Determine the precision of aviation bevel gear, made by the selected incremental techniques and using an optical scanner Atos II Triple scan

Summary Designing and manufacturing of aeronautic bevel gearbox is a complicated and time-consuming process due to complex kinematics of the machining process and numbers of manufacturing methods. Algorithms used in manufacture process are usually provided by machine manufacturers. Using other and commonly available calculation algorithms requires a lot of studies to verify whether the proposed gearbox works correctly. In order to reduce the manufacturing costs of prototypes, it is possible to use Rapid Prototyping methods. Using coordinate optical measurements enables to determine the accuracy of prototypes manufactured by selected methods using and introduce such changes in the model to get the best accuracy of mapping models. Increasing the accuracy of the models enables to verify the correctness of assumptions made in the initial stage of product designing. This approach reduces significantly both prototyping time and manufacturing costs. The article presents the model ling and manufacturing process of aeronautic bevel gear taking into consideration the accuracy of selected Rapid Prototyping methods. The gear modeling is based on machining simulation method conducted in Autodesk Inventor software. The measurement results are shown in displacement maps obtained with an optical scanner Atos II Triple Scan and universal GOM Inspect Professional software, which determines the prototype accuracy in relation to 3D-CAD models.