Removing tool marks of blade surfaces by smoothing five-axis point milling cutter paths

Abstract

Focused on the reverse movements of moving axes along five-axis tool paths, this study presents a procedure of removing a gouge phenomenon on impeller surfaces in five-axis machining. That is, when an impeller of a centrifugal compressor is being cut in finish milling, reverse movements and/or other linearization problems of moving axes along a five-axis interference-free tool path may make a cutter leave tool marks on the impeller surfaces. For generating interference-free cutter location (CL) data needed in rough, semi-finish and finish five-axis cutting processes, first, a simple yet useful approach is proposed. To identify the potential gouge area and to solve the problem for a tool path having reverse motion directions with its moving axes in finish milling, the CL data are further smoothed to remove the reverse movements about its rotating and tilting axes. The effectiveness of this procedure has been experimentally confirmed by successful five-axis finish milling of an impeller without leaving tool marks on its surfaces. In addition, with the spline tool paths, the machining time can be saved up to 23.57%.