Jc. Rico et al., DESIGN OF SPECIAL TOOLS BY CAD CAM SYSTEMS, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part B, Journal of engineering manufacture, 212(5), 1998, pp. 357-371
This paper presents a program for the automatic design of special tool
s developed under a CAD/CAM (computer aided design/manufacture) system
. In particular, the special tools made with standard components have
been considered. Since the design of these types of tools was essentia
lly related to the selection of their components, this paper deals wit
h this aspect, insisting upon the selection of those components direct
ly related to the removal of material: the toolholders or cartridges a
nd the inserts. To select these components it is necessary to take int
o account not only geometrical or technological rules but also economi
cal ones, owing to the high amount of possible components they can sel
ect. Consideration of economical aspects required the formulation of t
he cost equation associated with the use of these types of tools, char
acterized because their cutting edges coincide with different cutting
velocities. Likewise, consideration of economical aspects allows the s
election of the optimum cutting conditions and the cutting components
to take place at the same time. Some of the geometrical and technologi
cal parameters related to the selection of cutting components are auto
matically identified by the system through an automatic identification
of the workpiece profile.