Combination of structured light scanning and external fiducials for coordinate system transfer in hybrid manufacturing

Abstract

This paper describes a method for establishing and transferring coordinate systems through multiple hybrid manufacturing operations. To demonstrate the approach, an additively manufactured preform is finish machined to produce the desired part geometry. A set of external fiducials is temporarily attached to the preform using a polymer frame. The assembly is inspected using a structured light scanner and the resulting scan is used to define an alignment and coordinate system which respects the physical requirements of the manufacturing processes. The coordinate system is then used to program subsequent machining operations. Once the part is set up on the milling machine, the fiducials are used to establish the shared coordinate system for the machining operation using standard on-machine probing. After the part is machined, the same fiducial/scanning process is repeated for a second machining operation to complete the part (i.e., some features could not be accessed in the first setup). Finally, the method performance is assessed.