Influence of tool path strategy on the cycle time of high-speed milling

This work at ®rst look discusses the in¯uence of the tool path strategy on the cycle time of high-speed milling operations. Experiments and predictions were focused on pocketing operations with a zigzag tool path, quantifying the signi®cant discrepancy between the programmed feed rate and the actual average feed rate. A mechanistic approach for cycle time evaluation is proposed. The mechanistic model construction is based on the experimental measurement of the machine tool acceleration and speci®c geometric assumptions regarding tool motion. For high feed rates, the proposed approach is capable of capturing the in¯uence of the zigzag tool path orientation on the machining cycle time.