Abstract
A systematic approach is proposed to correct tool paths with interferences in five-axis machining of sculptured surfaces. Interferences induced by the ball-end cutter in machining of multiple surfaces are treated. Tool interference problems are separated into two sub-problems - overcut and collision - according to the varied cutter parts that induce interferences. Protected surfaces are subdivided into discrete sample points to detect interference. The corresponding correction algorithms for both overcut and collision are derived to generate automatically new cutter locations (CL) without interference. The simulation result of a correction process is included to demonstrate that the work provides a feasible scheme to avoid interference in five axis NC machining.