High performance multi-axis milling
AssigneeCeleritive Technologies, Inc.
InventorsEvan C. Sherbrooke, Glenn Coleman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Technology for milling selected portions of a workpiece by a cutting tool of a numerical control machine is described. The described technology provides methods and apparatuses for milling areas of a part so that more aggressive machining parameters can be used in the toolpath, thereby resulting in reduced machining time and load. The described technology additionally determines directions of the tool axis vector at points along a toolpath in order to achieve a desired part shape while optionally maintaining high material removal rates.
Claims16
A method for milling selected portions of a workpiece by a cutting tool of a numerical control machine, the numerical control machine having associated therewith a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
- creating a domain mapping based on the workpiece
- defining one or more constraints on the tool axis vector
- defining a function to determine the tool axis vector such that the one or more constraints are substantially satisfied
- setting the tool axis vector direction at one or more points along a toolpath using the defined function, and
- outputting instructions based on the toolpath to control the operation of a milling machine.
A method for milling selected portions of a workpiece by a cutting tool of a numerical control machine, the numerical control machine having associated therewith a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
- defining a continuous, invertible mapping from a first subset of 3-D space to a second, different subset of 3-D space
- using the mapping to transform the workpiece
- computing a toolpath in the second subset of 3-D space based on the transformed geometry
- transforming the toolpath using the inverse of the mapping into the first subset of 3-D space, and
- outputting instructions based on the transformed toolpath to control the operation of a milling machine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.