OPTIMIZATION OF WOOD MILLING SCHEDULE – A CASE STUDY

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a case study applied to the milling process of solid wood specimens made of black alder wood (Alnus glutinosa L. Gaertn.) with a view to find the optimal cutting schedule when two main criteria, such as the minimum power consumption and the best surface quality are fulfilled.The experimental work was performed with black alder wood originating from mature trees from the Buzau Valley region in Romania. All samples were processed on their longitudinal edges by straight milling with a milling cutter having glued straight plates on the vertical milling machine under different cutting schedules. An electronic device connected to the machine engine and an acquisition board were used to record and compute the power consumption during milling. Roughness measurements of the samples were performed by employing an optical profilometer. All data were processed using the regression method and variance analysis. The study revealed that best results are to be obtained in terms of cutting power and surface quality when processing with low feed speeds and light cutting depths