DATA EXTRACTION FROM GEOMETRIC-MODELS FOR PROCESS PLANNING FOR PARALLEL MACHINES

Process planning bridges the gap between design and manufacturing. In computer-aided process planning (CAPP) systems, the goal is to automat ically extract data from a design model and use it for generating plan s for manufacturing. The extracted data should correspond to the type of machining process under consideration, and the extraction technique s must work with the computer-aided design (CAD) model representation. We consider manufacturing information/data extraction from geometric models for parallel machines, particularly mill/turn machines. These a re a new class of powerful numerically controlled machine tools with p arallel machining capabilities, including turning and milling operatio ns. In this paper, we outline methods for (1) computing the machining axis for a part and (2) determining turning volumes for machining. Exa mples are included for both methods.