Cutting force validation and volumetric errors compensation of thin workpieces with sensory tool holder

The purpose of this study is to improve the machining precision and processing efficiency in the milling process of thin workpieces. A static analysis is conducted in commercial software ANSYS with the predicted cutting force exerted on the feature points. In this study, the cutting forces are measured by a sensory tool holder and the data coordinate transformation between the tool and workpiece has been established. Modified tool paths for compensation volumetric errors were built according to the deformation data as a CL (cutter location) file. Moreover, three program interfaces are developed based on MATLAB for calculating the cutting constants, predicting cutting forces, and generating the compensated tool path, respectively. A thin workpiece machining example was made for demonstration and verification, including a tool path simulation in NX CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) software and practical machining on a CNC milling machine. The result shows that the presented method successfully improved machining precision and processing efficiency.