An Effective Global Gouge Detection in Tool-Path Planning for Freeform Surface Machining

This paper examines a usually neglected gouge phenomenon in tool-path planning for machining parts having freeform surfaces with 3-axis ball-end mills. That is, when a freeform surface is being milled with a ball-end cutter, a gouge may exist anywhere around the cutter circumference, in addition to the tool driving plane. A global gouge detection concept is developed to solve this problem. An effective method is proposed to identify the potential gouge areas on the sculptured surface during machining, before generating tool paths. Thus, it greatly simplifies the tool-path planning procedure and improves the accuracy and reliability of machining. It also facilitates geometric design processes of products and cutter radius selection which are crucial to machining efficiency. The designed part surfaces tested by the proposed methodology are constructed based on bicubic B2-splines and are assumed to be at least C 2 and may possess C 1 or C 0 continuity for generality. The tested examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed global gouge detection approach. This revised version with a corrected online cover date was published online in April 2004.