CAD ASSISTED CHATTER-FREE NC TOOL PATH GENERATION IN MILLING

A chatter vibration-free NC tool path preparation strategy is presented for CAD/CAM systems. The stability charts, which contain chatter-free axial depth and radial width of cuts at a practical cutting speed range, are identified from time domain simulation of dynamic end milling operations. The time domain simulation system allows multiple modes of the machine tool-end mill structure whose transfer functions are measured. The existing pocketing routines in a CAD/CAM system are corrected by planning chatter-free axial depth and radial width of cuts that are automatically selected from the stability data bank during NC tool path generation. A newly introduced linear tool-path pocketing strategy is shown to be the most productive algorithm for dynamically corrected tool paths. The method is supported by experimental results.