Tool deflection compensation in peripheral milling of curved geometries

This paper presents compensation of surface error due to cutting force-induced tool deflections in a peripheral milling process. Previous research attempts on this topic deal with error compensation in machining of straight geometries only. This paper is concerned with peripheral milling of variable curvature geometries where the workpiece curvature changes continuously along the path of cut. In the case of curved geometries, both process geometry and the cutting forces have shown to have strong dependence on workpiece curvature and hence variation of surface error along the path of cut. This calls for a different error compensation strategy than the one which is normally used for machining straight geometries. The present work is an attempt to improve accuracy in machining of curved geometries by use of CNC tool path compensation. Mechanistic model for cutting force estimation and cantilever beam model for cutter deflection estimation are used. The results based on machining experiments performed on a variety of geometries show that the dimensional accuracy can be improved significantly in peripheral milling of curved geometries.