Real-time surface interpolator for 3-D parametric surface machining on 3-axis machine tools

The conventional approaches for surface machining use a sequence of straight lines to approximate the part surface. These straight lines are subsequently translated into linear g-codes by a post processor, and then sent to the CNC system. This process limits the surface machining capability of CNC systems. For example, the CNC machine tool can be controlled only to follow these approximated straight lines since the machine loses the surface information. In contrast, this research utilised a real-time approach for 3-D parametric surface machining on 3-axis CNC machine tools. This real-time approach, called CNC surface interpolator, can read surface g-codes and perform surface machining interpolation. The input to the CNC surface interpolator is the surface g-code, which contains geometric information, such as the coefficients of the parametric surface, as well as cutting conditions. This results in better machining feedrate controls, interpolates more precise machining commands, and requires less machining time compared to that produced by off-line approaches. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.