CAx-technologies for hybrid fast tool/slow slide servo diamond turning of freeform surface

Most of commercial CAM software solutions (SolidCAM, Unigraphics and etc.) are commonly employed for generating tool paths on machining of freeform surfaces. However, these CAM software solutions are presently unable to support fast tool/slow slide servo diamond turning of freeform surface due to difference in coordinating systems. In contrast to traditional machining processes, fast tool/slow slide servo diamond turning is controlled by both linear and angular positions of the workpiece and is known as polar or cylindrical coordinate system. Hence, a special CAM post-processor is required to generate the spiral tool trajectory in fast tool/slow slide servo diamond turning. However, these special CAM software solutions are very expensive. Manufacturers have been searching for solutions to sustain their competitive advantage in mass producing products at the shortest time to market and at a most economical cost. Hence, these drive the needs for an alternative and economical option of generating accurate tool trajectory for fast tool/slow slide servo diamond turning of freeform surfaces. This article proposes an attractive solution with an integration of Visual Basic application programming interface into SolidWorks to generate spiral tool trajectory for diamond turning of freeform surface. In this proposed methodology, the spiral tool trajectory can be extracted directly from computer-aided design models of freeform surface without utilizing any expensive CAM software. In addition, the critical cutting parameters and tool geometrical angles were also optimized with the developed methodologies for the accurate machining of freeform surfaces in the hybrid fast tool/slow slide servo process.

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