Computer Aided Process Planning for Prismatic Parts

Abstract

Computer aided process planning (CAPP) is the bridge between CAD and CAM. Therefore, the first step towards the total integration of CAD/CAM is the integration of CAD and CAPP systems.This paper deals with design and development of a generative computer-aided process planning (CAPP) system for prismatic components. The input to this CAPP system is the created manufacturing features with required data, which have been extracted in a previously developed feature recognition module which deals with 2D and 3D CAD systems. The proposed CAPP system includes workpiece material database, type of fixation selection, machine tool selection, cutting tool selection, and generation of process plan sheet with minimum number of tool changes. The whole CAPP system is developed using Visual Basic 6.0. The main feature of the proposed CAPP system is its ability to handle a variety of prismatic components with large number of features like (external contour, internal contour, rectangular pocket, circular pocket, slot, holes…) and generate process plans for them. A case study has been included to highlight the potential of the CAPP system.