Patent ID: 8348718

Claim:
A method of honing a surface extending about and defining at least a portion of a hole in a work piece to a predetermined non-cylindrical shape, comprising steps of: providing a honing machine including at least one honing element supported for rotation about an axis; providing a servo controlled stroking apparatus in connection with the at least one honing element and operable for moving the at least one honing element in a reciprocating axial stroking motion and generating stroke position information representative of an axial position of the at least one honing element; providing a feed drive in connection with the at least one honing element and controllably operable for applying a feed force against the at least one honing element urging the at least one honing element laterally relative to the axis during the stroking motion, the feed drive being operable for generating at least feed position information representative of a lateral position of the at least one honing element; providing a controller connected to an input device for receiving inputted commands and connected in operative control of the servo controlled stroking apparatus and the feed drive and for receiving the stroke position information and the feed position information, the controller being configured and programmable for automatically controlling the servo controlled stroking apparatus and the feed drive as a function of at least the inputted commands, the stroke position information, and the feed position information, to control acceleration and deceleration of the honing element and the axial position thereof including first and second end points of the stroking motion, and the feed position; and automatically controlling the servo controlled stroking apparatus during the stroking motion such that the acceleration and deceleration of the at least one honing element at and about at least the end points will have a combined profile which will limit a jerk profile of the motion to a finite value, while progressively changing at least one of the end points of the stroking motion and simultaneously automatically controlling the feed drive to vary the feed position, in a synchronized manner for honing the surface to the predetermined non-cylindrical shape.