Methodology of machining costs evaluation for die and mould manufacturing

In this paper we propose a procedure for evaluating machining costs of dies produced on CNC machines. Our survey is interested in companies manufacturing plastic blowing moulds, and it is limited to the unit parts, with a gross estimation. To do this, we developed a process using techniques of the semi-analytical method based on: . The decomposition of the shape to manufacture in cavities, each cavity is decomposed in its turn to machining features. When using feature modelling, a designed part is represented by its geometrical shape and other informations such as technological characteristics. Moreover, this modelling technique favours the bind of CAD application with the information required for the applications such as the process planning. . The generation of machining process and consequently the machining time equation, the volume to remove and the produced surface. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.