Machinability Analysis for 3-Axis Flat End Milling

This paper presents a method for geometric machinability analysis. The implementation of the strategy determines the machinability of a part being processed using a plurality of 3-axis machining operations about a single axis of rotation for setup orientations. Slice file geometry from a stereolithography model is used to map machinable ranges to each of the line segments comprising the polygonal chains of each slice. The slices are taken orthogonal to the axis of rotation, hence, both two- and three- dimensional (2D and 3D) machinability analysis is calculated for perpendicular and oblique tool orientations, respectively. This machinability approach expands upon earlier work on 2D visibility analysis for the rapid manufacturing and prototyping of components using CNC machining

Manufacturability analysis for non-feature-based objects

This dissertation presents a general methodology for evaluating key manufacturability indicators using an approach that does not require feature recognition, or feature-based design input. The contributions involve methods for computing three manufacturability indicators that can be applied in a hierarchical manner. The analysis begins with the computation of visibility, which determines the potential manufacturability of a part using material removal processes such as CNC machining. This manufacturability indicator is purely based on accessibility, without considering the actual machine setup and tooling. Then, the analysis becomes more specific by analyzing the complexity in setup planning for the part; i.e. how the part geometry can be oriented to a cutting tool in an accessible manner. This indicator establishes if the part geometry is accessible about an axis of rotation, namely, whether it can be manufactured on a 4th-axis indexed machining system. The third indicator is geometric machinability, which is computed for each machining operation to indicate the actual manufacturability when employing a cutting tool with specific shape and size. The three manufacturability indicators presented in this dissertation are usable as steps in a process; however they can be executed alone or hierarchically in order to render manufacturability information. At the end of this dissertation, a Multi-Layered Visibility Map is proposed, which would serve as a re-design mechanism that can guide a part design toward increased manufacturability

Collision-free automatic dimensional inspection using coordinate measuring machines

This research presents an inspection plan that generates automatic dimensional measurement process for inspecting workpiece surface with Coordinate Measuring Machines. The inspection plan is broken down into two phases: accessibility analysis and collision-free path generation. For accessibility analysis, a visibility map(VMAP) with respect to a point on a general surface is constructed. Based on the information of VMAPs, the collection of workpiece setups and probe orientations associated with the workpiece geometry are computed using the multi-echelon simulated annealing method. The safe and locally shortest inspection path can automatically be generated. This is made possible by appropriate probe abstractions and their swept volumes, collision detections, and heuristic modifications for the collide path segments. The hierarchical collision detection method based on the sweeping operation is presented. For each collide path segments, the interference-free detour is generated heuristically according to the components of probe model to be made collision. The tangent graph method is applied in case of collision against the probe tip and stylus, while the heuristic method is applied in case of collision against the probe column