Gleason Phoenix 280G

The completing process cuts both the drive side and coast side of the bevel gear tooth in a single machine cycle, typically used for medium-to-high production volumes where optimized tooth geometry is required. The FORMATE process is a single-cycle method where the ring gear tooth slots are plunge-cut without generating motion, allowing faster cycle times at the cost of some flexibility in tooth geometry optimization. FORMATE is preferred for very high volume automotive ring gears where cycle time is the dominant cost driver.

Yes. The Phoenix 280G is specifically designed to produce both spiral bevel and hypoid gears. Hypoid gears — where the pinion axis is offset from the ring gear axis — are the standard configuration in automotive rear-axle differentials because the offset allows lower driveline tunnel height and improved gear contact. The Phoenix 280G's six-axis CNC kinematics accommodate the additional offset cutting geometry required for hypoid production.

The Phoenix 280G runs GEMS software that shares a common data format with Gleason's 350GMS and other Gleason measuring centers. Measured gear deviations from the 350GMS can be automatically fed back to the 280G's GEMS cutting controller as correction data, enabling closed-loop process control without manual operator interpretation. This integrated correction workflow is standard in automotive bevel gear production cells using Gleason equipment.

The Phoenix 280G is capable of producing AGMA class 11–12 (ISO 3 grade equivalent) bevel gears under production conditions with proper tooling setup and closed-loop correction. Automotive axle bevel gears typically require AGMA class 10–11, which the 280G achieves in high-volume production. Higher quality grades are achievable with reduced cutting parameters but are rarely required for automotive axle applications.

Cycle time depends on the number of teeth, module, face width, and the cutting process selected. For a typical automotive passenger car ring gear (approximately 40–48 teeth, module 3–4, 50–60 mm face width) using the FORMATE process, cycle times in the range of 90–150 seconds per part are achievable. Completing process cycle times are longer. Gleason applications engineers can provide cycle time estimates for specific gear designs.