Designing and Manufacturing Ruled Surface Blades

Peter Klein, CAM Software Director, Concepts NREC

May 6, 2021

When designing bladed rotating components, engineers often use ruled-surface

blades with the goal of making a shape that is easily manufactured on a milling
machine. These blades can be quickly machined in one pass using the side of a cutting
tool (see Figure 1). This process is often referred to as “flank milling.” The alternative is
to make many passes cutting with the tool tip, a process known as “point milling”. For
the right application flank milling is favored for shorter cutting times and better surface
quality. However, the ruled data should be well conditioned and several pitfalls should
be avoided during the design and construction process.

Figure 1. Flank milling of a blade with ruled surface definition

One major consideration is the geometric deviation inherent in flank-milling a

twisted ruled surface with a cylindrical or conical cutter. Initially it seems that one could
simply align the tool to the rulings. In fact, this approach gives a deviation that can be
significant. One source of this deviation is the “twist” angle between the tip and root
contours when viewing along a ruling. It is usually greatest toward the leading edge of a
typical compressor blade (see Figure 2). On simple blades with no twist, like diffuser
vanes, the tool can indeed be aligned to the rulings with zero deviation. However, on
twisted blades the deviation increases with the twist. The resulting surface after flank
milling is actually not a ruled surface. The deviation also increases with tool size; only an
infinitely slender tool could sweep out a twisted blade shape with zero deviation. The
deviation can be reduced using advanced computer aided manufacturing (CAM)
techniques. For example, Concepts NREC’s MAX-PAC™ software automatically adjusts
the tool orientation to reduce the deviation by an order of magnitude compared to a
simple approach of aligning to the rulings. The calculation is more complex than point

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milling with a ball tool, but it usually allows flank milling the blade in one pass within an
acceptable machining tolerance. Another solution is to adjust the blade design to
reduce the twist angle, ideally guided by feedback from the manufacturing process. Yet
another approach to dealing with flank milling deviation is to simply accept it and let
the design be the non-ruled shape swept by the tool. This again requires feeding the
shape back to the blade design system to verify that design requirements are met.

Figure 2. Flank milling of a twisted ruled surface

The trailing edge region of a compressor blade can also be problematic for flank-
milling. If the surface rulings become nearly vertical, then the tool orientation, which
roughly follows the rulings, will approach the singularity that gives unstable rotary
motion during milling. Five-axis milling machines generally have three translation axes
and two rotary axes. The rotary axes adjust the inclination of the tool relative to the
workpiece. When the tool stands nearly parallel to the part axis of rotation there is a
dangerous situation where small adjustments to the tool orientation can give large,
unexpected rotary motions. There can be up to 180 degrees of rotary motion when the
tool is only expected to move a short distance along the workpiece. The results can be
disastrous for the part, the tool, or the milling machine. Here again, an advanced
toolpath programming system can detect and avoid runaway motion by adjusting the
tool orientation, creating a tool trajectory that still forms the blade within tolerance
while maintaining a safe, smooth motion of the milling machine. Programming for point
milling is comparatively easier because the tool can be freely oriented and need not be
leaned against the blade. Instead of relying on the CAM system, another solution is to
avoid designing this type of geometry altogether. Usually, the situation can be remedied
with a small adjustment at the trailing edge (Figure 3). The blade rulings can often be
generously reoriented without a significant change in the blade shape or performance.

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 Figure 3. Adjustment of rulings at trailing edge

The choice of edge construction is another important factor in the ruled surface
definition. If the sides of the blade are ruled, a rounded edge can be appended that is a
ruled surface continuation of the blade sides. With such a definition, the entire blade
and edge can be flank-milled in one pass. However, some edge constructions sit within
the hull of the blade sides. An example is an edge trimmed to reduce blade tip vibration.
These “internal”, “swept”, or “cutback” edges cut across the blade side rulings, resulting
in a non-ruled edge surface (see Figure 4). While the blade sides can be flank-milled, the
edge generally must be point-milled in a separate operation, adding production time.
Care must also be taken to manage the overlap between the edge and sides since point
and flank milling have different cutting conditions and deflection of the blade or tool. In
addition, the flank milling deviation described above affects the blend between point
and flank milled surfaces.

Figure 4. Non-ruled cutback edge

Another issue arises when the ruled definition transitions unsmoothly to the lead
or trail edge construction. This may be an attempt to produce a fully ruled definition by
forcing the ruled side to suddenly conform to a swept edge profile. A similar problem

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arises when transitioning the rulings to match a blunt trailing edge (see Figure 5). To a
certain extent this approach can be successful. However, since the flank-milling tool
approximately follows the orientation of the rulings, an unsmooth ruled surface design
may cause unsteady cutting and a poorly machined part. It is preferable to let the ruled
definition continue smoothly past the swept edge, even if it means that the blade
definition extends beyond the outer diameter of the part. Alternatively, the blade design
system should have appropriate smoothing settings to improve the data.

Figure 5. Unsmooth transition at lead and trail edges

The blade design is usually done in a specialized software whose output passes
to a CAD system for detailed modeling. In this process there are some important
considerations when handling ruled data. One side of a ruled surface blade is
represented by two streams of XYZ points, one along the tip and one along the root.
The surface is formed by straight line segments between respective tip and root points.
Thus, the distribution of the points along these streamlines is important, and they might
not be evenly spaced. The point spacing should be preserved for the parameterization
of splines through the points, as well as surfaces created from those splines. CAD
systems generally offer several options to create splines and loft a surface between
curves, and the proper method should be selected to produce a ruled surface that
reflects the original point distribution (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Visible deviation of rulings from an improperly lofted surface

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 Another common problem during CAD modeling is that the ruled surface
definition is “lost” in the process, which makes flank milling more challenging. While the
aero designer may intend to generate a two-section ruled definition, the final result may
be a multi-section definition. This can happen if the choice of edge construction, such as
the swept edge described above, requires trimming the ruled sides of the blade. The
ruled surface may be re-parameterized between the lead and trail edges, resulting in a
new non-ruled multi-section definition that is nearly equivalent in shape (see Figure 7).
While this new data set may be useful for some purposes, the original ruled definition
should also be exported for manufacturing, even if it extends beyond the edges.

Figure 7. Multi-section definition of trimmed ruled surface

The design choice to work with a ruled surface definition should also consider
some practical issues that make flank milling more challenging than point milling. The
tools are generally more expensive because they need cutting teeth along the full
length. Typically, solid carbide conical tooling is used for stiffness. The process is also
sensitive to the geometry of the cutting teeth on the tool. This includes the choice of
tooth count, tooth spacing, rake angle, and helix angle. Because the whole tool length is
used, the cutting forces are much higher than cutting with just the tool tip. This usually
results in deflection of the tool or part that must be accounted for during programming,
especially when attempting to flank mill around a thin leading edge. It is also more
difficult with flank milling than point milling to arrive at a combination of cutting feed
and RPM values to create a high quality surface finish quickly. Finally, a comparison of
flank and point milling should consider relatively new milling techniques with “barrel”
shaped tools that use a large cutting radius to produce an acceptable surface finish with
fewer passes than a ball mill.

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 Flank milled ruled surface blades remain the standard in many industries,
particularly for turbocompressors. Ruled surface blades are generally considered easier
to design and manufacture than parts with more complex blade shapes. Ironically, the
flank milling process turns out to be more challenging than point milling. However,
many producers have mastered this art with great success. If the factors described
above are considered, the rewards are a shorter cycle time and a near mirror surface
finish.

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