Abstract
The manufacture of an impeller typically requires the 5-axis CNC machining, since the impeller is usually under working conditions such as high speed, high temperature, and high pressure. Thus, this study contributes to development of an exclusive CAM system for effective 5-axis CNC machining of a ruled surface type impeller. In this study, the sampled impeller is made of blades and a body and the blade consists of ruled surfaces between hub curve and shroud curve. In the post processing for 5-axis NC part program, the cutter axis direction vector is the straighten vector on ruled surface. The position of ball center in ball end mill cutter is decided on the interference check between the cutter and body surface of impeller using with the modified z-map method that z-axis is the same of cutter axis direction vector. The exclusive CAM system for an impeller developed in this study was very effective for designs and 50-axis machining of a ruled surface type impeller.