Abstract
A ball end mill is generally used in free-from surface cutting processes. As the point of contact of a ball end mill and a workpiece depends on the normal direction of the cutting point and each cutting point of the cutting edge has different cutting conditions, it is difficult to estimate tool wear of a ball end mill. In this research, the actual cutting length of each cutter edge was derived using the developed NC(Numerical Control) simulator, and a system to estimate tool wear distribution of a ball end mill based on the tool wear estimation equation, defined with the real cutting length and cutting conditions at each cutting point, was developed. The usefulness of the system was confirmed by experiment.
