Pinions, wheels and others transmission components designed for watch movements require high quality in terms of precision and surface finishing. These parameters must be kept either if the machine is dedicated for R&D or for production purposes.
Hobbing of a sliding pinion in one operation is something almost impossible on standard mechanical or simple cnc machines. This work is now quite easily possible on our Gear AF100cnc. Thanks to its multi-axis technology.
The machine has collet clamping option mounted on each C and C' spindles. The blank part can be manually loaded or with the help of an automatic loader. Once the face gear on the C (left spindle) has been done, the part is automatically transferred in the C' collet (right side spindle). The hobbing operation on the opposite face can be machined. At the end of the cycle the part is ejected from the collet with the help of a spring loaded end stop.
The cycle time is 24 sec. (without loading)
Our latest generation machine Gear AF90 cnc is particularly dedicated to produce pinions and wheels of medium and large production batches sizes.
The productivity can be even more optimized if the machine is equipped with an AF20 loader and with the deburring device. In this example the small pinion is produced in 10 sec (hobbing, deburring and loading/unloading).
This pinion is machined on the Gear AF100cnc but it could also apply for the Gear AF90cnc. Two hobs mounted on the same hob arbor are used for this application. The first one is needed for deburring and the second one for hobbing.
The part is loaded with the help of a drum loader type AF20.
Decades of experience Affolter Technologies SA has taken advantage of decades of experience in the hobbing of transmission components for the watch industry. This experience has counted for the development of machines, accessories and other necessary options required for the cutting of high quality components.Moreover the experience of skilled application engineers whom are facing everyday challenges is a return factor to our development office. Therfore our products and their applications continue to evolve to satisfy our demanding but loyal customers.
Sliding pinion (wig-wag pinion) hobbing. 
