Involute Gear Cutters

Find and buy involute gear cutters for milling external spur gears

Involute gear cutters make it possible to machine gears on your mill – either CNC mills or manual mills. The gear cutter is made into the involute profile, which transfers its shape to your gear blank, allowing it to run with other gears. The gear cutter needs to be matched to your gear specifications: diametral pitch or module, pressure angle, and even the number of teeth it will cut.

The profile of all involute spur gears changes slightly as the tooth count changes, and so the profile of the gear cutter changes as well. Cutters are numbered from #1-#8 depending on how many teeth it will cut. We have three different categories of cutters: Module 0.5-7.0 (pressure angle 20º), Diametral Pitch (DP) 1-48 (pressure angle 14.5º), Diametral Pitch (DP) 1-48 (pressure angle 20º). Each of these categories has cutters for cutting from 12-tooth gears to full racks.

Involute gear cutter with center bore and keyway

Compare Diametral Pitch, Module, Pressure Angle Degree, and Number of Teeth

Make a selection below based on your gear requirements, for purchase options & Scroll DOWN

Most Popular Gear Cutters

Involute Gear Cutters – 1.5 Module, 20º Pressure Angle

Involute Gear Cutters – 20 Diametral Pitch, 14.5º Pressure Angle

Involute Gear Cutters – 20 Diametral Pitch, 20º Pressure Angle

Involute Gear Cutter – Tooth Count Range

We offer gear cutters in a variety of pitch/module and pressure angle combinations, including

  • Module & 20º pressure angle
  • Diametral Pitch & 14.5º pressure angle
  • Diametral Pitch & 20º pressure angle

Each gear cutter can only make gears within a specific range of tooth counts. There are 8 common cutter profiles (#1-#8) to cover the range from 12 teeth to a gear rack. The number range is inverted between diametral pitch gear cutters and module gear cutters

How to Choose a Gear Cutter? The Involute Gear Cutter Chart

Each gear cutter is specific to a certain diametral pitch, module, pressure angle, and number of teeth. Knowing these key specifications about your gear is the key first step in choosing the correct cutter. There are charts designed to walk you through the gear cutter selection process, and you can see our full gear cutter guide here

How to Identify a Gear Cutter?

Gear cutters are identified via a marking (serial number, or code) on the face of the cutter – these markings define what gear it can cut while machining. While the order of the marking varies by manufacturer, the code will typically show the: pitch (or module), pressure angle, and cutter number (or tooth count range).

The cutter number defines the range of gears that the cutter can mill. The cutter numbers are reversed between pitch and module cutters, so be sure to check our involute gear cutter chart for more information.

Free Calculators for Gear Design

We know gears and offer a collection of gear calculators, to help support your design process and get from idea, to dimension, to generation, to finally making your gear. We use these involute spur gear cutters in our CNC mill for short-run production and especially when we need one-off replacements for broken industrial gears and broken machine gears.