Triple tangent flank milling of ruled surfaces

Abstract

This paper presents a positioning strategy for flank milling ruled surfaces. It is a modification of a positioning method developed by Bedi et al. [1]. A cylindrical cutting tool is initially positioned tangential to the two boundary curves on a ruled surface. Optimization is used to move these tangential points to different curves on the ruled surface to reduce the error. A second optimization step is used to additionally make the tool tangent to a rule line, further reducing the error and resulting in a tool position where the tool is positioned tangential to two guiding rails and one rule line. The resulting surface has 88% less under cutting than the Bedi et al. method.

Geometrical deviations versus smoothness in 5-axis high-speed flank milling

“…Among these surfaces, two test surfaces have been selected, both non developable ruled surfaces; the first one is called the "Two flipped" surface as defined in [3] (Fig.4), and the second one is "Senatore" as it was introduced by Senatore in [25] (Fig.4).…”

“…Most flank milling methods rely on a first tool positioning on the surface at one or more points, followed by the tool positioning optimization to reduce geometrical errors [3]. Over the years, methods have evolved by increasing the number of contact points with the objective of minimizing the geometrical deviations to the detriment of trajectory smoothness and computation time.…”

“…As contact points are limited to the boundaries, the maximum error is located at the mid-curve. To reduce such errors, an optimization is developed in [3]. Contact points are moved along the rule until the deviation between the rule and the tool is minimized.…”

Towards efficient 5-axis flank CNC machining of free-form surfaces via fitting envelopes of surfaces of revolution

“…A revolving milling tool is navigated along a workpiece, removing the undesired material and producing the desired shape. In particular, we consider the case of flank milling [27,14], i.e., the case when the milling tool touches the workpiece along a whole curve, in contrast to conventional multi-axis milling, where the designed surface and the milling tool share only a single contact point. Flank machining is more efficient because the machining strips are usually much wider since the cutting strip width is not bounded by the tool's diameter [8].…”

Efficient tool path planning for 5-axis flank milling of ruled surfaces using ant colony system algorithms

“…They employed local optimization methods to adjust the tool axis until producing a smaller machining error Menzel (2004), or to re-position the cutter with look-up tables considering the surface twist Tsay and Her (2001). Monies et al (2002) positioned the cutter tangent to the ruled surface at three points, i.e.…”