Patent ID: 8190287

Claim:
A tool vector display apparatus for a machine tool that performs machining by using a plurality of drive axes including at least one rotational axis to control positions and orientations of a tool and a workpiece, the apparatus comprising: a data acquiring unit that concurrently acquires actual positional information about the drive axes at different times, detected by detectors mounted on the drive axes; a tool path display unit that calculates three-dimensional coordinates, viewed from a coordinate system fixed to the workpiece, of a tool center point of the tool from the actual positional information and information about a mechanical structure of the machine tool, and displays a three-dimensional path of the tool center points by using the three-dimensional coordinates; and a tool vector display unit that calculates three-dimensional coordinates of a tool vector start point, which is a point away from the tool center point toward a root thereof by an amount of a preset distance, viewed from the coordinate system fixed to the workpiece, from the actual positional information and the information about the mechanical structure of the machine tool, and displays a line segment connecting between the tool vector start point and the tool center point, as a tool vector, on the three-dimensional path of the tool center points.