Complex pockets with one or more islands have been widely used in industrial and manufacturing production. In this paper, a new double spiral tool-path generation and linking method are proposed for complex pockets with islands which can be used for high-speed machining (HSM) is used. Taking into account the path interval, step length and other processing parameters, precise milling can be achieved without cutter lifting and retraction motions to guarantee machining accuracy and reduce processing time. The method has been implemented in several simulations and validated successfully through the actual machining of a complicated pocket. The results indicate that this method is superior to other existing machining methods, and it can achieve HSM of complicated shaped pockets based on parametric surface.

This work was published on Machining Science and Technology,2016,20(2):262-289. titled Double spiral tool-path generation and linking method for complex pocket machining.