The Calculation of Key Geometric Parameters of End Mill by Polar Pixel Matrix Method

The profile of the end section of the flute is an important factor in tool design, machining and performance analysis. In this paper, a new method, polar pixel matrix method (PPM), is proposed to obtain the profile of the flute end section of an end mill by combining the spiral motion of the grinding wheel with polar coordinate transformation and mathematical morphology. PPM extracts the section profile directly through the polar coordinate binary image of the point cloud combined with the erosion and dilation algorithm of mathematical morphology. It can calculate the key geometric parameters of the end mill. Finally, PPM calculation results are compared with the Boolean method, and an example was processed. The comparison errors are within the allowable range, thus verifying the correctness and effectiveness of PPM.