Plunge milling method

A plunge milling method for the cutting removal of an area of material of a workpiece, in which during the plunge milling a milling tool is moved multiple times in succession in the direction of its tool axis or of its tool vector into the material area that is to be removed, forming plunge milling bores, and is subsequently moved out of said area, comprising:

• a) the area of material of the workpiece that is to be removed is defined or enclosed by a plurality of milling paths, each milling path defining end positions of a milling head or of a tool reference point of the milling tool during the formation of plunge milling bores;
• b) to each milling path there is allocated a guide curve for the tool axis or the tool vector of the milling tool, each guide curve defining initial positions of the milling head or of the tool reference point during the formation of plunge milling bores;
• c) during the formation of plunge milling bores, the tool axis or tool vector is oriented, as a function of a milling path and the respective guide curve, in such a way that there is no danger of collision of the milling tool with a contour that is to be formed by plunge milling;
• and
• d) for each milling path, bore axes for plunge milling bores are determined as a function of the respective guide curve, corresponding to a prespecified degree of overlap of plunge milling bores that are to be formed along the milling paths during the plunge milling.