5-AXIS MACHINING OF SCULPTURED SURFACES WITH A FLAT-END CUTTER

In theory, the 5-axis machining of sculptured surfaces offers many advantages over 3-axis machining, including faster material-removal rates, improved surface finish, and the elimination of hand finishing. In practice, 5-axis machining suffers from a number of drawbacks, which are mostly related to gouge avoidance. The paper describes research on algorithms for the generation of gouge-free, nonisoparametric 5-axis tool paths across composite surface patches. The approach includes (a) the tesselation of the parametric surfaces into triangles, (b) algorithms for the placement of a cylindrically shaped cutting tool onto the triangulated surface, and (c) interference detection and tool-position correction.