An improved calculation method for cutting contact point and tool orientation analysis according to the CC points

Tool path generation is an important step of five-axis NC milling which plays an important role in parametric surfaces and free-form surfaces manufacturing. Cutter contacting (CC) point calculation is considered as a basic procedure of tool path generation. The step lengths formed by cutter contacting points have an effect on the chord error along feed direction. In traditional calculation method for CC point discretization, the segments connected by adjacent CC points distribute on both sides of the theoretical tool path curve. This situation magnifies the cutting error to some extent and enlarges the expected margin if the surface demands polishing or grinding. Aiming at this issue, this paper proposes an improved constant chord error method for CC point calculation. In the proposed method, the CC points lay on the theoretical tool path curve when the tool path curve is concave and lay on the chord error offset curve when is convex, which ensures the segments connected by the adjacent CC points distribute on one side of design surface, the side of the scallop height between tool paths. Therefore, the actual margin of polishing or grinding can be reduced. The influence of inflection points is also considered in this method to avoid accuracy deterioration caused by the long steps occurring near the inflection points. In part processing, local gouging and global collision must be avoided in tool orientation determination. This paper analyzes tool orientations with no rear gouging and no collision based on the calculated CC points. The novel discretization method for CC points is calculated on a single blade model, and the tool orientations are generated on an open integral impeller. A DMG DMU50 machine tool and a Hexagon three coordinates measuring machine are applied for experiments and measurements. The results show that, the CC point discretization method proposed in this paper offers many advantages over the traditional constant chord error method and commercial software, such as quantity of points, curve fitting, no overcut, and residual margin distributing. At last, blade and tunnel of the open integral impeller with safety tool orientation is machined and verified on the DMG DMU50 machine tool.