Dexterous Machining of Unstable Thin Plate

In recent years, miniaturization and light weightedness are required for industrial products as well as high functionality. Thin plates are appropriate in terms of weight, however they are usually difficult to produce only by cutting operation due to the deformation by cutting force or vibration of the thin plate. This study deals with the machining of a twisted thin plate, whose height, width and thickness are 50 mm, 30 mm and 0.1 mm respectively, without using any auxiliary tool. Such a thin plate with high aspect ratio is easily broken down by the cutting force. Thus, the machining of thin plate with high aspect ratio is approached by devising a tool path strategy in this study. As the cutting force easily allows for deformation of twisted thin plate with high aspect ratio, two methods are devised with regard to the generation of the tool path, the method with a supporting frame and the peeling method so that the stiffness of the plate can be kept high. Then, the actual machining of thin plate with high aspect ratio, made of aluminum alloy, was realized without any breakage. As a result, it is found that such cutting method allows the possibility of fabricating such a twisted thin plate.