[step-manufacturing] Dallas demonstration conference call minutes

[Martin Hardwick]

Attendees
---------------
Alain Brail, Airbus
Len Slovensky, SCRA
Jan De Nijs, Lockheed Martin
Ray Admire, Lockheed Martin
Fred Proctor, NIST
John Horst, NIST
Larry Maggiano, Mitutoyo
Bengt Olsson, Sandvik
David Odendahl, Boeing
John Witco, GDLS
Martin Hardwick, STEP Tools, Inc.

After a brief review of the STEP-NC concept there was a discussion of 
the goals for the Dallas demonstration (see slide #12 of the set sent 
on Tuesday).

1. Integration with AP-203 edition 2. Everyone agreed this was a high 
priority because it is essential for the tolerances to be 
communicated to the CNC directly from CAD. Unfortunately, a direct 
AP-203 e2 translator is not yet available so Len Slovensky offered to 
supply the necessary data by using AP-224 and STEP Trans. The data 
will be AP-224 with tolerances only (no features) and will be 
harmonized with AP-203 e2, AP-214, AP-219, AP-224 and AP-238 because 
of the extensive work previously done within STEP.

2. Higher level synthesis of the measurement results. There was wide 
agreement that this would be a good way to show the benefits of the 
HIPP model. John Horst took the action item to investigate which 
inspection feature(s) should be implemented first to support better 
measurement of the rib profile, the hole width and perpendicularity, 
or the angular dimension. In addition, he asked for as much feedback 
as possible on the High level Inspection Process Planning model (see 
http://www.steptools.com/manforum/meetings.html) please contact him 
at John.Horst at nist.gov

3. Improving machining accuracy by substituting b-spline curves for 
line segments for paths that are machining surfaces. There was mild 
interest in this item because the proposal is to perform the 
substitution within the STEP-NC Explorer. The interest would be 
greater if the splines were written directly by a CAM system. In 
addition the industry has experienced difficulty using the b-spline 
interpolation features currently available on CNC controls. There was 
agreement that if STEP Tools can convert the fish head machining data 
for one or more of the b-spline surfaces to b-spline curves then this 
would be a contribution because data would then be available for testing.

4. Technical Corrections to the Measurement Procedures. Two issues 
were identified during the Ibusuki demonstration. The first was that 
some of the probe points generated for the hole were too close to the 
bottom. This will be easy to fix within the STEP-NC Explorer. The 
second issue was the probing of the hole and other surfaces from 
unusual angles. This happened because the available probing commands 
required the direction of the probe to be in the X direction or the Y 
direction only. Consequently, the hole probes approached  the surface 
at unusual angles and a cosine error occurred because the side of the 
probe made contact with the surface first. There was a discussion 
with three solutions suggested.

a. Exit TCP mode so that the probing operations can be performed in 
absolute machine coordinates.
b. Use more sophisticated macros that allow simultaneous probing in 
the X and Y directions- Alain Brail will contact Renishaw.
c. Use the rotate command of the 840D and hopefully similar commands 
for Heidenhain and Fanuc to position the table for correct probing 
without exiting TCP mode - David Loffredo will contact David Odendahl 
to learn more about this procedure.

5. Widening the testing. We would like to see participation from the 
Far East. Martin Hardwick will contact Professor Kisinami in Japan. 
Also more participation from the CAD/CAM and CNC vendors. In 
particular we would like for there to be more sources for the data so 
Boeing and NIST will contact UGS to see if a file can be developed 
and exported using the UGS APT interface or a direct AP-238 
interface. NIST will also investigate whether it can use 
Pro/Manufacturing and an APT interface to make the data. Ray Admire 
will contact Mori-Seiki who have a large tech center in Dallas to see 
if they can support the demonstration. A welcome package will be 
prepared by Fred Proctor to make it easier for others to join the 
demonstration. New names for the STEP-Manufacturing mailing list 
should be sent to hardwick at steptools.com

In addition to the above items, three new items were added to the list.

6. Better tool paths. The first round tool paths were not ideal for 
high speed machining because they contained many small changes of 
direction. Alain Brail will produce better paths for the next round 
(see schedule below). The data produced for Ibusuki is public domain 
and available to anybody for testing. The new data will also be 
public domain and others are encouraged to produce similar data from 
other data sources (see comments above about UGS and Pro/Engineer). 
The new data should include feature and planning data for the 
roughing operations so that AP-224 and AP-240 can be included in the 
demonstration. An ftp site for the new demonstration data has been 
established at: ftp://www.steptools.com/private/Dallas. The archive 
used for Ibusuki is at: ftp://www.steptools.com/private/Japan/Fish_head/

7. Easier editing of the feeds and speeds. The correct feeds and 
speeds are very important for optimal usage of the tool and to get 
the best finish. Correcting feeds and speeds was very laborious for 
the Ibusuki round of testing because a text editor was used. For 
Dallas we need to investigate methods for making this easier. Some 
tools are under development but these are unlikely to be available in 
time so STEP Tools will create some simple tools for the STEP-NC 
Explorer that allow some or all of the instances of a particular feed 
or speed to be changed globally.

8. Tools selection. Tool selection is closely related to speed and 
feed selection. One of the criteria for tool selection is the rate of 
chip removal. There are several attributes in STEP-NC that allow the 
removal volume to be defined as a tool moves along a path. If methods 
can be found to define the rate of volume removal in a CAM system and 
to transfer it to the STEP-NC file, then tool and speed/feed 
selection will become easier.

Schedule
--------------
The following schedule was proposed:

November 1st 		- Machining demonstration
October 24th 		- Finish machining tests
October 10th 		- Begin machining tests
October 1st 		- Finish tool path development
September 15th 	- Begin tool path development

Action items
------------------
Len Slovensky to investigate developing an AP-224 file with the 
tolerances for the fish head part (August 9th deadline)
Martin Hardwick to send AP-203 file for the fish head to Len Slovensky (done)
Len Slovensky to prepare a draft AIC for the inspection features (done)
John Horst and HIPP team to suggest which inspection features and 
operations should be included in the demonstration
Ray Admire to contact the Mori-Seiki tech center in Dallas about 
hosting the demonstration
David Odendahl to contact Chen Han Lee of UGS and John Horst to 
contact John  Schafer of UGS about participating in the demonstration
Fred Proctor to investigate use of Pro/Manufacturing for developing 
fish head tool paths
Alain Brail to contact Renishaw about using their macros for two 
dimensional (X and Y) probing
David Loffredo and David Odendahl to investigate use of rotate 
command for two dimensional probing
Martin Hardwick to contact Prof. Kisinami about Far East 
participation in the demonstration
Bengt Olsson to investigate requirements for optimal tool selection
Fred Proctor to prepare a welcome package for new organizations that 
want to join the demonstration

The next conference call will be held on Wednesday August 8th at the 
same time 4:30PM France, 10:30 AM Eastern USA, 9:30AM Central USA, 
7:30AM Western USA.
As recorded by Martin Hardwick