TABLE OF CONTENTS As a machining operation, the process of machining grooves is typically performed on a CNC lathe. A general purpose program required to make only the simplest of grooves is very straightforward it includes only two small operations of the grooving tool the plunge-in as the first motion, then rapid out as the second toolpath motion. Grooves of this type are rather rare and seldom done on CNC lathes, as their cost would be too high as compared with alternate methods of production (such as manual machining). The majority of grooves that need to be programmed belong to the category of precision or at least semi-precision grooves. When planning a program for grooving operations, you have to consider the best selection out of many methods available. Once the groove machining selection is known, the rest of the programming process is rather simple.
Various tooling catalogues offer a multitude of grooving tools suitable for CNC lathe work. The two basic considerations regarding the tooling selection for grooving are:
Cutting width
Cutting depth
Of course, other features are also important, such as selecting the proper insert grade, insert coating, corner radius, chipbreaker, etc. Still, the width and the depth of grooving tool are the most important features for programming. For certain type of grooves, additional tooling considerations will also be very important, such as the radial clearance for face grooves.
In an engineering drawing, the width of a square groove is typically given either as...
