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Step 1:
Gears are mechanical components used to transfer motion and power. Some of the major
applications of gears are reversing rotational direction, changing the angular orientation of the
rotation, to convert the rotary motion to the linear motion, alter gear speed ratio.
Step 2:
As asked, the three methods (hobbing, shaping and broaching) for producing gear are described
as follows.
Step 3:
The methods of machining gears can be classified into two major categories:
 Gear Generating: It involves gear cutting through the relative motion between a rotating
cutting tool and the generating motion or to the rotation of the workpiece. These further
include processes like hobbing and shaping.
o Hobbing: Gear teeth are progressively generated by the series of cut using a
helically flooded cutting tool called hob. Both the Hob and gear blank rotate as
the hob is fed axially across the face of the blank. This method is most common
when it comes to production of helical and spur gears. The drawback of the
hobbing is that it can only be used to produce the external gear forms. The process
of hobbing is done on the single gear blank but when it comes to application,
stacking of work pieces can be done to increase the production rate.
o Shaping: On contrary to hobbing, the shaping methodology cut the gear teeth by
rotating the workpiece in contact with a reciprocating cutter. This reciprocating
cutter is generally pinion shaped, multi-tooth rack shaped cutter or a single shaped
cutter.
 The axis of pinion shaped cutter is parallel to the gear blank. It performs
cut by reciprocating and feeding blank gradually to the predefined cutting
depth. The cutter and gear blank rotates very slowly in the same pitch
circle velocity in order to let the cutter go in and out to cut the gear teeth
incrementally.
 The rack shaped cutter has 8-12 teeth generally, that reciprocate in the
gear blank. Once the rack cutter finishes a pass the cutter is disengaged
and returns to the starting position and starts the process of cutting again.
 On contrary to both the above cutters, when the single shaped cutter is
used, it follows different approach. It reciprocates while making the
deeper cuts until the predefined depth is reached.
Gear shapers are used to make internal gear cuts and other gear types that cannot be produced
with the help of hobbers. These shapers also find their application in non-convolute shapes such
as CAM and the gear on the similar shaft.
 Gear Form-Cutting: It involves the use of form tooth cutters that already have the
required gear shape or profile. The primary gear forming processes include broaching and
milling.
o Broaching: It is one of the fastest methods of machining the gears and can be
performed on many different machines because it uses the multi-tooth cutting tool
called Broach. The gear blank or the broach are either pulled or pushed relative to
each other in order to remove material. As we go up from one end of the broach,
each tooth is higher than the preceding tooth which helps in gradual increase in
cutting depth. The conventional method of broaching is used to produce the
internal gears generally. The process of pot broaching is used for external gears
and is done by specialized machining consisting of hollow broaching tool
assembly known as the pot. The gear blanks are either pushed up or pushed down
through the pot in order to machine the gear teeth.
o Milling: It is the machining process that uses the relative motion between a
rotating multi edge cutter and the workpiece to generate the gear shapes.