Iso-scallop tool path planning for triangular mesh surfaces in multi-axis machining

Abstract

• A robust and universal isoscallop tool path planning method for multi-axis machining is proposed. • The tool path with the constant scallop height is generated from the first contour of a normalized geodesic distance field (GDF) on triangular mesh surfaces. • The proposed algorithm starts from the boundary curve and runs forward recursively to ensure that the surface is covered completely by the isoscallop tool path. • The feasibility and superiority are studied by several simulations and experiments. Triangular mesh enables the flexible construction of complex surface geometry and has become a general representation of 3D objects in computer graphics. However, the creation of a tool path with constant residual scallop height on triangular mesh surfaces in multi-axis machining is not a convenient task for current algorithms. In this study, an isoscallop tool path planning method for triangular mesh surfaces, in which the tool path is derived directly from the contours of a normalized geodesic distance field (GDF), without any post-processing is proposed. First, the GDF is built to determine the shortest geodesic distance from each vertex to the mesh boundary. Then, the normalizing process is performed on the GDF to ensure that its first contour meets the isoscallop height requirement considering the mesh curvature and effective cutter radius. To improve the computational efficiency, the GDF is only built in the mesh area related to the first contour by specifying a stop distance. Moreover, an adaptive refinement process is conducted on the mesh to improve the smoothness and accuracy of the tool path. Finally, the triangular mesh is trimmed along this first contour for a new round of tool path planning. The proposed method is organized recursively and terminated when no new paths are generated. Simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed tool path planning method.