Computer numerical control face milling spiral bevel gears by application of disc cutter with concave end

In order to solve the poor machining efficiency and cutting chatter problem during computer numerical control(CNC) machining of spiral bevel gears by universal cutter, a machining method of face milling spiral bevel gears by a disc cutter with concave end was presented. Based on the research of spiral bevel gears geometry structure, a bigger diameter disc cutter with concave end was selected, and the setting order of cutter orientation angles was changed actively, then the functions of cutter tilt and yaw angle were separated, so the tooth surfaces machined with big cutting strip width and without bottom land gouge could be realized. Through the cutter yaw angle determined by cutting contact point positions in tooth surface machined, the bottom land gouge interference can be avoided effectively. Then through the tilt angles of both side tooth surfaces determined by the theory of sculptured surfaces machined by flat end cutter respectively, big cutting strip width and high machining efficiency can be ensured. The results show that with a spiral bevel gear as an example, the cutting times of two tooth flanks with a disc cutter with concave end are 7 and 6, and the maximum machining errors are 0.0394mm and 0.0418mm, respectively. This method has advantages such as longer cutter life and bigger cutting strip width, fewer cutting times and higher processing precision for machining spiral bevel gears.