Prediction of surface texture in various machining operations has become popular as more emphasis is placed on the quality of manufactured parts in industry. It is difficult to evaluate 3D surface errors in side wall machining due to geometrical and physical complexities of milling operation. In this paper, a new method has been developed for predicting surface texture in low immersion side milling using geometric modelling approach. This method is developed using ACIS solid modeller as the geometric engine. The geometry of end mill cutting edges is modelled based on NURBS theory and the workpiece is considered as a solid block. The presented model can detect the instantaneous intersection between each cutting edge and the workpiece, calculating the dynamic chip thickness as well as cutting forces. In addition it can predict the milled surface texture considering the cutter flexibility. The method presented in this paper has been verified and agreed well with experimental results.

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