Improved positioning of a conical mill for machining ruled surfaces: Application to turbine blades

Abstract

For this short communication, side milling ruled surfaces using a conical milling cutter is studied. Conical mill machining is a field that has largely been ignored by research scientists but it is much used in industry especially to machine turbine blades. In this study, an ‘optimum’ positioning to respect the directrices of the ruled surface is suggested. In comparison with the methods already developed for the cylindrical tool, this positioning also enables interference between the milling cutter and the workpiece to be reduced. The work led to a development project for a computer aided manufacturing program in co-operation with the Sapex-Profor Company.