Seeking advice for maximizing hob life?

Tonight I will be cutting some 72-Pitch gear teeth on a part. The material is oil hardening tool steel and I will be cutting them on a face that is .312 wide. The teeth are approx .031 deep. For the sake of maximum tool life...cause this bugger is very expensive...should I cut the teeth in multiple passes each or full depth and slower feed? Vendor has yet to respond to my inquiry.
Thanks!
Joe

It the blank is well supported I'd suggest doing it in one cut. Cut to hob depth plus the infeed allowance for 1/2 the backlash. Maybe 0.020 to 0.032" feed per rev. If the hob is running really true you can double the feed.

What material are you cutting?

In general, one pass and higher feed rates will give better life. Also start as close to the end of the hob as possible, so you can maximize the number of times you can move over to a fresh set of teeth.

In any case, move to fresh teeth before you chip teeth. Hobs can be re-ground many times as long as you don't bust the teeth.

Use plenty of oil. Sulpherized oil is best for HSS hobs. An oil with an EP additive will help. There is a lot of contact with the whole tooth profile during generation. If you already have oil in the hobber, you can add an EP additive to it. An old low buck trick is to add STP engine oil additive.

If you are cutting brass or bronze, there is usually no need.

hi
its important to get the correct rev's for your hob as well as the feed, if you work your rev's out for 50ft/min you won't be far out, i don't know what your hob is made of but i assume ASP2030 it would be better if it was ASP30 as this will stand-up to tool steel much better.

"what your hob is made of but i assume ASP2030 it would be better if it was ASP30 as this will..."

Which are, for what its worth, different grades of Uddeholms high-speed steels.

What are they, LBMAKEM? Some sintered, powder metallurgy recipe?