This paper reports a novel method to generate adaptive spiral tool path for the CNC machining of complex sculptured surface represented in the form of cloud of points without the need for surface fitting. The algorithm initially uses uniform 2 D circular mesh-grid to compute the cutter location (CL) points by applying the tool inverse offset method (IOM). These CL points are refined adaptively till the surface form errors converge below the prescribed tolerance limits in both circumferential and radial directions. They are further refined to eliminate the redundancy in machining and generate optimum region wise tool path to minimize the tool lifts. The NC part programs generated by our algorithm were widely tested for different case studies using the commercial CNC simulator as well as by the actual machining trial. Finally, a comparative study was done between our developed system and the commercial CAM software. The results showed that our system is more efficient and robust in terms of the obtained surface quality, productivity, and memory requirement.

本文报道了一种新颖的方法，该方法可以生成自适应螺旋刀具路径，以数控加工复杂的雕刻表面（以点云的形式表示），而无需进行表面拟合。该算法最初使用统一的二维圆形网格，通过应用刀具反偏方法（IOM）来计算刀具位置（CL）点。对这些CL点进行自适应调整，直到表面形状误差在圆周方向和径向方向上收敛到指定的公差极限以下。对它们进行了进一步完善，以消除加工中的冗余，并生成区域最佳的刀具路径，以最大程度地减少刀具升程。由我们的算法生成的NC零件程序已使用商用CNC模拟器以及实际的加工试验针对不同的案例研究进行了广泛的测试。最后，在我们开发的系统和商业CAM软件之间进行了比较研究。结果表明，在获得的表面质量，生产率和内存需求方面，我们的系统更加有效和强大。