Development of Tooth Surface Measuring Machine for Hypoid Gears

A measuring machine was developed for quantifying hypoid gear tooth surfaces with a repeatability of 3μ m. Previous coordinate measuring machines have limited practical application because their measuring speed is too slow and the measurement grid superimposed on the tooth surface does not provide sufficient surface detail.

The developed measuring machine can scan dimensions along 29 freely positionable lines in the tooth profile direction (tooth tip to root direction) and 9 freely positionable lines in the tooth trace direction (tooth toe to heel direction). In total, 113 data points per scan line are taken. Highly precise tooth surface information is obtained in approximately half the cycle time of the previous machines.

The system is effective for quality control of mass produced hypoid gears, gear noise, strength investigation, quality improvement, etc.