Analysis of improved positioning in five-axis ruled surface milling using envelope surface

This article covers side milling of ruled surfaces using a milling cutter. Flank milling is useful for machining objects such as impellers, turbine blades, fan vanes and all workpieces defined by non-developable, ruled surfaces. In the present article, we first introduce two types of positioning on ruled surfaces developed within the Toulouse Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. The positioning studied is taken from the geometric situation not taking the instantaneous speed of rotation of the milling cutter into account. The swept profile of the tool is then determined based on the tool motion. Having defined the envelope surface, we seek to analyse improved and standard positioning errors comparing envelope surfaces with the ruled surface. We then introduce an example to illustrate positioning developed through a first theoretical study before experimentation including machining and measurement of the test piece. Finally, we give our conclusions as to the validity of improved positioning without taking the instantaneous speed of rotation of the milling cutter into account.