Calculation of wheel path for 3+2-axis grinding of brazed carbide profile mill cutters for wood and plastic

Brazed carbide profile mill cutters are widely used in the machining of wood, wood materials, and plastic to form various functional and aesthetic surfaces. Tools of this kind are used in serial and mass production and they are built today using very costly 5-axis grinding machines supported by specialized CAM software that is very expensive too. The paper first developed the possible concept of 5-axis grinding of brazed profile mill cutters using universal diamond grinding wheel shapes. The developed concept of 5-axis grinding served as a basis for the developed approach for 3+2-axis grinding of the brazed form mill cutters which is the essence of this paper. Verification of this set approach of 3+2-axis grinding is performed on a developed functional prototype of a simple 3+2-axis grinder (Axes XYZ are CNC controlled, axes B and C are unpowered axes and have fixed positions during grinding). Based on the established 3+2 grinding strategy complete grinding of a complex profile has been performed on a developed functional prototype. Shape and measures of the cutting edge profile achieved by grinding are inspected on an optical measuring system and showed exceptional results. The established 3+2-axis method of grinding is an economically successful alternative to costly 5-axis grinding machines, as well as to specialized software, presented in the paper through experimental and practical application.