Modeling, simulation and manufacturing of drill flutes

The designing of twist drill flutes (as well as that of end mills and of some combined tools) cannot be separated from the way they are manufactured. The aim of this paper is to present an intuitive direct method for modelling, simulation and manufacturing of the drill flutes with different shapes using conical grinding wheels with standardized shapes. The mathematical approach is described, which enables us to determine the flute profile in a section perpendicular to its axis as well as the manufacturing parameters. The grinding wheel has an initial position with respect to the cylindrical work piece, which is described using four parameters (Denavit Hartenberg parameters). We have presented algorithms in pseudocode that produce the flute shape and that compute the optimum parameters of the wheel position in the manufacturing process. Subsequently, a software application based on the aforementioned model is able to create visualizations of the flute shape. The analysis of the flute shape has enabled us to understand the influence of the geometrical parameters and the position of the grinding wheel on the resulting product in the grinding process. The order in which these parameters are to be set is also specified. We have built atlases of maps presenting the influence of the geometrical parameters and the position of the grinding wheel in the grinding process upon the shape of the flute. The validity of the method is proven by the agreement of the computed values with the input and output data produced by experiment. The proposed method allows helical flutes to be generated solely by using cylindrical and conical grinding wheels of standard shapes.