Determination of Flat-End Cutter Orientation in 5-Axis Machining

Implementation of the method of finding flat-end cutter orientation based on slope and curvature matching for 5-axis NC machining is studied. The full advantages of 5-axis machining are exploited by considering the cutter\u27s inclination and yaw capability and the local differential geometric features of a designed surface. The machining error, or cusp height, is derived for two machining scenarios. An algorithm is developed which computes the cutter orientation by matching the slope and curvature of the surface at each discretized point while minimizing the machining error and satisfying constraints on both inclination and yaw angles