The generation of three dimensionally formed cutting edges such as drills and endmills, has been quite a difficult problem for tool makers, because those cutting tools have been manufactured on specially designed tool grinders, and conventionally, cutting edges have been generated with formed grinding wheels, profiles of which were obtained empirically by trial and error. Recently, with the development and widespread use of the multiaxis NC tool grinder, the theoretical analysis of the relationship between the cutting edge and the profile of a grinding wheel used is earnestly required. This paper aims to estimate the profile of a formed grinding wheel and the wheel-work relative movements in the NC programming necessary for realizing the desired flute configurations and cutting edges of drills. It was clarified that the results theoretically obtained here by computer simulation agree quite well with experimental ones.
