Abstract
This paper presents the filament winding of revolution structures on a four-axis machine. A theoretical analysis is done in order to find the stable paths (geodesic) of the fiber on mandrel surface. In order to place the fiber along the stable path, the feed-eye trajectory, linear motion in two directions X and Z, and the corresponding rotation of the mandrel are calculated using a developed closed-form solution. The fourth axis, fourth degree of freedom, which is the feed-eye rotation about the X-axis takes an attention and it is determined in a closed form as well. The feed-eye displacements and speeds are optimized to overcome some undesirable machine actions such as jerky motion and/or lack of fiber tension that results from a sudden change of feed-eye movements. A software package is developed in order to generate the optimized machine movements and postprocessing these data into machine code (G-code) for a different machine controller. An example of the feed-eye motion for winding revolution shapes is presented.