An error control approach to tool path adjustment conforming to the deformation of thin-walled workpiece

Producing an accurate part mainly depends on the position and orientation of the cutting tool with respect to the workpiece which is mainly influenced by the rigid body motion of the workpiece and the elastic deformation of workpiece-fixture-cutter system. For the purpose of minimizing the machining error, a new modification strategy of the nominal tool path is not that directly compensate the control commands of the machine tools, but that modify the cutter location source file (CLSF) from the computer aided manufacturing (CAM) system by means of the proposed modification model on the basis of the prediction deviation, namely, the deviation of the cutting tool relative to the workpiece in computer numerical control (CNC) machining operation. Therefore, it is not only simpler, but also easier implemented by common manufacturing engineer. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified by a machining example. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.