A Convenient Method to Solve Rotation Angle in 5-Axis Machine Tool Post-Processing

In five-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machining, the tool axis vector is coordinated to the rotating coordinates by the post-processing. To solve the generated nonlinear error of the actual tool axis vector when the rotary axis is linearly interpolated, a convenient post-processing algorithm was proposed for the rotation angle of five-axis machine tools. A deviation model of the tool axis vector in 5-axis linear interpolation was proposed and the NC tool-paths were optimized by controlling the maximum allowable deviation range of the tool orientation vectors. By Visual Studio 2013, the post-processing algorithm was implemented for generating NC code. Modeling simulation and experiments were carried out on the “S” type specimen to verify the post-processing algorithm. The simulation results were analyzed which showed that the designed optimized tool paths were obviously better than the non-optimized tool paths.