INFLUENCE OF INCLINED SURFACE MACHINING ON SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY IN 3-AXES BALL NOSE END MILLING
 

Marius COSMA, Eugen PAY, Marius ALEXANDRESCU

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Abstract: The objective of this experimental study is to give emphasis about influence of different inclinations of workpiece surface in complex curved surfaces metal cutting in 3-axes milling, using ball nose end mills. A ball nose end mill has a semi-sphere at the end tool and the result of milling, roughness of surface, is an uncut strip created between the two cylindrical cutting passes, called cusp height and it’s the most important aspect. In 3-axes ball nose end milling, a possibility to avoid cutting at tool tip, that is moving in a linear motion and the cutting speed is zero, is to assure for workpiece surface a minimal inclination angle, between tool axis and surface normal. When machining an inclined surface with ball nose end mill, different tool path strategies are possible and the cutting conditions and surface topography are seriously influenced. The experimental results, demonstrate that employing different inclination angle in accord with some tool path orientations can improve surface quality with better machine and tool utilization, with considerably shorter manual polishing time.

 

Key words: milling, ball nose end mill, surface topography, roughness.