Reduction of NC Data Volume and Evaluation of Machined Surface by Circular Arc Approximation Method of Discrete Points

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to reduce data volume and shorten the machining time of machine tools, by the circular arc approximation of the point groups composing free-form curves within the required range of accuracy. With the circular arc approximation method used for reducing NC data this time, circular arc is applied to free-form curves using the least squares method within the required accuracy. As a result, the total number of point groups was reduced to about 1/6, and data volume was reduced to about 1/5. The accuracy of the circular arc approximation was verified by machining.