Surface Roughness Control Based on Digital Copy Milling Concept to Achieve Autonomous Milling Operation

In order to develop an autonomous and intelligent machine tool, a system named Digital Copy Milling (DCM) was developed in our previous studies. The DCM generates tool paths in real time based on the principle of copy milling. In the DCM, the cutting tool is controlled dynamically to follow the surface of CAD model corresponding to the machined shape without any NC program. In this study, surface roughness control of finished surface is performed as an enhanced function of DCM. From rough-cut to semi-finish-cut and finish-cut operations, the DCM selects cutting conditions and generates tool paths dynamically to satisfy instructed surface roughness Ra. The experimental verification was performed successfully. (C) 2012 Authors. Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Prof. Eiji Shamoto