NURBS Cutter Location Controlling Method in 5-Axis CAM/CNC

Abstract

Recently, more and more Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) curves are broadly utilized to approximate the arbitrary contour of a complex shape part in the Computer Aided Design (CAD) field. In this paper, the new accurately controlling method based on NURBS curves is proposed and realized about cutter location (CL) and federate in a 5-axis manufacturing system. In this method, the tool paths and the cutter locations were firstly represented into NURBS curves based on the same knot vector. And then the above CL data were calculated and finally transformed into five motion controlling commands of five axes of machine tool through the real-time post-processing program. The acceleration/deceleration controlling method is also presented to avoid the impact of machine tool. The proposed 5-axis real-time controlling method about CL and federate is realized and the experimental result of 5-axis machining shows that the presented method is corrected and also can be utilized in the Computer Aided Design and Computer Numerically Controlled (CAM/CNC) field.