Gleason and HELLER: Ushering in a new era in large bevel gear production

Highly productive new 5-axis machining center technologies are on the brink of bringing long-sought productivity,
flexibility and economy to production of larger bevel gears in lower volumes and smaller lot sizes. Here’s how…

For producers of mid-size and larger bevel gears, where production volumes are low, lot sizes smaller and part changeover increasingly frequent, the idea of producing gears on a highly versatile machining center has always been a tantalizing possibility. Up until now, though, bevel gear jobbers in particular have had a difficult choice: either make the significant investment in dedicated bevel gear cutting machines that are exceptionally productive but at the expense of flexibility, or consider using standard 5-axis machining centers that are highly flexible, but too slow to be truly economical day to day. Bringing together the best of both worlds Now, Gleason and HELLER have forged an alliance designed to finally solve these long-standing challenges, and bring to market new process solutions delivering much more productivity, flexibility and economy to large bevel gear production – all from a single source.

The alliance draws from the unique strengths of both companies: the exceptional processing capabilities and renowned stability and inherent rigidity of the HELLER machining center platform; Gleason’s bevel gear process expertise and, in particular, its powerful CAGE™ bevel gear design software (critical to quickly and easily optimizing both gear design and processing downstream); and the final critical element, HELLER’s unique uP-Gear Technology, a new patent pending technology featuring a suite of software developed to design the processing for bevel gear production in conjunction with highly productive 5-axis machining centers and new rigid cutting tool technologies.

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