Cutting Force Measurement of a Rotating Tool by Means of Optical Data Transmission

Abstract

The study proposes a new way to accurately measure transient cutting forces of a rotating tool such as a milling cutter from the side of tool. The transmission of cutting forces through a slip ring or a FM telemeter is liable to be affected by noises. Therefore, a device to obtain reliable cutting data has been required to analyze the cutting phenomena, In the measurement system developed, amplified output signals from strain gauge bridges are digitized using an AD converter and then converted to continuous serial data streams to optically transmit them outside a machine tool by use of LED. Received serial data streams by a photo sensor are conversely restored to parallel data, which are immediately processed by a personal computer. The transient cutting forces can be measured without any trouble. As a result, this method was found to be very practical and also applicable to a variety of measuring fields requisite for non-contacting data transmission.