Generating Alternative Interpretations of Machining Features

One of the major difficulties in extracting machining features is the lack of a systematic methodology to generate alternative ways of manufacturing a machined part. Most of the early research in feature extraction and process planning has not considered this aspect, and has focused on the generation of a single interpretation. In this paper, we propose a featurebased approach to generating alternative interpretations of machining features from a feature-based design model. The proposed approach simplifies the generation of alternative machining feature models by using information on feature which is captured and maintained during feature-based modelling and machining feature extraction. A set of machining features is incrementally extracted during the feature-based design process of a machined part. A feature conversion process converts each design feature into a machining feature or a set of machining features by using information on the geometry and the feature. Using reorientation, reduction, and/or splitting operations, alternative models are generated from the sets of extracted machining features. During the execution of each operation, unpromising models are pruned by using criteria such as minimising the number of accessibility directions. The machining features and their precedence relationships are represented in a STEP-based machining feature graph for the purpose of data exchange.