US 6,065,858 A · Milling machine and methods of milling and menu selection

Abstract

Determining the intersection line of a plane Z=Z1 perpendicular to the axial direction of an end mill and a design surface, determining equal pitch offset-curves as path elements inside a material and outside the intersection line, determining intersection points crossing a material boundary from outside to inside as cutting start and end points and reverse respectively when going along the path, determining a tangent to the path element at the cutting start point and determining the intersection point of the tangent and a material boundary offset line outside the materials as the end mill approach start point. Determining a point at a minimum height on a design surface and determining such a ball end mill that a mill model does not interfere with the design surface when aligning the tip of the mill model with the point. When performing offset milling by a thickness .delta., making a mill model by reducing the outline of a rotating end mill by the thickness .delta., placing the model on the design surface to determine a path and actually cutting with the end mill along the path. Displaying a tree-type hierarchical menu and selecting one item of the lowest layer in the menu, resulting in selecting all related items in the hierarchical layers above it automatically.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A milling method using a processor comprising:

determining an end mill path from a design surface of an object, a shape of a block material and a shape of an end mill;
cutting said block material by making said end mill move relative to said block material along said end mill path;
rotating said end mill in order to shape said block material into an object having said design surface;
finding an intersection line of a surface Z=Z1 perpendicular to the Z axis and said design surface, said Z axis being an axial direction of said end mill;
determining offset curves as elements of said end mill path, said elements having approximately equal pitch and being outside from said intersection line;
selecting said elements of said end mill path in order from outside to inside and making said end mill move along said end mill path inside said block material;
finding a second intersection line of a surface perpendicular to said direction Z and a side surface of said block material as a boundary line;
finding intersection points of one of said elements and said material boundary line;
determining a cutting start point and a cutting end point which are said intersection point crossing said material boundary line from outside to inside and from inside to outside respectively when going along said one of said elements in a direction for said end mill to be moved;
determining a tangent to said one of said elements at said cutting start point;
determining a segment of said tangent from an end mill approach start point, which is outside said material boundary line, to said cutting start point as an entering path;
and
making said end mill move for said cutting start point along said entering path.

10 more elements

A milling method comprising:

selecting a ball end mill,
determining a path of said ball end mill for a design surface based upon said design surface and a shape of said ball end mill,
moving said ball end mill along said path and rotating said ball end mill to make a work surface close to said design surface, and, in order to select said ball end mill,
(1) finding a point of an approximate minimum height on said design surface as a judging point when a height direction Z extending from a tip to another end of said ball end mill is set;
and
(2) selecting a ball end mill from a plurality of ball end mills such that said selected ball end mill has a maximum diameter in those not interfering with said design surface when said tip of said ball end mill is aligned with said judging point;
wherein the steps (1) and (2) are executed by a computer.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Milling machine and methods of milling and menu selection

Life of this patent

Milling machine and methods of milling and menu selection

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14