed vector influences the quality of the chip forming process.
This paper tries to estimate the best axis crossing angle for a given workpiece,
considering the setting limits of the shaving machine.
Keywords: gear shaving, cutting speed, relative velocity, contact curve, angle setting limits, cutting efficiency

1. Introduction- the necessity of modeling.

The gear shaving operation is a surface finishing
cutting process where the shaver-tool and the shaved
gear make a technological hyperboloid gear. Due to
this, a relative sliding motion occurs between the
contacting tooth flanks. This allows the cutting edge
to remove the chip. The classical formula [1,2,3]
returns the value of the relative velocity considered
along the tooth direction line. This is far not enough
to characterize the cutting process, due to the
followings:
the relative velocity vector changes as the
flanks contact point moves by coupling;
the chip forming is influenced by the cutting
edge inclination, which is the angle between
the edge and the relative velocity
Due to this, the build up of an adequate mathematical
model is necessary to answer the following questions:
how variates the module of the relative
velocity vector during the coupling of the
tooth flanks;
which are the limits of the functional
inclination angle of the edge during the
contact;

if exist, which are the optimal axis crossing

angle and helix angle of the shaver for a
given machined gear?
2. The geometrical model of the shaving
The model of the gearing involves four
reference frames: S 0 O0 x0 y0 z 0 fixed frame,

S1 O1 x1 y1 z1 the shavers frame placed in the middle

of its width, S 2 O2 x2 y 2 z 2 the shaved gears frame
placed as before and finally S a O2 xa y a z a , an
auxiliary fixed frame pointing on the zero position of
S1. S2s zero position coincides with S0.
During the cutting process both shaver and gear
rotate about their own z axis by angles 1 respectively
2. Rotation angles are correlated by the
technological gearing ratio. If the shaver feeds
direction follows the gears axis of rotation, the
gearing ratio is given by

z
mn z2
i21 2 1
(1)
1 z2 s sin 2
where z1, z2 denote the teeth numbers of the shaver,
respectively the shaved gear, s the feed value for one
rotation of the shaver, mn the normal module and 2

the helix angle of the gears pitch cylinder. If

applying the shaver diagonal feed the formula before
became more complicated [4]. The current position of
the shaver is denoted by the feed distance value.
When all frames are standing in the zero position, it is
considered that 0 .

Fig. 1 The frames of reference by shaving

Considering the aims of this paper the shaving
process can be treated as a perfect coupling between
the elements of a hyperboloid pair of cylindrical
gears. Some models [5] consider the corrected form
of the shaver tooth, but here this is not necessary. The
formula can be considerably simplified when using
the equations of the involute helix surface, where the
generators of the surface are straight lines. The
parameterization is written in a manner that facilitates
the following calculus. The difference between the
flanks recommended in [5] and the theoretical
involute helix surface produces negligible differences
regarding the repartition of the cutting speed.

x1 u, rb1 cosu0 u sin b1 sin u0 u

y1 u, rb1 sin u0 u sin b1 cosu0 u

z u, p u u cos
1 0
b1
1
(2)
The relative motion between the shaver and the
gear is described by the following matrix equations:
r2 M 20 M 0 a M a1 r1 , r1 M1a M a 0 M 02 r2
(3)
The analysis of the cutting velocity is possible
only if the contact curve between the coupling tooth
flanks is computed. Here is to mention that between
the coupling toothflanks come off a biparametric
meshing [6, 8]. As a consequence two equations of
gearing are to be written [7]: one for the rotations and
the second for the linear feed of the shaver along the
shaved gears axis.
1, 2,
n0
v
(4)
1, 2,
v
n0
First equation is written for a constant axial position
of the shaver given by const and a variable 1.
The second fulfills the case when 1 const and is
variable with d / dt const. Due to the helix effect,
a simple translation of the shaver involves the gear to
execute a corresponding rotation given by the self
helix parameter p2. The expressions of the relative
velocities calculated similarly as described in [7] are
the following:
v112, O11, 2 r1 O21 O 1O 2

(5)
12, d
2*
2*

O1 r1 O1 O 1O 2
v1

d t 1
Expliciting the vectors in (5), and using the
expression of the gearing ratio (1), system (4) became
linear in unknown . It is to observe that by
multiplying the first equation with O22* , the second

with i21 and subtracting the first from the second the

Fig. 2 The involute helix surface

The meshing of the involute helix surface is
presented in figure 2. When the plane [CFB] rolls
without sliding on the basic cylinder, the line BC
meshes the involute helix surface. The independent
parameters of the surface are the angle u which
measures the amount of rolling, and the length of
BC. plane (x1y1) of the shavers reference frame is the
middle plane of the shaver, therefore the phase angle
u0 become u 0 Bs / 2 p1 where Bs is the width of the
shaver and p1 its helix parameter. Using some matrix
transformations described in [3], the parametric
equations of the shaver tooths surface become:

system (4) reduces to the following canonic equation:

cos tg b1 sin 1 cos t
cos1 u 0 u
sin cos 1
(6)
The acceptable solution of this is
u 1 1 u 0

cos tg b1 sin 1 cos t (7)

arccos
sin cos 1

Using expression (7) of u the parameter can be

computed from any of equations (4). It is to remark
that a single pair u, exists for a given value of the
cinematic parameter 1 that proves the fact that the
instantaneous contact between the meshing flanks is
pointwise. The locus of the contact point is the
contact curve on the tooth flanks. These are the points
where the computing of the cutting velocity makes
sense.

 O22* y1 cos z1 cos 1 sin

1, 2
v1
O22* z1 sin 1 sin x1 cos (8b)
2*

O2 x1 cos 1 sin y1 sin 1 sin

The cutting speed vector results as
v1 v11, 2, v11, 2,
(9)
4. The domain of eligible values of the helix
and axis angles
The pitch helix angle value of a cylindrical gear
with helical teeth is less than 45 . Based on
experimental results the recommended axis crossing
angle value is situated in the interval 5, 20 .
Considering that the crossing angle value is the
algebraic sum of the pitch helix angles, it can be
written that
1 2

(10)
20, 5 5, 20
45 45, i 1;2
i

The calculus of the domain of eligible values is

very simple if giving a geometrical sense the
restrictive conditions (10). Figure 3 shows the plain
of equation 1 2 0 and the limiting
conditions given by the upper interval, represented
here by the segments A1B1 and D1E1.

Fig.3 The limits of

Due to the existence of negative values the domain of

the eligible i values is the double of that represented
above, through its part situated in the 3rd quadrant.
The representation of the complete domain is given
by figure 4.
G

E
I

II

III

E
O

IV

3. The cutting velocity vector

Theoretically, the cutting velocity vector is
identical with the relative velocity vector of the
contact point of the cutting edge related to the similar
point on the cut workpiece. The cutting velocity
vector is computed in the reference frame of the
cutting tool. The expressions of the relative velocity
vectors can be computed using the coordinate
functions (2) of the shaver flanks surface and the
vector expressions (5). Omitting the complicated
calculus, the results are the following:
1 i21 cos y1 i21 sin cos 1 z1

i21 Aw cos sin 1

1 i21 cos x1 i21 sin sin 1 z1

v11, 2 i21 Aw cos cos 1

(8a)

i sin x cos y sin A

1
1
1
1
w
21

F H

Fig.4 The domain of eligible values

The complete domain DEGF D E G F defines
five intervals for the workpiece pitch helix angle 2.
The value of the possible shaver pitch helix angles
depend of the interval of 2 as follows:
zone I : 20 2 1 5 2
zone II : 1 20 2 , 5 2 5 2 , 45
zone III : 1 20 2 , 5 2 5 2 , 20 2
zone IV : 1 45, 5 2 5 2 , 20 2
zone V : 1 5 2 1 20 2
With this the possible values of the shaver helix angle
can be established. The next step is the study of the
repartition of the cutting velocity in dependence with
the shaver helix angle.
5. The computing of the cutting velocities and
significant parameters.
For the case study presented in this paper is
admitted that both shaver and gear present zero
profile correction. The type of the workpiece is given.
Using the intervals of possible values of the shaver
helix angle, the calculus meets the following steps:
choosing the tool helix angle 1;
the characteristic geometrical parameters of
the shaver;
the coordinates of the contact curve;
the module of the cutting velocity vector
the components of thr cutting velocity vector
along the edge tangent line and along a
perpendicular direction given by the
generatrix line of the tooth surface
the angle between the cutting velocity vector
and the perpendicular direction to the edge.
The last two steps are useful to the analysis of the
efficience of the cutting. If the angle between the
edge tangent line and the cutting velocity vector is
smaller than the minimal recommended value a rough
surface results. If optimizing the shaver a condition
must be the less possible variation of the angle above
but this involves another geometry for the serrations

and implicitly for the form of the edge.

6. Numerical investigation.
In order to identiffy the repartition of the cutting
velocity and its significant parameters a case study
was performed with the following input data>
gear teeth number z 2 25 ;
gear pitch helix angle 2 30 ;
normal rack profile angle n 20 ;
profile correction n t 0 .
For this, the interval of the possible shaver helix
angle values is 1 10, 25 35,45 . In order to
investigate the cutting velocity in this interval, the
following values were chosen:
1 10;13;16;19; 22; 25; 35; 37.5;

Analysing figures 5 and 6 it is to conclude that

cutting velocity vector module present anytime a
cvasi parabolic repartition with its minimum near to
the pitch diameter. The values of the velocity increase
with the axis crossing angle . It is very important
that the variation of the velocity decreases with the
crossing angle.
Figures 7 and 8 present the repartition of the
cutting velocity vector components perpendicular of
the cutting edge. These components were obtained by
the decomposition of the velocity vector. The unit
vector of the edge and that of the generatrix line are
obtained from the surface equations (2).

40; 42.5; 45
For this correspond the following crossing angle set:
20; 17; 14; 11; 8; 5; 5; 7.5;

10;12.5;15
The speed of the shaver were chosen at n 250 rpm .
The results of the calculus are presented in the
graphics shown in figures 5-10.
Figure 5 and 6 are showing the repartition of the
cutting velocity vector module. For all graphical
representations the abscissa contains the distances of
the contact point of workpiece to the axis of rotation.
All results must be reported to the workpiece to have
a common basis of comparison evidently. The
workpiece contact point coordinates were computed
using the tool contact point coordinates and the
matrix transformation (3). The distance of the point to

Fig.7 The repartition of the velocity component

normal to the edge for the first subinterval

v [m/min]

the axis of rotation is evidently x22 y 22 .

20
17

30

11

20

Fig.8 The repartition of the velocity component

normal to the edge for the second subinterval

10

68

70

72

74

76 [mm]

Fig.5 The cutting velocity repartition for the first

subinterval

Fig.6 The cutting velocity repartition for the

second subinterval

Analysing figures 7 and 8 it can be observed that

the variation of the efficient component is pretty
acceptable. Evidently the efficiency of cutting
increases with the axis crossing angle while this leads
to bigger velocity values by the same rotating speed
of the cutting tool. The negative values on figure 8
appear due to the sign change of the crossing angle.
Finally, figures 9 and 10 show the angle between
the cutting velocity vector and the generatrix line of
the tooth surface of the shaver. It is considered that
the cutting process is as this angle smaller as better.
Analyzing figures mentioned above it is to remark that
the variation of this angle is very large. The variation
value decreases with the increasing of the axis crossing
angle. A minimum value, near to zero is obtained in the
vicinity of the pitch diameter. The minimum point
location changes with the axis crossing angle. This
variation is more significant in the second subinterval.

Fig.9 The repartition of angle for the first

subinterval

Fig.10 The repartition of angle for the second

subinterval
7. Conclusions.
Analysing the results presented before the
following conclusions can be formulated:
The cutting velocity vector value increases with
the distance of the current edge point to the reference
point situated on the pitch diameter in both directions;
This increasing compensates the increasing of the
angle leading finally to an apparent constancy of the
velocity normal to the cutting edge. This somehow
uniformizes the chip forming conditions.
The shaving process efficiency increases with the
axis crossing angle.
The optimizing of the cutting conditions involves
the change of the edge form. The new execution must
follow such a curve that the variation of the angle
should be minimal. This will increase the manufacturing costs of the shaver.

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