| Five-axis CNC machining technology is essential to the manufacturing of complex and high-precision parts. Tool positioning method is one of the key technologies to five-axis machining. In this paper, following the recent theories and research focuses, an extensive study is made on the third-order point contact approach for five-axis sculptured surface machining using flat-end tools. UG is a widely used CAM software in manufacturing. By using its powerful modeling function, a machining strip calculation method is presented based on the construction of cutter envelop surface. A software system is developed to generate the optimized cutter locations of the entire surface. In this paper, the following work is discussed:1. Studying third-order point contact strategy for a flat-ended cutter; Program developing based on locally optimum tool positioning algorithm using VC++.2. Studying the UG modeling module; Constructing the envelop surface of flat-cutter along its CC path; Calculating the precise machining strip by intersecting cutter envelop surface and offset surface.3. Presenting a strategy to determine the next parameter of CC path according to the known parameter, thus reducing the overlapped machining area of two adjacent CC paths. Developing a software system to generate the optimized cutter locations of the entire surface.4. Designing UG style menu and dialog by using UG/UI Style interface developing tools.5. In case studies, applying the software to several typical free form surfaces; the result demonstrating that machining efficiency can be significantly improved by applying the tool path generated by the software. |
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