Optimal Generation of Cutter Path in the Form of Polar Coordinate for NC Machining of Noncircular Contours

Abstract

This paper proposes an optimal interpolation approach to generate cutter paths in the form of polar coordinate for machining noncircular contours. The cutter path obtained with the approach consists of a series of Archimedes’ spiral segments and the number of segments is the fewest under the condition that the interpolation error completely satisfies the specified limit value. It can be also evidenced that the profile error of the machined contour due to the cutter path is perfectly controlled within the specified interpolation accuracy limit. The result of applying the approach to the contour machining of a disc cam sufficiently illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.