Five-axis NC machining of sculptured surfaces

This paper presents a new method for the determination of tool position and orientation for NC milling of sculptured surfaces with a five-axis NC machine. This method uses an analysis of local curvatures of the surface and the tool geometry. Based on matching these local properties, optimal tool axis orientations are selected so that the gouging error in machining is eliminated or controlled within a specific tolerance. An accurate technique is also proposed for the computation of cusp height of the machined surface. By eliminating gouging and controlling scallops within a specified tolerance, it is expected that the time-consuming manual grinding process could be greatly reduced or completely eliminated in the finish machining of complex die or mould surfaces.