Automated path planning for face milling of N-sided convex polygonal surfaces using staircasing strategy

In a manufacturing environment, many times, it is difficult to have NC physical effort with actual machining. This effort can be considerably minimized by analytical modeling of tool path. The path selected for face milling of flat convex polygonal surfaces can significantly affect the cutter travelling distance. Past studies have identified that efforts were made to minimize the path selected for maching these surfaces. However, not much information is available on machining convex polygonal parts for N-sides. An object oriented software package was developed in Turbo C++ to graphically simulate the tool path while face milling different N-sided polygonal surfaces following staircasing path. The staircasing strategy was adopted since the shortest length of cut generated is better than that generated by window frame milling. Pop Up menus were created so that the software developed is interactive, user friendly and completed with error handling.