With increasing global competition, reduction in the machining cost is the most important issue after machining quality. The machining cost consists of various factors. Among them, the cost of cutting tool holds the first place. The reduction or suppression of tool cost results in an increase in competitive force. This study aims at lengthening the tool life, while decreasing the tool wear. Therefore, the cutting edge of a ball end mill is swung around its center by continuously changing the

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... l axis vector so that the cutting edge may be uniformly used. Taking account of the width of the flank wear of the ball end mill and the surface roughness of the workpiece in the finishing process, the study proposes an appropriate tool attitude and a suitable tool swing rate of the ball end mill. As a result, the machining method with the tool axis vector continuously swung allows for decreasing tool wear due to its dispersion across the entire tool surface. The proposed method can be applied to machining of workpieces with sculptured faces. From the experimental results, it is found that the proposed idea has the potential of saving tool cost.