Gear hobber is a machine tool used for cutting teeth on gears. The IPA phonetic transcription for this word is /ɡɪər ˈhɒbə/. The "g" at the beginning is pronounced as a voiced velar stop, and the "ea" in "gear" is pronounced as a diphthong that starts with an open-mid front unrounded vowel and ends with a schwa sound. The "hobber" part has a short "o" sound pronounced with the lips rounded and the letter "b" is pronounced as a voiced bilabial stop.
A gear hobber is a machining tool used in the manufacturing industry. It is specifically designed for cutting teeth into gears, providing them with the required shape and dimensions. This highly specialized machine is commonly employed in gear production processes, such as gear manufacturing and gear shaping.
The gear hobber consists of several essential components that work in tandem to execute the cutting process. It typically incorporates a hob, a cylindrical cutting tool with helical teeth, which is mounted on a rotating arbor. The workpiece, which is the gear to be cut, is precisely held and rotated on a spindle. As the hob and workpiece mesh, the hobber applies both rotational and vertical feed movements to gradually remove the excess material and form the gear teeth accurately.
Gear hobbers are renowned for their ability to produce gears with exceptional precision and efficiency. They can create various types of gears, including spur gears, helical gears, worm gears, and splines. Their versatility and accuracy make them indispensable tools in the gear manufacturing industry, allowing for the production of gears of different sizes and complexities.
In conclusion, a gear hobber is a specialized machine tool used extensively in gear production processes to cut teeth into gears. It utilizes a hob to remove excess material, creating gears with precise dimensions and desired characteristics.
The etymology of the word "gear hobber" can be traced back to the term "hob" or "hobbing".
"Hob" originally referred to a type of tool used in metalworking to cut gears. The tool has multiple teeth arranged in a helical shape, and it is used to create the teeth of a gear by cutting into the material.
"Hobbing" is the process of using this tool, the hob, to cut gears. It involves rotating the hob against a gear blank, gradually cutting into the material to create the teeth.
The term "gear hobber" is derived from the verb "hob" and the "-er" suffix, which is commonly used to form agent nouns. Thus, a gear hobber is a person or a machine that performs the act of hobbing gears, specifically designed for cutting teeth into gear blanks.