Abstract
The use of freeform (sculptured) surfaces in the product design process is accelerating at an exponential rate driven by functional as well as esthetics demands. CAD/CAM software is a must in their design and manufacture. While the geometric aspects of the design are relatively wellcovered, issues still remain when it comes to the actual manufacture of freeform surfaces. The major issues are related to the generation of the proper toolpaths that would assure the required surface quality, the minimization of the total maching time, the control of the magnitude of the cutting forces, etc. This paper presents an algotithmic procedure for tool path generation based on the criterion of maintaing the cutting forces at a constant pre-defined level for 3-axis ball end milling processes. To this end, a model for cutting force prediction is formulated and incorporated into the tolpath generation algorithm and software that is compatible with all CAD/CAM systems. It has been experimentally confirmed that the proposed algorithm offers a number advantages over the machining strategies used in commercial CAD/CAM software.
Highlights
Today, many products are designed by using freeform surfaces, in the automobile, aerospace and shipbuilding industries and in the die/mold industries for various machined parts
The determination of the optimal tool path for machining of freeform surfaces requires the simultaneous fulfillment of a number of requirements, such as the amount of data that have to be stored in the machine tool control unit (MTCU), quality and accuracy of the machined surfaces, milling forces, total machining time, and the like
This paper presents a three-axis ball-end milling process simulation algorithm for obtaining a tool path
Summary
Many products are designed by using freeform (sculptured) surfaces, in the automobile, aerospace and shipbuilding industries and in the die/mold industries for various machined parts. The most commonly used machining procedures are 3 or 5axis ball-end milling operations This fact entails the issue of tool path generation that implies the use of CAD/CAM systems to analytically represent the surface and, based on it, to generate an appropriate tool path. In cases when it is necessary to remove as much material as possible in the shortest possible time and preferably in a single-pass it is necessary to develop a machining strategy in which the roughness and tolerances are maintained within the prescribed limits, and tool breakage, and the overstepping of the cutting force limits and/or the overloading of the drive motor of the servo axis of the machine is avoided.
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