Cutting path of mold cavity

   The cutting path of the mold cavity on the machining center should use contour type tool paths and avoid using contour milling as much as possible. Milling the outer circle of a milling cutter (such as a ball end mill) along contour lines can improve productivity because there are more teeth cutting on larger tool diameters. If the spindle speed of the machining center machine is limited, contour milling will help maintain the cutting speed and feed rate of the machining center. The use of this tool path on the machining center results in minimal changes in the workload and direction of the machining center. When using a machining center machine, it is advisable to avoid profile milling along steep walls as much as possible. In this case, when performing downward profile milling, the cutting thickness of the machining center at low cutting speeds should be increased. It is better to follow the contour milling upwards along the steep wall because the cutting thickness reaches its maximum at favorable cutting speeds.

   In order to achieve a longer tool life for the machining center, the cutting edge should be kept continuously cutting for as long as possible during the milling process. If the tool enters and exits too frequently, the tool life of the machining center will be significantly shortened, which will increase the thermal stress and fatigue on the cutting edge. For hard alloy tools, maintaining a relatively uniform temperature in the cutting area is more advantageous (high temperature is not important, but fluctuations should be avoided). The contour milling path is often a mixture of reverse milling and forward milling (in a zigzag shape), which means that the machining center machine tool will frequently feed and retract during cutting. This type of tool path also has a negative impact on the quality of the mold. Each time the tool is inserted, it means that the tool will bend once, leaving a cut on the surface. When the tool exits, the cutting force and bending of the tool decrease, leaving a slight "under cutting" in the exit section.