Patent ID: 7272463

Claim:
A method of determining a tool geometry and tool orientation for any prescribed path along a workpiece of a cutting tool, comprising: providing a parameter set, where parameters of the parameter set include tool geometry and tool orientation relative to a surface of the workpiece; determining values of the parameters in the parameter set such that no local interference or global interference occurs, where local interference occurs when a portion of the tool immediately adjacent a cutting edge of the tool contacts a sidewall of a groove already cut by the cutting edge, and global interference occurs when a portion of the tool away from the cutting edge contacts a sidewall of a groove already cut by the cutting edge; and providing a physical cutting tool and tool orientation according to the determined values of the parameters to avoid interference, wherein the tool path is generally along the z-direction with modulation in the x-direction, and the direction into the workpiece is perpendicular to the x-direction and z-direction, wherein the tool geometry includes a top face oriented toward the workpiece surface, a first side clearance face and a second side clearance face, and where the following conditions hold for all points on the first and second side clearance faces for all positions along the path: γ>tan−1 |X ( Z )− X ( Z−ΔZ )/Δ Z|, where γ is the side clearance angle of the first and second side clearance faces with respect to the workpiece surface, X(Z) is the value of the x-coordinate for a point on one of the side clearance faces when a tip of the tool is at the position Z along the z-axis, and Z−ΔZ is the position of the tool tip at an earlier time.