A research for high-efficiency machining of mold cavity based on the patch trajectory planning

In order to achieve an efficient finishing of mold cavity, a method of patch trajectory planning based on the direction of cutting bandwidth is proposed in this paper. First the parametric surface is dispersed, and then a function with the direction and the size of any cutting bandwidth on each discrete point is calculated. According to the function, the direction of the maximal cutting bandwidth on each point is expressed on the UV parameter chart. Then, a cluster partition is performed to the dispersed points. After partition, an optimization of the machining path for each patch according to the direction of cutting bandwidth was conducted; furthermore, by the scallop height planning method, the tool trajectory for mold cavity finishing was generated. An experimental work has been performed to verify the validity of the proposed method. Through the experiment, it is shown that the effectiveness of machining can be improved.