Aggressive Spiral Toolpaths for Pocket Machining Based on Medial Axis Transformation

Many applications are available for the syntactic and semantic verification of NC milling tool paths in simulation environments. However, these solutions – similar to the conventional tool path generation methods – are generally based on geometric considerations, and for that reason they cannot address varying cutting conditions. This paper introduces a new application of a simulation algorithm that is capable of producing all the necessary geometric information about the machining process in question for the purpose of further technological analysis. For performing such an analysis, an image space-based NC simulation algorithm is recommended, since in the case of complex tool paths it is impossible to provide an analytical description of the process of material removal. The information obtained from the simulation can be used not only for simple analyses, but also for optimisation purposes with a view to increasing machining efficiency.

show abstract

“…This is because the tool path contains numerous changes of direction, which is a common phenomenon in the case of pocket milling. 50…”

Section: Application Of the Software: A Practical Examplementioning

confidence: 99%

A discrete simulation-based algorithm for the technological investigation of 2.5D milling operations

Jacsó

Szalay

Jáuregui-Correa

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C:

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Initially, the control points H i in Eq. (16) are set to be the spiral points, i.e., H i ¼ q spiral i for i ¼ 0; …; m, the degree of B-spline spiral is selected to be equal to 3, i.e., k ¼ 3, and the knot vector U is defined as follows:…”

Section: Smoothing the Polyline Spiralmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the knot vector U and the control points H i have been determined, it is possible to smooth and compress the spiral points with the B-spline curve U spiral u ð Þ from Eq. (16). To guarantee that the resulting spiral satisfy the required path interval L a , the distance of the control points H i to the Bspline spiral U spiral u ð Þ is tested to ensure that the distance satisfies the constraint condition…”

Section: Smoothing the Polyline Spiralmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Spiral Tool Path Generation Method on Mesh Surfaces Guided by Radial Curves

Sun

et al. 2018

Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a new spiral smoothing method to generate smooth curved tool paths directly on mesh surfaces. Spiral tool paths are preferable for computer numerical control (CNC) milling, especially for high-speed machining. At present, most spiral tool path generation methods aim mainly for pocketing, and a few methods for machining complex surface also suffer from some inherent problems, such as selection of projecting direction, preprocessing of complex offset contours, easily affected by the mesh or mesh deformation. To address the limitations, a new spiral tool path method is proposed, in which the radial curves play a key role as the guiding curves for spiral tool path generation. The radial curve is defined as one on the mesh surface that connects smoothly one point on the mesh surface and its boundary. To reduce the complexity of constructing the radial curves directly on the mesh surface, the mesh surface is first mapped onto a circular region. In this region, the radial lines, starting from the center, are planned and then mapped inversely onto the mesh surface, thereby forming the desired radial curves. By traversing these radial curves using the proposed linear interpolation method, a polyline spiral is generated, and then, the unfavorable overcuts and undercuts are identified and eliminated by supplementing additional spiral points. Spline-based technique of rounding the corners is also discussed to smooth the polyline spiral, thereby obtaining a smooth continuous spiral tool path. This method is able to not only greatly simplify the construction of radial curves and spiral tool path but also to have the ability of processing and smoothing complex surfaces. Experimental results are presented to validate the proposed method.

show abstract

“…Thus, in practical industrial applications, a compound surface can also be machined patch-by-patch [12,13]. Using this method, most of the existing tool path patterns, such as the iso-parameter tool path [14], the iso-scallop tool path [15,16], the spiral tool path [17], and the tool path along the directions of various preferred feed directions [18][19][20][21][22][23], can in principle be applied to the machining of each individual patch of the given compound surface. Although it is beneficial for maintaining the machining accuracy of each patch, a difficult issue inherently in patch-by-patch machining is to find a good solution to the linkage of tool paths among different patches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iso-Planar Feed Vector-Fields-Based Streamline Tool Path Generation for Five-Axis Compound Surface Machining With Torus-End Cutters

Sun

et al. 2018

Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a new vector-field-based streamline smoothing method in the parametric space and a tool orientation optimization technique for five-axis machining of complex compound surfaces with torus-end cutters. Iso-planar tool path is widely used in the machining of various types of surfaces, especially for the compound surface with multiple patches, but the operations of intersecting the compound surface with a series of planes have depended considerably on the complicated optimization methods. Instead of intersecting the surface directly with planes, a novel and effective tool path smoothing method is presented, based on the iso-planar feed vector fields, for five-axis milling of a compound surface with torus-end cutters. The iso-planar feed vector field in the parametric domain is first constructed in the form of stream function that is used to generate the candidate streamlines for tool path generation. Then, a G 1 blending algorithm is proposed to blend the vector fields within the adjacent parametric domains to ensure smooth transition of cross-border streamlines. Based on the smoothened streamlines in the parametric domains, pathlines along with their correspondent side sizes are selected as desirable tool paths. Concerning a high performance machining, detailed computational techniques to determine the tool axis orientation are also presented to ensure, at each cutter contact (CC) point, the torus-end cutter touches the part surface closely without gouging. Both the computational results and machined examples are demonstrated for verification and validation of the proposed methods.

show abstract

Aggressive Spiral Toolpaths for Pocket Machining Based on Medial Axis Transformation

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

A discrete simulation-based algorithm for the technological investigation of 2.5D milling operations

A discrete simulation-based algorithm for the technological investigation of 2.5D milling operations

Spiral Tool Path Generation Method on Mesh Surfaces Guided by Radial Curves

Iso-Planar Feed Vector-Fields-Based Streamline Tool Path Generation for Five-Axis Compound Surface Machining With Torus-End Cutters

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About