Patent ID: 6227082
Filing Date: 2001-05-08
Classification: B23Q,F16H,Y10T

Abstract:
A process for machining a workpiece during rotation of said workpiece about an axis to produce a desired contour, said process comprising:rotating said workpiece to be processed with constant rotational speed about a fixed workpiece axis, wherein said workpiece has a contour being machined, wherein said contour has an imaginary inner circumference and an imaginary outer circumference, said inner circumference representing the radial distance from the workpiece axis of rotation to the nearest machined point on the workpiece, said outer circumference representing the radial distance from the workpiece axis of rotation to the furthest machined point on the workpiece;driving a work tool with at least one cutting tip such that said cutting tip describes a circular motion orbiting about an orbit axis, without rotation of the cutting tip, which circular motion when from the outside is tangential to the inner circumference of the contour and when, from the inside is tangential to the outer circumference of the contour, wherein said orbit axis lies half-way between said workpiece contour inner circumference and outer circumference,wherein the rotational speed of the workpiece and the orbiting speed of the work tool on it's orbiting path are dependent upon each other and the speed of the work tool during its orbit is so adjusted, that the desired outer contour is produced by the fixed rotation of the workpiece and the actual position of the work tool in its circular motion,wherein said desired contour is produced in multiple processing steps, wherein (a) said work tool relative to said workpiece moves axially in a helical-screw path during each processing step, (b) the work tool after each processing step is advanced a fixed amount radially against the surface being processed, and (c) said process steps (a) and (b) are repeated until a final measurement of said desired contour is achieved.