Abstract
This study deals with the development of a new curved hole machining device which is improved to highly control the curved hole shape. Holes are generally machined with a drill. Accordingly, their shapes are straight. As a result, mechanical design engineers must apply straight holes to products, even when a straight hole is not optimal shape in designing a product. The problem occurs in the design of water channels built in molds and of pipe lines used in pneumatic or hydraulic equipments since it is impossible for drills to make suitable curved holes. To solve the problem, it is required to establish a curve hole machining method. Therefore, the authors have developed and improved new devices to create a curved hole. However, the latest device is not necessarily equipped with high controllability of the curved hole shape since the shape control depends on a troublesome setting of the device's hardware. Thus, the device is improved by introducing servomotors and a personal computer so that it can be software controlled. From experimental results, it is found that the improved device has much higher controllability of the curved hole shape.
