Automated process planning system to machine organic shapes by combining turning and milling

Abstract

Automated process planning is one of the means to shorten production lead time, and there have been many previous studies because it is particularly effective for high-mix, low-volume production factories. However, to build a practical automated process planning for organic shapes, it is necessary to consider the computational cost and keep the machining time as short as possible. Therefore, this study proposes an automated process planning system that effectively combines turning, which has good workpiece removal efficiency, and milling, which allows more flexible machining. The system extracts the contour line model and its solid of revolution as point cloud data from the 3D CAD model in STL format, and performs process planning based on these extracted point cloud data, the specified workpiece geometry, and the machining conditions. Furthermore, it automatically generates tool paths and NC programs that consider tool interference. Machining experiments were conducted on a multitasking machine to verify the validity of the automated process planning system proposed in this study. As a result, it was confirmed that the proposed system can perform automated process planning for organic shapes, and is effective in reducing machining time when roughing by turning is applied.

Keywords

• computer aided process planning (capp)
• standard triangulated language (stl) format
• turning
• end milling
• automated process design
• multi-tasking machine
• tool path generation