Team 4499's first Homemade Gear!

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Michael 4499

We actually haven't looked into rotary broaches. What are the advantages of them? For the g-code, we went with a python generated program so then it is very simple to change the number of teeth, the thickness of the material, and the amount of material being cut. Also we were having trouble with making the program in hsmworks.

Rotary broaching is slightly less accurate (0.001" oversized broach, 0.001"-ish loss of concentricity), but my thought was that you can load the broach into the toolchanger and do it on the CNC instead of doing a secondary operation off the mill. That being said, the way your 4th axis is set up at the moment, I don't think it would be easy to integrate.

EDIT: If you are using a lathe to turn the initial diameter, you can use a rotary broach in the tailstock to broach the hex instead of going to the press.