Gleason New Pentac® Plus Cutter head improves tool life and productivity

Oct 5, 2009

Gleason, a worldwide leader in gear production solutions, has introduced PENTAC PLUS, the next generation of its renowned PENTAC bevel gear cutting system.  The new PENTAC PLUS cutting system is specifically engineered to provide significantly higher tool life and improved productivity, especially with cutters using multiple face blade geometry.

Another important enhancement of the PENTAC PLUS is the new blade clamp block design which makes it easier and faster to perform height and radial adjustments, resulting in very precise axial blade movement during cutter building and truing.

Prior cutter designs often resulted in chip packing, the accumulation of chips between cutter blades during the gear cutting process. Typically, chip flow is not sufficient in front of the outside blades because the side rake angle obstructs the chip chamber in the direction of centrifugal force, causing poor chip evacuation. Left unchecked, the increasing pressure and extreme temperatures of the highly compressed chip packing will distort blade geometry causing premature blade failure and rejected parts. In the most severe case, it can result in the breakage of multiple cutting blades

“To avoid chip packing, machines are usually operated with fewer cutting blades, at conservative speeds and lower feed rates. The new PENTAC PLUS is designed to enhance chip flow and prevent chip packing. Therefore, gears can be cut with more efficient cycles without premature degradation of the cutting blade efficiency. The net result is longer tool life and lower cost per part” states Dr. Hermann J. Stadtfeld, Vice President of Bevel Gear Technology.

The PENTAC PLUS cutting systems is available for face hobbing and face milling in all cutter sizes and can be easily adapted to any existing Gleason gear cutting process without additional software or hardware requirements. 

Gleason Corporation’s mission is to be The Total Gear Solutions Provider to its global customer based.  Gleason is a world leader in the development, manufacture and sale of gear production machinery and related equipment. The Company’s products are used by customers in automotive, truck, aircraft, agriculture, mining, windpower, construction, power tool and marine industries and by a diverse set of customers serving various industrial equipment markets. Gleason has manufacturing operations in Rochester, New York; Rockford, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio; Plymouth, England; Munich and Ludwigsburg, Germany; Studen, Switzerland; Bangalore; India, and Suzhou, China and has sales and service offices throughout the North and South America, Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region.

Pentac type cutters are sold in Japan under the name SUPERI-AC.

More information about Gleason Corporation is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.gleason.com.