Five-Axis-Grinding With Toric Tools: A Status Review

Author(s):  
Berend Denkena ◽  
Anke Turger ◽  
Leif Behrens ◽  
Thomas Krawczyk

Free form surfaces are used in various applications, such as in the aviation industry, in the medicine, or for tool and die making. Compressor blades as well as knee prostheses and dies have complex curved surfaces. Five-axis grinding is a possibility to machine such curved surfaces in a high shape accuracy and surface quality. The use of this technology depends on a high degree of the operational background. Furthermore, the complexity of the tool path generation requires the use of computer-aided design/computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. This technical review gives an overview about state of the art of five-axis grinding and presents results, which can close some scientific lacks. Models were developed to predict the surface roughness and material removal dependent on the process parameters. Additionally, the relationship between tool geometry, shape accuracy as well as contact conditions is discussed.

Author(s):  
X Gao ◽  
D K Harrison ◽  
B J Davies

The numerical control (NC) machining of free-form surfaces is usually accomplished utilizing minicomputer or mainframe computer aided design and manufacturing (C ADC AM) systems. The resulting NC data are suitable for either three-axis or five-axis machining dependent upon machine tool type/capability and CAM package complexity. However, the cost of such packages and systems precludes the use of these in smaller companies with an occasional requirement for components embodying free-form surfaces. The increasing availability of powerful yet reasonably priced personal computers (PC) coupled with improving software provides such companies with a far cheaper alternative approach. However, a common feature of PC-based CADCAM systems is that they are limited to 2 1/2-axis machining for all but special applications such as three-axis canted Z-plane milling of four-axis wire electro discharge machining (EDM). This paper presents a method for manufacturing true three-dimensional free-form surfaces using PC-based 2 1/2-axis CADCAM systems. All the main functions performed on mainframe systems can be performed on personal computers, such as toolpath generation for free-form surfaces, cusp height determination and change in shape and volume which may be used for the compensation of shrinkage or to suit market requirements. This is significant for manufacturers who make use of moulds, such as are found in the plastic processing industries. The manufacture of a blown plastic bottle mould is presented as a typical example. The inclusion into the PC environment of features to be found in mainframe systems is also discussed, such as machining the surface patch by patch in any direction or machining a number of patches at one time, shape and volume change in any direction, cusp height determination, etc.


2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 797-802
Author(s):  
Leonhard Alexander Meijer ◽  
Torben Merhofe ◽  
Timo Platt ◽  
Dirk Biermann

In diesem Beitrag wird ein neuer Ansatz zum Erstellen von Maschinenprogrammen zur mikrofrästechnischen Oberflächenstrukturierung vorgestellt und die Anwendung der Prozesskette für ein komplexes, industrielles Verzahnungswerkzeug beschrieben. Durch die Reduzierung des Berechnungsaufwandes in der CAD/CAM (Computer-aided Design & Manufacturing)-Umgebung können die Limitierungen konventioneller Softwarelösungen umgangen und Bearbeitungsprogramme für komplexe Strukturierungsaufgaben effizient erstellt werden.   A new method for generating machine programs for micromilling surface structuring is presented, and the application of the process chain to a complex, industrial gearing die is described. By reducing the computational effort in the CAD/CAM (Computer-aided Design & Manufacturing) environment, the problems of conventional software solutions can be avoided and complex machining programs can be created.


Author(s):  
T. Wong ◽  
S. T. Tan ◽  
W. S. Sze

Abstract The parting line on a product affects the final layout of the mould blocks and hence the manufacturing efficiency. The increased usage of free-form surfaces in product design increases the burden of computer aided parting line and parting surface determination. Previous proposed algorithms may not be sufficient to deal with such situation since most of them were originally designed to deal with products having planar surfaces or simple curved surfaces. A new algorithm is proposed to deal with such situation. The algorithm adopted a recursive uneven slicing on a trimmed surface model. The method provides a quick and efficient way of locating the parting line of a product.


2013 ◽  
Vol 433-435 ◽  
pp. 2164-2168
Author(s):  
Yun Chuan Zeng ◽  
Jian Ming Zhan ◽  
Yu Zhao

A new shape-adaptive compliant tool system is developed in this essay, which can be effectually integrated with industrial robots and five-axis NC machines. The main principle of the above compliant tool system can be described as follows: a passive servo mechanism of bi-directional rotating sphere hinge, working with the robots to control the tool-path which can meet the requirements of the adaptive capability on free-form surfaces. The normal polishing force could be controlled by the designed linear stepping motor and column helix spring system. The virtual prototyping of the tool system is created in ADAMS, and used to take the simulating experiments on workpieces which have typical free-form surfaces. The experimental results indicate that the tool system developed in this essay performs well on shape-adaptive capacity on free-form surfaces.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Molina-Carmona ◽  
A. Jimeno ◽  
R. Rizo-Aldeguer

Background. Tool path generation problem is one of the most complexes in computer aided manufacturing. Although some efficient algorithms have been developed to solve it, their technological dependency makes them efficient in only a limited number of cases. Method of Approach. Our aim is to propose a model that will set apart the geometrical issues involved in the manufacturing process from the purely technology-dependent physical issues by means of a topological system. This system applies methods and concepts used in mathematical morphology paradigms. Thus, we will obtain a geometrical abstraction which will not only provide solutions to typically complex problems but also the possibility of applying these solutions to any machining environment regardless of the technology. Presented in the paper is a method for offsetting any kind of curve. Specifically, we use parametric cubic curves, which is one of the most general and popular models in computer aided design (CAD)/computer aided manufacturing (CAM) applications. Results. The resulting method avoids any constraint in object or tool shape and obtains valid and optimal trajectories, with a low temporal cost of O(n∙m), which is corroborated by the experiments. It also avoids some precision errors that are present in the most popular commercial CAD/CAM libraries. Conclusions. The use of morphology as the base of the formulation avoids self-intersections and discontinuities and allows the system to machine free-form shapes using any tool without constraints. Most numerical and geometrical problems are also avoided. Obtaining a practical algorithm from the theoretical formulation is straightforward. The resulting procedure is simple and efficient.


2012 ◽  
Vol 500 ◽  
pp. 440-446
Author(s):  
Lin Geng ◽  
Yun Feng Zhang

In this paper, a novel method is proposed to generate optimal 5-axis finish tool-paths regarding joint movements and machining efficiency. A modified genetic algorithm is used to search for the optimal posture sequence along a tool-path while interference avoidance and surface finish quality act as constraints. Case studies are then provided to prove the effectiveness of the algorithm.


Author(s):  
S Ding ◽  
D C H Yang ◽  
Z Han

Boundary-conformed machining is a new method to mill free-form surfaces with tool paths that reflect the natural shapes of the surfaces. It is suitable for the machining of turbine blades taking into account the direction of tool marks left on the vanes. To facilitate this type of machining, this paper introduces an application of the ‘boundary-conformed algorithm’ to generate continuous boundary-conformed flow line tool paths for the milling of blade surfaces. With this approach, the initial segment of the flow line tool paths is along the top edges of the blade while the final segment follows the intersection curves between the blade and the hub surface. The intermediate segments cover the surface by changing smoothly from the initial tool path to the final tool path. The two opposite sides of the blade, which are two trimmed surfaces, are machined together continuously from top to bottom with these continuous boundary-conformed tool paths. This method has been successfully integrated into an industrial computer-aided design and manufacture system (Pro/Engineer) by using Pro/Toolkit. A detailed algorithm and implementation processes have been introduced.


2011 ◽  
Vol 55-57 ◽  
pp. 1932-1937
Author(s):  
Li Song ◽  
Shu Kun Cao ◽  
Kai Feng Song ◽  
Chang Zhong Wu ◽  
Wei Wei Song

The paper presented the development of free-form surface axis NC machining tool path optimization module. In the UG environment, have three-dimensional solid modeling to the surface, and then have the secondary development of free-form surfaces five-axis machining path optimization module through the UG/Open API and VC++6.0. This can realize NC processing path automatically generation and optimization after the three-dimensional modeling. Introduction


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