ABSTRACT
Increasing competitiveness, gaining greater productivity and better quality have been attained by increasing the performance of machine tools and of machining process. Machining processes such as milling, drilling, turning etc. which are characterized by interrupted cutting are often susceptible to problems involving vibration of the machine-tool and work piece fixation system because of the proximity between their natural frequency harmonics and the frequency of tool entry on the work piece. The vibrations analysis has long been used for the detection and identification of the cutter condition. The purpose of this work is to investigate the healthiness of the milling cutter with vibration analysis by using FFT analyzer. Experimentation is carried on the column and knee type of horizontal milling machine by placing the accelerometer with magnetic attachment at three positions of machine viz. Cutter end, Motor driven end and Motor nondriven end. It is observed that the velocity amplitude is significantly varied compared with the displacement and acceleration amplitudes. Amplitudes at the cutter end signify the health monitoring of cutter compared with the remaining positions like Motor driven end and Motor nondriven end because the amplitudes at the remaining two ends are significantly unconcluded. Subcritical at the cutter end position with low frequency range of top ten peak amplitudes represents the faultiness of the milling cutter. From the experimental results, it was concluded that the cutter end position is the best location to identify the health condition of the milling cutter.
