Abstract: In this paper an innovative
method for machining sculptured surfaces is presented. By using
a disc cutter with a concave end instead of traditional
ball-ended or drum-shaped tools, and by adjusting the cutter
axis to tile relatively to the workpiece being machined under
some specific rules, the envelope formed by the trace of the
tool-nose in each pass and the required theoretical surface have
the same derivatives up to the third order in the plane normal
to the feeding direction. As a result, the number of machining
strokes needed can be greatly reduced while the same accuracy is
guaranteed. Some essential algorithms for the new method are
proposed, together with an example.
Key words:
Free form surfaces NC
auto-programming cutter path
Manuscript received on June 3, 1990; revised manuscript January 22, 1992
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