Characteristics of Inclined Planes According to the Variations of Cutting Direction in High-Speed Ball-End Milling

The recent developments of the manufacturing industry require the machining of freeform surfaces using a ball-end mill. The ball-end mill is geometrically complex. For this reason, there are frequent changes of the contact point between a workpiece and a tool, which changes the machining characteristics when machining a freeform surface. In this study, a comparative evaluation of cutting characteristics will be made for a workpiece with inclined planes at angles of 15°,30°, and 45° each using four possible tool paths in down cutting. Then, tool life will be evaluated for heat-treatment materials of high hardness before obtaining the optimal tool path, which makes machining stable and improves tool life.