Near net-shape five-axis face milling of marine propellers

Abstract

We present an optimal cutter location (CL) data computation for face-milling of large marine propellers composed of CL point optimization and CL path optimization on a given tool path. The CL point optimization at a single cutter contact (CC) point is conducted by maximizing the effective radius of the face milling cutter, while the CL path optimization on a series of CC points is performed by conforming deviation of the tool-swept surface from the design surface between consecutive CL data to a given machining tolerance. The proposed algorithm was implemented and applied to the machining of a large marine propeller which proved effective from a quantitative point of view, and is used on the shop floor in a Korean ship building company.