Numerical control system

A numerical control system having a tool positioned with respect to an orthogonal coordinate system having a first origin and x, y, z axes and a spherical coordinate system having b, c axes and a second origin coinciding with said first origin, the tool being capable of movement with respect to 5 axes and having a tip portion with coordinates (X, Y, Z), an axial position vector (I, J, K) and a center of rotation, said system including:

• receiving means for receiving command data including the position X, Y, Z of the tip portion and the position vector I, J, K and for receiving data indicating a length (l), of the tool, the length being measured from the center of rotation of the tool to the tip of the tool;
• numerical control means for calculating the orthogonal coordinates (x, y, z) of the center of rotation and for calculating the spherical coordinate angle of the tool (b, c), in accordance with said command data and said length (l) of the tool;
• and
• pulse distributing means for providing distributed pulses for each of the five axes in accordance with the orthogonal coordinates and spherical coordinates calculated by said numerical control means.

A numerical control system having a tool positioned with respect to a first orthogonal coordinate system having a origin O.sub.1 (O, O, O,), a second orthogonal coordinate system positioned with respect to the first coordinate system and having an origin O.sub.2 (.alpha.,.beta.,0) rotated through an angle C with respect to the first coordinate system, and a spherical coordinate system having b and c axes and an origin coinciding with the origin O.sub.1, the tool being capable of movement with respect to five axes and having a tip portion with coordinates X, Y, Z, an axial position vector I, J, K, and a center of rotation, said system including:

• receiving means for receiving data including the position X, Y, Z, and the vector I, J, K and for receiving data indicating a length l, of the tool, the length being measured from the center of rotation of the tool to the tip portion of the tool;
• numerical control means for calculating the orthogonal coordinates (x, y, z) of the center of rotation and for calculating the spherical coordinates of the tool (b, c), in accordance with said command data and said length l of the tool using the following ##EQU5## where L=I.sup.2 +J.sup.2 +K.sup.2 ;
• and
• pulse distributing means for providing distributed pulses for each of the five axes in accordance with the orthogonal coordinates and spherical coordinates calculated by said numerical control means.