Planning of tool orientation for five-axis cavity machining

This study examines the feasibility of using open regions and vector fields to determine the appropriate tool orientation in five-axis NC machining of cavity regions with undercut areas. The first step involves slicing the to-be-machined surface into thin layers and then comparing those layers to find the position of the undercut; that is, the position of open region. Two-staged checking is proposed to determine the tool orientation that prevents collision. The two stages are initial tool orientation and collision inspection. An initial tool orientation is obtained by assessing the angle of the vectors determined by data points of contours of the open region and cutter contact (CC) points. If a collision is found in the initial orientation, then the tool orientation must be revised until no obstacles are generated from the collision.