A five-axis CAM system for free-surface grinding

금형연마작업을 위한 5축 CAM 시스템

In manufacturing press die with free surface, grinding operation is an important post process for surface finish and dimensional accuracy. With the advancement of NC technology. surface grinding operation is increasingly replaced by the gantry type manipulator. As the mechanics for grinding operation is different from machining operation, conventional CAM system for machining operation is hard to apply. In this. paper, we develop a five-axis CAM system by which an efficient gantry trajectory can be planned and verified. The developed system consists of four conceptual modules; namely CAD, PROCESS. CAM, and ANALYSIS. In the CAD module, the machined surface is represented by CL-data or surface modeler, and process parameters are specified by the PROCESS module. Then, the CAM module generates a series of grinding paths based on the grinding mechanics together with process databases for tool spaces and grinding conditions. The generated paths are verified via ANALYSIS module. Validation via real experiments is left for further study.