Automated generation of NC part programs for excimer laser ablation micromachining from known 3D surfaces

摘要

The purpose of this research project is to improve the capability of the laser micromachinning process, so that any desired 3D surface can be produced by taking the 3D information from a CAD system and automatically generating the NC part programs. In addition, surface quality should be able to be controlled by specifying optimised parameters. This paper presents the algorithms and a software system, which processes 3D geometry in an STL file format from a CAD system and produces the NC part program to mill the surface using the Excimer laser ablation process. Simple structures are used to demonstrate the prototype system's part programming capabilities, and an actual surface is machined.