Abstract
This paper presents a new approach to mesh-based tool path generation for obtaining constant scallop heights. The mesh surface has recently become the focus of considerable interest, because its geometric computation is simpler and more robust than that of the parametric surface. These advantages make it easy to check and remove interference in the process of tool path generation. The previous tool path generation method based on the mesh surface, however, can generate only one topology of iso-planar type where tool paths have evenly spaced tool path intervals. As constant scallop heights cannot be obtained from evenly spaced tool path intervals, unevenly spaced tool paths based on offset meshes are necessary for reducing the machining time and for easy interference removal. This paper proposes and compares four methods to estimate curvatures from the mesh surface; the curvature is essential for calculating unevenly spaced tool path intervals. This paper also proposes an improved drive surface method to propagate CL-paths unevenly and to generate tool paths with various topologies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lin RS, Koren Y (1996) Efficient tool-path planning and machining for free-form surface. J Manuf Sci Eng 118:20–28
Suresh K, Yang DCH (1994) Constant scallop-height machining of free-form surfaces. J Eng Ind 116:253–259
Lee SG, Yang S (2002) CNC tool-path planning for high-speed high-resolution machining using a new tool-path calculation algorithm. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 20(5):326–333
Lee DY, Kim SJ, Kim HC, Lee SG, Yang MY (2006) Incomplete two-manifold mesh-based tool path generation. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 27:797–803
Jun CS, Kim DS, Park SH (2002) A new curve-based approach to polyhedral machining. Computer-Aided Design 34:379–389
Faux ID, Pratt MJ (1980) Computational geometry for design and manufacture. Ellis Horwood, New York
Kim BH, Choi BK (2000) Guide surface based tool path generation in 3-axis milling: an extension of the guide plane method. Computer-Aided Design 32:191–199
Choi BK, Lee CS, Hwang JS, Jun CS (1988) Compound surface modeling and machining. Computer-Aided Design 20(3):127–136
Choi BK, Jun CS (1989) Ball-end cutter interference avoidance in NC machining of sculptured surfaces. Computer-Aided Design 21:371–378
Kim KI, Kim K (1995) A new machine strategy for sculptured surfaces using offset surface. Int J Prod Res 33(6):1683–1697
Taubin G (1995) Estimating the tensor of curvature of a surface from a polyhedra approximation. In: Proceedings of the fifth international conference on computer vision (ICCV 95), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, pp 902–907
Goldfeather J, Interrante V (2004) A novel cubic-order algorithm for approximating principal direction vectors. ACM Trans Graph 23(1):45–63
Razdan A, Bae MS (2005) Curvature estimation scheme for triangle meshes using biquadratic Bezier patches. Computer-Aided Design 37:1481–1491
Piegl L, Tiller W (1997) The NURBS book. Springer, New York
Ma YL, Hewitt WT (2003) Point inversion and projection for NURBS curve and surface: control polygon approach. Comput Aided Geom D 20:79–99
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, SG., Kim, HC. & Yang, MY. Mesh-based tool path generation for constant scallop-height machining. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 37, 15–22 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-007-0943-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-007-0943-x