[step-manufacturing] Minutes of STEP-NC AP-238 conference call on 4/14

[Martin Hardwick]

NIST is developing some test cases in Mastercam that demonstrate cutter compensation and probing. The first test data set has been delivered to STEP Tools for translation to AP-238 as Cutter_contact_trajectory paths. UGS is hoping it will have time to extend its AP-238 translator for AP-238 CC1 to include cutter compensation and Cutter_contact_trajectory paths in mid-may.

The scenario to be demonstrated will be

1. Rough milling of a feature on the part
2. Semi-finishing of the feature
3. Probing of the feature to compute cutter compensation values
4. Finish milling of the feature using the cutter compensation values
5. Probing of the feature to report final quality

All of the milling operations will be performed in cutter compensation mode. A key value of the demonstration will be to show the above without requiring any hand editing of the data by the operator.

The machine offered for the demonstration by DMG America is a Deckel-Maho-Gildemeister (DMG) DMU eVolution 50 5-axis machining center with a Heidenhain MillPlus control. We are investigating the capabilities of this control.

Action Items:
* Fred Proctor to investigate the availability of a MillPlus control at NIST for testing.
* Martin Hardwick to translate NIST data to AP-238