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Simulation-aided Design of Thread Milling Cutter

Article  in  Procedia CIRP · December 2012

DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2012.04.019

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Procedia CIRP 1 (2012) 120 – 125

5th CIRP Conference on High Performance Cutting 2012

Simulation-aided Design of Thread Milling Cutter

Seok Won Leea*, Andreas Nestlera
a
Institute of Forming and Cutting Manufacturing Technology,
Dresden Univeristy of Technology, George-Bähr-Str. 3c, 01069 Dresden, Germany
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-351-463-36356; fax: +49-351-463-37159. E-mail address: [email protected].

Abstract

Thread milling has become quite popular in recent years as an alternative to tapping or other forms of threading because of diversity
and complexity of parts and flexibility of the process in industries such as biomedical applications, aerospace and die-mold
manufacturing. Today the design of the tooth profile is, however, predominantly feasible by the expertise and “trial and error”
principle.
Presented in this paper are a novel methodology to design the tooth profile of the thread mill by comparing the “to-be” thread
profile and the “as-is” thread profile which is analyzed by means of NC cutting simulation. The simulation kernel enables to
continually subtract the swept volume of thread milling cutter undergoing helical movement from the workpiece and to calculate
the virtual workpiece (VWP). Combined with the standardized “to-be” thread profile, the tooth profile of to-be-designed thread mill
is adaptively modified until the thread profile on VWP and the “to-be” thread profile become congruent with each other. The
proposed methodology could be integrated into CAD/CAM systems.

© 2012
© 2012The
Published byPublished
Authors. Elsevier BV. Selection
by Elsevier B.V.and/or peer-review
Selection under responsibility
and/or peer-review of Prof. Konrad
under responsibility Wegener
of Professor Konrad Wegener

Keywords: Design, Simulation, Thread milling, Tool Design

1. Introduction respect to the machine setup and tool geometry used. For
that reason, the choice of operating parameters and
Helical surface machining (either grinding or milling) cutter profiles depends on the machine operator and his
is a widely adopted process used to generate helically- know-how about the process [4].
swept surfaces for drill flutes, end mill cutters, helical Classical application areas of form-milling cutters
gear teeth, screw mechanisms, and so on [1-2]. It is are, among other things, the gear cutting and the
extremely complex due to the helical motion of the disk- production of helical slots, for example, those of threads.
type (grinding wheel, slab mill) or axial-type (mounted For thread milling by using form-milling cutters
wheels, end mill) cutters along the helical tool path on (generally referred to as thread milling cutter) as well as
cylindrical stocks. During machining of a helical for the fast development of special threads, there arises a
surface, the rotating cutter moves along the axis of the need for computer-based construction and simulation-
workpiece, while the workpiece rotates about its own supported functional verification of thread cutters.
axis. The combined relative motion of the cutter and When it comes to the fabrication of threads, thread-
workpiece results in a helical motion [3]. milling is advantageous in comparison to tapping for
The problem of helical surface machining, however, several reasons. Firstly, thread-milling produces far
is that it is still usually approached by many superior threads as compared to tapping due to a much
manufacturers with an empirical trial-and-error method. higher cutting speed. Secondly, thread milling is a
The geometry of the helical surface not only depends on practical solution for threading large holes. However, it
the geometry of the tool, but also on the operating demands a careful, deliberate approach, as well as
(machine setup) parameters. Identical surfaces can be several other prerequisites. At first, up-to-date CNC
manufactured under radically different conditions with machine tools are a necessity. To perform thread milling,

2212-8271 © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Konrad Wegener
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2012.04.019
 Seok Won Lee and Andreas Nestler / Procedia CIRP 1 (2012) 120 – 125 121

the machine must be capable of helical interpolation. method exemplarily. Section 6 concludes and
Second to none, a thread milling cutter, the profile of summarizes the work.
which is to be designed slightly different from the thread
profile due to the helical movement of the cutter, is 2. Helical Projection
required. Other aspects to consider in relation to thread
milling are the issues of right-handed/left-handed A (linear) projection is the mapping of three-
threads, internal/external threads, and multi-start threads dimensional (3D) points onto a two-dimensional (2D)
[5-6]. plane by connecting corresponding points with parallel
This paper presents a novel approach to the pre- lines.
profiling of rotating thread milling cutters. The pre- On the other hand, a curvilinear projection of 3D
profiling of cutter profile is based on the envelope points onto a 2D plane along a helix with an axis and a
profiles [8-9] of the moving cutter and the helical motion pitch is called helical projection. In contrast to linear
that results from the relative motion between the cutter projection, helical projection connects the corresponding
and workpiece. To demonstrate the validity of the points along helical curves that could have a common
proposed method, an ISO metric screw thread is chosen pitch but different radii of helix.
as an example in this work [7]. Helical projection is very useful in the formulation of
Fig. 1 shows the sectional view of ISO metric screw the helical surfaces or grooves embedded in rotor,
thread defined by two design parameters, pitch p and milling or boring cutters, worm gear or threaded screws,
major diameter D, in the plane which goes through the etc. Hereafter, any mention of projection refers to helical
axis of screw thread. Additionally, H is the height of the projection if it is not specified.
fundamental triangle, D2 is the pitch diameter and D1 is The family of Euclidean congruence transformations,
the minor diameter of the external thread. The basic which is parameterized by the angle parameter ߠ [rad],
profile is the theoretical profile of the thread. An and maps points in a suitable Cartesian coordinate
essential principle is that the actual profiles of both the system according to
internal/external threads must never cross or transgress
the theoretical profile. So, external threads will always …‘• ߠ െ•‹ ߠ Ͳ
be equal to, or smaller than, the dimensions of the basic ܲ ՜ ‫ݔ‬ሺߠሻ ൌ ൥ •‹ ߠ …‘• ߠ Ͳ൩ ή ܲ ൅
profile. Internal threads will always be equal to, or Ͳ Ͳ ͳ (1)
Ͳ
greater than, the basic profile [7].
൥ Ͳ ൩
‫ ݌‬ή ߠΤʹߨ

is called a one-parameter group of helical motions if

‫Ͳ ് ݌‬. If ‫ ݌‬ൌ Ͳ, it is called a one-parameter group of
rotations, or a uniform rotation. A uniform helical
motion is the superposition of a uniform rotation and a
translation by the vector ሺͲǡ Ͳǡ ‫ ݌‬ή ߠΤʹߨሻ . The line
‫ ݔ‬ൌ ‫ ݕ‬ൌ Ͳ is called its axis, and ‫ ݌‬is called its pitch (see
Fig. 2).
If an arbitrary point ܲ as in Eq. (2)

ܲ ൌ ሺ݈ ݉ ݊ሻ ൌ ሺܴ …‘• ߮ ܴ •‹ ߮ ݊ሻ where (2)

௟ ௠ గ గ
…‘• ߮ ൌ మ మ ǡ •‹ ߮ ൌ మ మ, ߮ ‫ א‬ቂെ ǡ ቃ,
ඥ௟ ା௠ ඥ௟ ା௠ ଶ ଶ
Fig. 1 Cross sectional view of ISO metric screw thread after [7].

is given, the helix ‫ݔ‬ሺߠሻ with pitch ‫ ݌‬through ܲ could

This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents be rewritten from Eq. (1) and Eq. (2) as Eq. (3)
the helical projection which is the foundation for the
proposed approach. The approach to the calculation of ‫ݔ‬ሺߠሻ ൌ ሺܴ …‘•ሺߠ ൅ ߮ሻ ܴ •‹ሺߠ ൅ ߮ሻ ݊ ൅ ‫ ݌‬ή ߠ Τʹߨሻ ,
envelope profile of the thread milling cutter and the ߠ ‫ א‬ሾͲǡ ߨȀʹሿ or
method of the simulation-aided design of the thread ‫ݔ‬ሺߠሻ ൌ
milling cutter are presented in Section 3 and Section 4, ሺ݈ …‘• ߠ െ ݉ •‹ ߠ ݉ ܿ‫ ߠ ݏ݋‬൅ ݈ ‫ ݊ ߠ ݊݅ݏ‬൅ ‫ ݌‬ή ߠΤʹߨሻ , (3)
respectively. Section 5 presents the implementation and ߠ ‫ א‬ሾͲǡ ߨȀʹሿ
two demonstration-examples by using the proposed where ‫ݔ‬ሺͲሻ ൌ ܲ.
 122 Seok Won Lee and Andreas Nestler / Procedia CIRP 1 (2012) 120 – 125

Then, the helically projected point ܳ of the helix that cuts raw stock and forms a thread. Given a pitch p
‫ݔ‬ሺߠሻ onto plane ȭ is found by substituting Eq. (3) into of the “to-be” thread, that of the corresponding thread
ሬሬሬሬሬԦ ൌ ݀ as in Eq. (4)
the plane equation ȭǣሺܽ ܾ ܿ ሻ ή ܱܺ cutter, and that of the helical trajectory should be
(see Fig. 2). identical with p (see Fig. 3).

z D
Workpiece Thread milling tool

rhelix vft
p : pitch
R = ¥(l2+m2) Ȉ : ax+by+cz = d
vf

p p
x(ș) = Q Z
vfb

p·ș/2ʌ
ș Y
Helix
R x(0) = P (l,m,n) X

Fig. 3 Relative positioning of thread milling tool to workpiece at thread

x y milling.

Fig. 2 Helical motion and helical projection of the helix onto plane Ȉ Because the tool moves with a fixed tool axis along
the helix, the velocity vectors ࢜௕ and ࢜௧ of the cutter at
the bottom and on the top are identical with the feed
vector ࢜௙ . As denoted in Fig. 4, ࢜௙ is calculated from the
ሺܽ ܾ ሬሬሬሬሬԦ ൌ ሺܽ
ܿ ሻ ή ܱܺ ܾ ܿ ሻ ή ‫ݔ‬ሺߠሻ ൌ relationship between pitch ‫ ݌‬of the screw thread and the
ሺܽ ܾ ܿ ሻ ή distance ‫ݎ‬௛௘௟௜௫ , which is measured from the axis of the
ሺܴ ܿ‫ݏ݋‬ሺߠ ൅ ߮ሻ ܴ ‫݊݅ݏ‬ሺߠ ൅ ߮ሻ ݊ ൅ ‫ ݌‬ή ߠΤʹߨሻ ൌ workpiece to the axis of the cutter. Due to the fact that
݀. the tool undergoes the three-axis motion, the velocity
vector ࢜௉ of any point P on the tool surface is congruent
‫ܴ ׵‬ξܽଶ ൅ ܾ ଶ •‹ሺߠ ൅ ߮ ൅ ߙሻ ൌ ݀ െ ܿ ή ݊ െ
௖ή௣
ήߠ (4)
ଶగ with ࢜௙ (࢜௉ ൌ ࢜௙ ).
௕ ௔
where …‘• ߙ ൌ , •‹ ߙ ൌ and
ඥ௔మ ା௕మ ඥ௔మ ା௕మ Z
2·ʌ·rhelix B
௟ ௠ గ p
…‘• ߮ ൌ ǡ •‹ ߮ ൌ , ߙ ‫ א‬ቂ ǡ ߨቃ , vf (= vb = vt)
ඥ௟ మ ା௠ మ ඥ௟ మ ା௠మ ଶ
గ గ ʌ·D B`
߮ ‫ א‬ቂെ ǡ ቃ. D į
ଶ ଶ

circumference
Ȗ
rhelix ȕ Į

Then, the solution ߠ could be found appropriately by O 2·ʌ·r ʌ·D 2·ʌ·rhelix

restricting the valid projection angle interval ሾͲǡ ߨȀʹሿ. rt Ȗ = tan-1
p
where p is the pitch of thread.
2·ʌ·r
External
Tool thread for example, ISO M24
3. Envelope Profile of a Thread Milling Cutter p = 3 mm
D = 24 mm Æ ȕ = 2.27º
rhelix = 36 mm Æ Į = 1.52º
The envelope profile is a line of contact along which į = ȕ - Į = 0.72º
the thread milling cutter touches the generated thread
surface [9]. This profile produces the contour on the Fig. 4 Definition of a feed vector ˜୤ .
workpiece and is therefore also referred to as a
generator, depending exclusively on the geometry and Fig. 5 schematically illustrates the fundamental
the motion of the tool. procedure used to determine the geometrically exact
Accordingly, in order to calculate pre-profiling of a profile of the thread milling cutter. Because the teeth of
tool profile, the kinematics of a thread milling cutter the thread milling tool are connected with each other,
needs be examined first. Then, envelope profiles are to just one tooth is considered here and the principle is
be determined from the analysis of the velocity applied to other teeth repeatedly. It is assumed that a
distribution of the tool. point P of interest is placed on the tooth. At first, the unit
During thread milling, the cutter moves along a surface normal vector ࢔௉ is obtained for any given point
helical trajectory around the cylindrical geometry. Fig. 3 P on the tooth surface (࢔௉ can fall into one of both ࢔௨
shows the relative positioning of a thread milling cutter and ࢔ௗ ) and mapped onto a unit sphere. Then, small
 Seok Won Lee and Andreas Nestler / Procedia CIRP 1 (2012) 120 – 125 123

circles ‫ܥ‬௨ ǡ ‫ܥ‬ௗ can be built by using ࢔௨ and ࢔ௗ (see Fig. 5 4. Simulation-aided Design of the Thread Milling
(a)-(b)). Secondly, since ࢜௉ is already given, the unit Cutter
circle that is perpendicular to ࢜௉ is mapped onto the unit
sphere as the great circle ‫ܥ‬௚ , so that the intersection The modification of the tool shape leads to the
points ࢔ଵ and ࢔ଶ between the circles ‫ܥ‬௨ ǡ ‫ܥ‬ௗ and ‫ܥ‬௚ are deformation of the thread profile because the envelope
calculated (see Fig. 5 (c)-(b)). profile is modified correspondingly. Fig. 5 (e) shows the
Consequently, both points P on the tool surface, projected view of the envelope profile in the section AA’
which correspond to the intersection points ࢔ଵ and ࢔ଶ on which goes through the tool axis ࢇ (see Fig. 7 in detail).
the unit sphere, satisfy the tangency condition ሺ࢜௉ ή The projected envelope profile is shown as a dotted
࢔௉ ൌ Ͳሻ which enables finding the envelope profile on curve and the sectioned profile of the thread surface is
tooth surface (see Fig. 5 (d)). depicted bold in Fig. 7 (b). On the section AA’, the
projected envelope profile can be compared with, and be
a) Initial Tool Tooth
c) Helical Tool Path modified to the sectioned thread surface. For example, a
nu ht
b) Overlapping of
T-Map and C-Map
point P lies on an envelope profile and the projected
cu
Helix
point PAA’ onto the section AA’ can be transformed
rt nu n2
vf
slightly by changing the position of P along the surface
nd
vf normal ࢔. P is adjusted such that PAA’ could coincide
cg
nd
n1
Š with the “to-be” point TAA’ on a sectioned thread surface.
cd It implies that the fundamental analytical condition of
d) Envelope Profile
a
engagement between the generating cutter and generated
f) Design Profile e) Projected Profile AA‘ helical surface is established, which in turn says that the
AA‘ AA‘ vf

n2
surface normal of the thread milling tool at PAA’ is
p
60°
Compare &
ţmax
parallel to the surface normal of the thread at TAA’ when
60° Caculate
max error
n1 the thread milling tool is in contact with the point TAA’.
p/8 Ţmax
Please note that the direction of ࢔ of the cutter is
inverted in AA’ because the thread surface is the
Fig. 5 Schematic flow diagram for the calculation of optimal thread conjugated surface of the cutter surface.
milling cutter tooth design from thread data and helical tool path.
AA‘
Fig. 6 shows in detail the envelope profile that is ţmax AA‘
calculated by the proposed method. The thread milling n
ht
TAA‘
tool is a double frustum of a cone which has the height PAA‘
݄௧ and the radius ‫ݎ‬௧ . Please note that ܲସ ൌ ܲଵ ൅ ‫ ݌‬ή ࢊଵ P p -nAA‘

and ܲହ ൌ ܲଶ ൅ ‫ ݌‬ή ࢊଶ according to the definition of the 60°

rt
screw thread in Fig. 1. Thus, the envelope profile of the p/8
෣
thread milling tool is comprised of the arc segment ܲଵ ܲଶ
and both line segments ܲതതതതതത
ܲ
ସ ଵ and തതതതതത
ܲ ܲ
ଶ ହ . Envelope profile

a) Initial dimension of cutter tooth b) Projected envelope profile

z
P3 (0,0,H)
rt
Fig. 7 Transformation of a point P on the cutter surface in surface
T vf = (a,b,c) normal direction .
ht

P1 = (rt·sinű, rt·cosű,0) n2 d2
P2 = (rt·sinű,-rt·cosű,0) P5 By comparing the modified thread profile with the
o P1 y Cutter CS
t1 = (-cosű,sinű,0)
P2 t2 t1 design profile of the thread, a preformed profile of the
t2 = (cosű,sinű,0)
d1 = (-rt·sinű,-rt·cosű,-ht)/T x d1 P4 n1 thread milling cutter is calculated (Fig. 5 (e),(f)).
d2 = (-rt·sinű, rt·cosű,ht)/T
n1 = (ht·sinű,H·cosű,-rt)/T Z
The initial dimension of the thread milling cutter is ‫ݎ‬௧
n2 = (ht·sinű,-H·cosű, rt)/T
X and ݄௧ , which can be derived from the definition of the
P0 (0,0,-H)
Y
screw thread in Fig. 1. ݄௧ is modified iteratively until the
O
Workpiece CS
slope of the projected envelope profile becomes parallel
with the basic profile in the interval ݀ ‫ א‬ሾ‫ͳܦ‬ǡ ‫ܦ‬ሿ under
Fig. 6 Envelope profile on the thread milling tool. prescribed tolerance ߬ (see Fig. 5(a),(e)). After ݄௧‫ כ‬has
been determined, ‫ݎ‬௧ is modified, keeping the ratio ‫ݎ‬௧ Ȁ݄௧‫כ‬
until the projected envelope profile coincides with the
124 Seok Won Lee and Andreas Nestler / Procedia CIRP 1 (2012) 120 – 125

basic profile in Fig. 1 (see Fig. 5 (e),(f)).

The same solving procedure can be applied to internal
screw threads.

5. Implementation and Results

The NC simulation kernel (NCSK) for thread milling

machining has been developed with C++, OpenGL
version 2.0 [10] and the standard template library. The Fig. 9 Simulated-aided design of ISO M24 screw thread.
simulation module runs on AMD® Athlon II X4 630
CPU 2,81 GHz and 8 GB RAM which is equipped with Fig. 10 shows the virtual measurement of the
an nVidia® Quadro FX 580 PCI-E graphics accelerator simulated ISO M24 x 3 thread, which is “virtually” cut
with 512 MB RAM. by the virtual thread milling tool that is designed in the
Based on the envelope profile calculation and the framework of the NCSK (compare the dimensions in
helical projection of the envelope profile, some results Fig. 1) [11]. As a result of the simulation, the pitch is
are presented hereafter. proven to be exactly 3 mm after the ISO standard, and
Fig. 8 shows the 3D model of a virtual thread milling the “as-is” angle in the fundamental triangle is 59,986°
cutter which is designed for cutting the external ISO with 0.012% deviation from the “to-be” angle (60°). The
M24 x 3 metric screw thread. Because the profile design “as-is” thread band-width at the major diameter is
of a thread milling cutter is focused on in this work, the 0.3744mm with 0.16% deviation from the “to-be” value
slots along the tool axis are ignored in the visualization. (0.38mm). As a result, the simulation-aided design of the
thread cutter enables generation of the profile of the
thread milling cutter, which corresponds to the design
profile of the thread with high precision.

Fig. 8 Virtual thread milling cutter: simulated-aided design of a thread Fig. 10 Virtual measurement of “to-be” external M24 thread profile in
milling cutter for the screw thread ISO M24 x 3. cross section.

The surface of thread is the conjugate surface of the Practically, to make a thread, tolerances must be
thread milling cutter. Therefore, by applying the tool applied to ensure that the actual profiles of both the
profile designed in Fig. 8, the thread of ISO M24 x 3 can external/internal threads must never cross or transgress
be “virtually” machined [11]. the theoretical profile. As a result, clearances must be
Fig. 9 shows some examples of the internal and applied to the basic profile of the threads so that an
external ISO M24 x 3 metric screw threads of the major external thread can be screwed into an internal thread
diameter D = 24mm and the pitch p = 3 mm which are appropriately, which inevitably influences the geometry
simulated by NCSK. Fig. 9 (a) denotes the external M24 of the tool [12].
screw thread and the cross sectional view with Fig. 11 shows the external/internal ISO M24 x 3
heightened sectional curve. Fig. 9 (b) shows the internal thread pair taking a clearance of 260 μm into
M24 screw thread, which is the counterpart of the consideration. Firstly, both thread profiles are calculated
external M24 screw thread, and the cross sectional view by making the external/internal thread profiles congruent
with heightened sectional curve. with the basic thread profiles. After that, the external
(internal) profile is translated radially outward (inward)
so that the total clearance between both profiles amounts
to 260 μm.
 Seok Won Lee and Andreas Nestler / Procedia CIRP 1 (2012) 120 – 125 125

Acknowledgements

This investigation is supported by the research grant

16467BR funded by the German Federal Ministry of
Economics and Technology (BMWi) via Arbeitsgemein-
schaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen “Otto von
Guericke” e.V. (AiF).

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The following subjects are left open for further
research goals:
x Current cutter profile is the double frustum of a cone
which forms a sharp edge at the minor diameter of
the thread. The corner part could be further truncated
for functionally stable threads, for which the
envelope profile is to be calculated.
x Design of the thread milling tool for special thread
types; e.g., dental implants in the healthcare industry
is an emerging interest.
x A series of cutting tests could be conducted to verify
the proposed methods in a real cutting environment.

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