Development of CAM system for 5-Axis NC machining of sculptured surfaces

Developed in this research is a CAM system for 5-axis NC Machining of sculptured surfaces. We identify problems in generating 5-axis NC data and propose methods of overcoming them. Issues discussed in this paper are: kinematic modelling of NC machines; determination of cutter position (location and orientation); check of machine work-range; linear trajectory plann- ing ; calculation of feedrate number. The proposed system has been implemented in FORTRAN77 on the Personal IRIS EWS, and it also constitutes a module of the CAD/CAM system 'CASSET' developed in KIST CAD/CAM lab.