Development of a G-Code Free, STEP-Compliant CNC Lathe

Abstract

The paper describes a STEP-compliant CNC lathe that demonstrated a G-Code free machining scenario. This research work was conducted in two parts. The first involved retrofitting an existing CNC lathe with a more open platform control system — Compumotor Motion Control system, which is capable of interfacing with other CAPP/CAM programs through languages such as Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Delphi. The control system is programmable using its own motion control language — 6K Motion Control language. A library of 6K functions has been developed to cater for different turning operations. The second part of the research is the development of a “STEPcNC Converter,” which can understand and process STEP-NC codes, and interface with the CNC controller through an interface. It makes use of STEP-NC information such as “Workplan,” “Workingstep,” machining strategy, machining features and cutting tools that is present in a STEP-NC file. The Application Interpreted Model (AIM) of STEP-NC has been used.