CNC tool path planning for multi-patch sculptured surfaces.

A new CNC tool path generation method for a multi-patch sculptured surface in the parametric plane is developed to obtain a minimum number of cutter location points while maintaining the required machining accuracy. In this study, a method to obtain intersecting points is suggested to generate the continuous tool path among different patches. In addition, a method of selecting a reference plane and a simple error analysis method are proposed to determine the step and side-step sizes. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation and experimental study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]