Identification of Cutter Axis Tilt in End Milling

Abstract

The scope of the paper is to discuss the identification of cutter axis tilt in end milling process via cutting force analysis. Cutter axis tilt redistributes the chip load among flutes thereby generating minor frequency components of cutting forces. These minor components can be utilized to infer the tilt geometry during the cutting action. This study involved the mathematical representation of chip thickness variation due to tilt, the modeling of local forces in relation to instantaneous chip thickness, the formulation of total cutting forces through convolution integration in the angle domain, the derivation of dynamic force components in the frequency domain, and the solution for tilt geometry from the dynamic cutting forces. Results show that the tilt magnitude and orientation can be estimated given the dynamic cutting force components along with the tool/work geometry, cutting parameters, and machining configuration. Numerical simulation results confirmed the validity of the angle domain convolution approach, and the end milling experimental data agreed with the analytical model.