Quality assurance for concave-arc ball-end milling cutters

This paper presents a systematic modelling procedure for assessing the profile quality of concave-arc ball-end (CABE) milling cutters with a cylindrical shank. CABE milling cutters are widely used in three-axis numerical control (NC) machines for producing dies and moulds of complicated surface features. Evaluation of the contour quality of the CABE milling cutter is crucial in enhancing machining accuracy and efficiency. In order adequately to describe the shape of the clamped cutter, the centre-line axis of the minimum circumscribed cylinder of the cylinder shank is taken as the referenced datum axis. The minimum circumscribed concave-arc revolving surface and the minimum circumscribed spherical surface are carefully derived in sequence. The profile errors and tolerances are estimated. The quality of the CABE milling cutter is assured by using the proposed modelling procedure, and several numerical examples are presented to illustrate its effectiveness. The results indicate that the present method is feasible and can be extended to enhance the quality of various revolving cutters.