An efficient algorithm for calculating the cutter location point based on projection method

Abstract

Aiming at improving the efficiency of calculating the cutter location point with toroid cutter based on the projection method in NC machining for surface, a new algorithm is proposed to calculate the cutter location point directly by torus surface approximating the surface to be machined. According to the geometric information of the points on the surface, the geometrical conditions of the two tangential tori are figured out, and then the contact point is obtained by solving multivariate non-linear equations. Parameters of the tangent point on the surface to be machined are calculated in the next step. Finally, the cutter location point is calculated by a small adjustment. The proposed algorithm is applied to calculate the cutter location point with toroid cutter in surface machining and compared with the existing algorithm. The results show that the computing time of the proposed algorithm in this paper saved about 63–78%.

Keywords:

• Cutter location point
• projection method
• toroid cutter
• CNC machining
• tool path planning

Acknowledgements

This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51375040); their support is greatly appreciated.