A STUDY ON THE 5-AXIS END MILLING FOR SCULPTURED SURFACES

The direction vector of milling cutter for CL-data of five-axis millin g is obtained by the fact that the bottom part of the milling cutter r ides on free-form surfaces using the z-map method. Since the direction vector is known, CL-data can be transformed to the NC-code with regar d to the geometry of the five-axis machine and post-processing. For un iform surfaces, the tool path is created from the prediction of cusp h eights. After generating the NC-code, a sculptured surface was machine d by five-axis end milling and cusp heights on the machined surface we re measured by a three-dimensional CMM with laser scanner. From this m achining test, it was found that this machining method is effective.