A knowledge-based system for end mill selection

Abstract

In the present global competitive environment, manufacturing organizations are being forced to constantly develop newer methods/technologies for producing high quality products/components at the minimum possible cost to satisfy the diverse and dynamic needs of customers. Selection of a proper cut-ting tool within a process planning system is vital for the productive efficiency and cost effectiveness of a manufacturing process. In this paper, a knowledge-based system is developed in Visual BASIC 6.0 and subsequently implemented for selection of an appropriate end mill for a given machining application from a set of feasible alternatives. Although, there are some published re-search papers on the applications of knowledge-based systems for selecting of cutting tools, none of them has investigated its scope for choosing a suitable end mill from a comprehensive list of options available on the market. The developed system first narrows down the list of end mills based on some predefined parameters as set by the process planner and then ranks the fea-sible end mills according to their suitability for the desired machining application. While ranking the end mill alternatives, criteria weights are determined using Shannon's entropy method to avoid subjectivity in judgments. It also guides the process planner in identifying the corresponding speed and feed for different combinations of workpiece material and machining operation.