Method and apparatus for solids based machining

US5351196A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Spacial Technology, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Richard M. Sowar · Boulder, US
• William C. Heiny · Arvada, US
• Paul C. Olsen · Broomfield, US
• Mark R. Hotchkiss · Louisville, US
• Thomas L. Dixon · Broomfield, US
• Charles W. Richard, Jr. · Boulder, US
• Michael Raines · Duluth, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 14, 1993
• Grant date: Sep 27, 1994
• Expiry date: Oct 14, 2013

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P90/02
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The present invention relates to processes for the automatic generation of numerical control (NC) tool paths in a CAD/CAM environment. The present invention operates on mechanical parts described as solid models. The process employs well-defined solid models of the part to be machined and the raw stock from which it will be machined. The volumetric difference between the stock and the part defines the material (delta volumes) that must be cut away during the actual machining process. Delta volumes are solid models, and users (or an expert system) can subdivide delta volumes into smaller volumes that are consistent with a manufacturing process plan. A delta volume and a user-defined strategy for machining the delta volume are then input to NC algorithms. The algorithms generate NC tool paths that remove as much delta volume material as possible. Tool volumes are automatically generated from NC tool paths to represent the volume traversed by the cutting tool. By subtracting the tool volume from the delta volume, the material that remains to be machined modeled and stored as new delta volumes. The subtraction of the tool volume from the stock defines a new stock model that represents …