Surface swept by a toroidal cutter during 5-axis machining

This paper presents a method of determining the shape of the surface swept by a tool that follows a 5-axis tool path for machining curved surfaces. Th e method consists of discretising the tool into pseudo-inserts and identify ing imprint points using a modified principle of silhouettes. An imprint po int exists for each pseudo-insert and the piecewise linear curve connecting them forms an imprint curve for one tool position. A collection of imprint curves is joined to approximate the swept surface. This method is simple t o implement and executes rapidly. The method has been verified by comparing predicted results of a 3-axis tool path with analytical results and predic ted results of a 5-axis tool path with measurements of a part made with the same tool path. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.