Isophote-based ruled surface approximation of free-form surfaces and its application in NC machining

Abstract

This paper presents a method to approximate free-form surfaces using piecewise ruled surface and its application in five-axis NC machining. New concepts of isophote, iso-inclination curve and iso-inclination angle are introduced to facilitate the generation of the piecewise ruled surfaces. The resulting ruled surfaces are adaptive to the surface features, such as peaks and valleys. Adjusting the isoinclination angle controls the error of this approximation. The application of the isophote-based ruled surface approximation in five-axis NC machining is also studied. The tapered tools are suggested to cut the ruled surfaces. Methods for selecting appropriate tools and generating tool paths are presented. The present case studies show that the new approach may lead to the integration of rough, semi-finish and finish machining of free-form surfaces.