Abstract
To make full use of CNC turning centers, two end-mills can be installed to perform milling in two directions enabling the turning center to operate near the machining capabilities of a 5-axis milling machine, thus the name 4.5-axis milling. In effect, a complex feature can be machined from two directions: parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the rotating workpiece. To facilitate this machining capability, a CAM is developed using open CAM kernel Kodatuno. CAD data in NURBS format is processed to generate cutter locations. For post-processing, an algorithm is created to differentiate the cutter locations into which end-mill can be used and then a cutting path is generated. This novel system is found to be effective in generating an NC file that is simulated and tested in the turning center.
