Surface finish visualisation in high speed, ball nose milling applications

High speed milling systems are capable of producing complex parts that require little or no hand finishing operations. The machined surfaces are smooth to the touch and they are within the required machining tolerances. However, the visual surface appearance of the parts can be a quality issue because the surface patina is generated by a rotating, multi-flute, ball nose milling cutter as it moves over the surface of the part. Current CAM systems provide good simulating procedures to view the overall surface geometry with swept volume procedures, but they do not consider the micro pattern pertaining to the cutting action of individual cutter flutes. The work presented in this paper addresses this consideration and assesses two new methods to satisfy the need to account for, and predict, the surface machining effects from a ball nose milling cutter.