Advances on Indirect Methods to Evaluate Tool Wear for Radiata Pine Solid Wood Molding

Abstract

The final quality of solid wood molding depends on several factors, where the choice of cutting conditions and consequently the tool performance are key points when processing this type of material because tool wear affects physical–chemical and thermodynamic behavior of the surface submitted to coating. One of the main problems at the production line is to achieve an adequate monitoring system of the cutting process to prevent and detect operational problems or loss of productivity. The objective of this research is to evaluate results from two different control process methods, such as sound pressure and electrical current measurement submitted during different cutting conditions and to determine the cutting distance increase, as innovative methods to estimate tool wear when appearance grade products are being produced.

Keywords: Radiata Pine, Sound Pressure, Electrical Current, Tool Wear, Molding