An Innovative Web Application for Design and Automated NC Code Generation

Abstract

With the ever-increasing importance of e-commerce/e-business in the manufacturing, traditional standalone CAD/CAPP applications are evolving into web-based applications deployed via the Internet. This paper presents a unique web-based application for automated process planning and NC code generation for mill-turn parts. The application is targeted at a wide range of users. It requires no special software or CAD package at the user’s end, and can be used even by people with virutally no manufacturing knowledge. At the same time, it is also a valuable service for manufacturing experts. This application uses client/server architecture and is developed using Java technologies. This web-based application can be accessed via Internet using any standard web browser with JRE (Java run-time environment), and Java Web Start is used to deploy this application. For wide usability, the application supports easy part specification and automated process planning. Once the part is designed, the user may request NC code generation. The process planning kernel on the server automatically executes all process planning tasks like machinable volume identification, operations sequencing, parameter selection, etc. and generates an intermediate Cutter Location (CL) code. The Cutter Location code is quite generic and can be adapted for any machine using the respective post processors. The interface is also capable of displaying the tool path for verification. The NC code is generated based on the post processor selected by the user and can be downloaded to the client machine if the user is satisfied. It is hoped that this application will develop into a pay-per-use instant NC code generation web service for novices and experts; such a service is currently not offered anywhere on the Internet.