An Integrated Smarter Cutting Parameter Selection System with a Case Study for Pocket Milling

This paper develops an integrated smart cutting parameter selection system for pocket milling. Currently, general CAD/CAM systems generate pocket milling tool paths according to user-designated cutting parameters typically including cutting depth, feed rate, and spindle speed. Pocket milling is often used for rough machining, and shorter cutting times are used to increase productivity. Although shorter machining times can be accomplished with deeper cutting, it may result in unstable cutting (chatter). Stability lobe diagrams (SLD) generated from cutting and tapping tests on selected machine tools describe the relationship between cut depth and spindle speed. However, despite offering useful information for selecting cutting parameters for chatter-free cutting, SLD has not been integrated with existed CAD/CAM systems. Therefore, this study integrates SLD in a CAD/CAM system to effectively determine the optimum cut depth and spindle speed for a theoretically chatter free pocket milling tool path. A case study is used to verify the proposed system integration.