An irredundant G01 tool path generation method for five-axis machining considering tool tip and orientation errors

Abstract

Five-axis machine tool is widely used in freeform surface machining. The freeform surface’s tool path is usually discretized as G01 segments and the freeform surface machined with linear interpolation in five-axis machine. Due to the two additional rotary axes, there are the nonlinear coupling relationship between the workpiece coordinate system (WCS) and machine coordinate system (MCS). Hence, there are many uncertain errors produced by the nonlinear coupling relationship, especially via linear interpolation. In order to represent the motion trajectory accurately and generate G01 tool path appropriately, this paper proposes an irredundant G01 tool path generation method for five-axis machine. Firstly, a new tool tip error (TTE) definition is given to reflect the influence of the rotation axis on the tool tip. And then, a new tool orientation error (TOE) definition is given to mirror the tool orientation error caused by rotary axis’ linear interpolation. Finally, an adaptive iterative method (AIM) is proposed to obtain irredundant G01 tool path. By using this method, the G01 tool path can be generated based on the given error limits and the proposed method is verified both in the simulation and experiment. The results show that the proposed method can significantly reduce the number of G01 segments and limit the actual error.