Water jet quality would not be appropriate for all but the crudest gears. I have used wire edm to make some very high quality gears. With either water jet or wire edm you may have to consider programming issues. Most production gears are made by shaving or hobbing on specialized dedicated machines. Another method is with the proper cutter form on a milling machine. this requires an indexer with the right spacing for the number of teeth, or a dividing head. Finally, I would point out that your material selections are extremely different. Aluminum is soft, wears easily, and is not very tempature resistant. Titanium is much tougher, more heat resistant, and more difficult to machine. |