Multicoordinate Grinding of Helical Surfaces on High-Strength Tool Materials

The helical surfaces on the cutting section of end mills determine their operational efficiency and the product quality. Preparations for machining those surfaces include determining the position and orientation of the standard grinding wheel. That is a challenging problem, since the standard wheel does not share a single cross section with the helical profile. Consequently, the usual methods do not permit the determination of a broad set of geometric parameters for a specified setup. Therefore, in the present work, a mathematical model is proposed for the multicoordinate grinding of helical surfaces on high-strength tool materials. The model takes account of wheel profiles with different curvature, dimensions, and shape; the characteristics of multicoordinate wheel motion in the tool coordinate system; and the shape of the machined surface in the helical channel. The model is universal and greatly facilitates the development of shaping configurations for helical surfaces of different profile.