Design and Manufacturing of Speed Shapes

摘要

Advanced Surface Technology (ASTEC) is a focused research group, comprised of faculty and students from Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Their goal is the design and development of an undergraduate curriculum and a graduate research initiative in Computer Aided Aesthetic Design and Manufacturing (CAADM). This interdisciplinary effort is merging the traditional world of two-dimensional sketching and rendering with the digitally interactive therr-dimensional world of CAE/CAD/CAM. A brief history of both the ID and ME graphics curriculum is provided as background and motivation for this initiative. Recent demands of industry have also motivated this aggressive pursuit of digitally designed and manfuactured speed shapes (i.e., visually appealing and functionally sleek surfaces0 common to the aerospace, automotive, watercraft industries, etc. This paper reports on two speed shape projects that maximized the use of computers to: Sketch and 2-dimensionally render within Alias Wavefront's Studio Paint, Convert the sketches to ICEM Surf for 3-dimensional Class-A modeling and surface development, Convert surfaces to CATIA, Ideas, Pro/E or Unigraphics for solid modeling, process plan the solid models for multi-axis machining simulate tool path motion and post processing of machine tool instructions, machining of speed shapes on 3- and 5-axis NC milling machines, inspect machined models against digital surface and solid models. A general framework is provided for a proposed CAADM class to be taught fall 2000.