Reducing X,YX,Y and ZZ axes movement of a 5-axis AC type milling machine by changing the location of the work-piece

In this study, a methodology is developed to decide the optimum location of a work-piece on the rotation table of an AC type 5-axis milling machine which has minimum X,YX,Y and ZZ axes movement when machining. At first, a method for calculating the movement of the X,YX,Y, and ZZ axes of the machine when machining a work-piece is developed. The best location of the work-piece is set corresponding to the minimum movement of X,YX,Y, and ZZ axes of the milling machine when the cutter of the machine follows the tool path generated by the commercial CAD/CAM program. The genetic algorithm (GA) technique is used to minimize movements of the X,YX,Y, and ZZ axes to determine the best location of the work-piece. It is found that the proposed method can reduce the movement of the X,YX,Y, and ZZ axes (this save the energy consumption and sometimes improve the machining time) significantly.