Automatic Generation of Roughing Tool Path upon Unequal Level Line Matching

비균등분할 등고선 가공법에 의한 황삭가공경로의 자동생성

The methodology of automatic generation of tool path for rough cutting of a sculptured surface is proposed with the improved contouring method, unequal level line machining. Considering the surface shape and the diameter of the endmill, the distance between level lines is obtained. To improve MMR, initial rough cutting is processed with the large diameter endmill and the remained material is removed by the relatively small diameter endmill. Tool path is generated from the offset curve of respective level line and the interferences between the tool and workpiece are automatically avoided. After generating NC part program, the sculptured surface is machined at the vertical machining center. From the experimental results, total cutting length and machining time are reduced more effectively than conventional contouring methods.