Abstract
Milling freeform surfaces using a STEP-compliant CNC machine tool highly reflect the intelligence of STEP-NC, especially when the toolpaths can be generated and adjusted online. However, in contrast to the 2.5D manufacturing features, there are very seldom entities defined in the standard ISO 14649-11 for milling freeform surfaces. Basically, there are only four freeform strategies used for finish milling a freeform surface, and no roughing operations are provided for milling a freeform surface from a raw piece to the shape before the (semi-)finishing operation. Obviously, both of the rough and finish operations are fundamental to machine a freeform surface from the raw piece. This paper extends the EXPRESS definitions for rough milling freeform surfaces, so as to enrich the related operations. Both 2.5D and freeform operations are improved, and individual operations, strategies, and technologies are added to fulfill the need of 2.5D and freeform roughing tasks respectively. The related online toolpath generation algorithms are developed and integrated into a STEP-CNC prototype. The STEP-CNC system is equipped to a three-axis machine tool and finally drives the machine tool to cut a T-spline surface.
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Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate BECKHOFF China for their kindly support of the open-architecture TwinCAT-CNC platform. This research was supported by the Special Program of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China(MJZ-2016-G-63).
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Appendix: EXPRESS listing
Appendix: EXPRESS listing
This appendix gives all the EXPRESS definitions extended in this paper.
ENTITY surface_rough_milling
SUBTYPE OF (bottom_and_side_rough_milling)
its_slicing_strategy: OPTIONAL slicing_strategy;
allow_tool_change: OPTIONAL BOOLEAN;
its_tool_selection_strategy: OPTIONAL tool_selection_ strategy;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY slicing_strategy
ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF (ONEOF (iso_height, cusp_height, layer_plane_deviation, chordal_length, area_ deviation, surface_decomposition, explicit_slicing_strategy))
allowance_surface: OPTIONAL length_measure;
max_thickness: OPTIONAL length_measure;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY iso_height
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
END_ENTITY
ENTITY cusp_height
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
allowance_cusp: length_measure;
its_allowance_type: OPTIONAL allowance_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY layer_plane_deviation
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
allowance_layer_plane: length_measure;
its_allowance_type: OPTIONAL allowance_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY chordal_length
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
allowance_chordal_length: length_measure;
its_allowance_type: OPTIONAL allowance_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY area_deviation
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
allowance_area_deviation: positive_ratio_measure;
its_allowance_type: OPTIONAL allowance_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY surface_decomposition
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
min_thickness: OPTIONAL length_measure;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY explicit_slicing_strategy
SUBTYPE OF (slicing_strategy)
END_ENTITY
TYPE allowance_type = ENUMERATION OF (equal, stepwise_uniform, local_adaptive);
END_TYPE;
ENTITY tool_selection_strategy
ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF (ONEOF (layer_ use_one_tool, layer_use_tools))
END_ENTITY
ENTITY layer_use_one_tool
SUBTYPE OF (tool_selection_strategy)
END_ENTITY
ENTITY layer_use_tools
SUBTYPE OF (tool_selection_strategy)
its_sequence: OPTIONAL tool_sequence;
END_ENTITY
TYPE tool_sequence = ENUMERATION OF (MRR_ based, region_based);
END_TYPE;
ENTITY machining_operation
ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE
SUBTYPE OF (operation);
its_id: identifier;
retract_plane: OPTIONAL length_measure;
start_point: OPTIONAL cartesian_point;
its_tool: machining_tool;
its_technology: technology;
its_machine_functions: machine_functions;
its_tool_list: LIST [1:?] OF toolpath;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY tool_exchange
SUBTYPE OF (toolpath)
its_unload: unload_tool;
its_load: load_tool;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY morph_rough_milling
SUBTYPE OF (freeform_operation)
max_cutting_depth: length_measure;
its_morphing_strategy: OPTIONAL morph_strategy;
allowance_surface: OPTIONAL length_measure;
allow_tool_change: OPTIONAL BOOLEAN;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY morph_strategy
ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF (ONEOF (offset, translate, linear_morph, hermite_spline_morph, min_energy_ morph, explicit_morph))
feedrate_variation: OPTIONAL BOOLEAN;
apply_local_morph: OPTIONAL BOOLEAN;
its_sampling_strtegy: OPTIONAL sampling_strtegy;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY offset
SUBTYPE OF (morph_strategy)
END_ENTITY
ENTITY translate
SUBTYPE OF (morph_strategy)
END_ENTITY
ENTITY linear_morph
SUBTYPE OF (morph_strategy)
its_mapping_type: OPTIONAL mapping_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY hermite_spline_morph
SUBTYPE OF (morph_strategy)
its_mapping_type: OPTIONAL mapping_type;
begin_tangent_length: OPTIONAL length_measure;
end_tangent_length: OPTIONAL length_measure;
its_subdivision_type: OPTIONAL subdivision_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY min_energy_morph
SUBTYPE OF (morph_strategy)
allow_weight_change: OPTIONAL BOOLEAN;
its_mapping_type: OPTIONAL mapping_type;
its_energy_type: OPTIONAL energy_type;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY explicit_morph
SUBTYPE OF (morph_strategy)
END_ENTITY
TYPE mapping_type = ENUMERATION OF (parallel_ tool_axis, vertical_plane, normal_to_surface,explicit_ corresponding);
END_TYPE;
TYPE subdivision_type = ENUMERATION OF (equal_ subdivision, arc_length_subdivision, manual_subdivision);
END_TYPE;
TYPE energy_type = ENUMERATION OF (inner_energy, outer_energy, combination_energy);
END_TYPE;
ENTITY sampling_strategy
ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF (ONEOF (uniform_ sampling, non-uniform_sampling, explicit_sampling))
s_step: length_measure;
t_step: length_measure;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY uniform_sampling
SUBTYPE OF (sampling_strategy)
END_ENTITY
ENTITY non-uniform_sampling
SUBTYPE OF (sampling_strategy)
max_s_step: OPTIONAL length_measure;
max_t_step: OPTIONAL length_measure;
min_s_step: OPTIONAL length_measure;
min_t_step: OPTIONAL length_measure;
END_ENTITY
ENTITY explicit_sampling
SUBTYPE OF (sampling_strategy)
END_ENTITY
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Zhao, G., Zhang, X., Zavalnyi, O. et al. Extended roughing operations to ISO 14649-11 for milling T-spline surfaces. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 102, 4319–4335 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-019-03468-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-019-03468-w