Analysis of Cutting Forces in Helical Ball-end Milling Based on Coordinate Conversion

In this work, the prediction and analysis of cutting forces in helical ball-end milling operations is presented. The cutting forces model for helical end-mills is based on the oblique cutting theory and the geometric relations of the ball-end milling process. The helical flutes are divided into small differential oblique cutting edge segments. According to the transformation relationship between the local and global coordinate system of the cutter, the differential cutting force of cutting element is obtained by two coordinate conversions from the orthogonal cutting force. The total cutting force of helical ball-end milling is the sum of the cutting force in whole cutting field of the miller. As a result, the predicted cutting forces show an agreement with the values from the cutting experiments.