Study on Ball End Milling of Cylindrical Surface (Influence of Tool-Feed Direction on Machining Error)

Ball end milling is widely used in the machining process of sculptured surfaces. Due to the complicated surface geometry, it is difficult to achieve high productivity while maintaining high quality of machined surfaces. In order to meet these functional requirements, the prediction of machining error is indispensable. This study makes efforts on theoretical analysis of machining error in arbitrary tool-feed direction for ball end milling of cylindrical surface. A cutting model is developed to calculate the machining error. The verification experiments are carried out to investigate the theoretical analysis model. Basing on the analyzed and measured values of machining error, the influence of tool-feed direction on machining error is discussed.