A machining head with active correction of the type used in association with a robot to carry out fast high-precision machining tasks especially on parts for the aeronautical production industry that has localised position and angular sensors, and a machining motor or spindle provided with localised movement with respect to the head casing, independent of the robot's movement, this movement being preferably both displacement and rotation with respect to both, allowing active correction of the machining position is disclosed. The invention provides the main advantage of allowing errors by the robot or deformation of the part to be machined, in positioning for machining, to be corrected in a localised very fast and accurate way, without the need to re-position the robot.

In a method for 3D radius correction in CNC milling, a mill path of an original milling tool producing a surface contour on a workpiece is calculated for an original milling tool based on dimensions of the mill cutter tip, with the positions of the mill cutter tip specified by an NC program. A surface normal of an end face milling surface and a surface normal of a circumferential milling surface are then specified, for each position of the mill cutter tip taking into account dimensional differences between an actually available milling tool and the original milling tool. By specifying along the mill path a spatial orientation of the milling tool axis, a correction vector is specified from the milling tool orientation, dimensional differences and the surface normals, and the workpiece is machined by traversing the mill path with the actual milling tool under consideration of the correction vector.

In a method for 3D radius correction in CNC milling, a mill path of an original milling tool producing a surface contour on a workpiece is calculated for an original milling tool based on dimensions of the mill cutter tip, with the positions of the mill cutter tip specified by an NC program. A surface normal of an end face milling surface and a surface normal of a circumferential milling surface are then specified, for each position of the mill cutter tip taking into account dimensional differences between an actually available milling tool and the original milling tool. By specifying along the mill path a spatial orientation of the milling tool axis, a correction vector is specified from the milling tool orientation, dimensional differences and the surface normals, and the workpiece is machined by traversing the mill path with the actual milling tool under consideration of the correction vector.

A machining head with active correction of the type used in association with a robot to carry out fast high-precision machining tasks especially on parts for the aeronautical production industry that has localised position and angular sensors, and a machining motor or spindle provided with localised movement with respect to the head casing, independent of the robot's movement, this movement being preferably both displacement and rotation with respect to both, allowing active correction of the machining position is disclosed. The invention provides the main advantage of allowing errors by the robot or deformation of the part to be machined, in positioning for machining, to be corrected in a localised very fast and accurate way, without the need to re-position the robot.