Systems and methods for generating a tool path using computer aided manufacturing for machining

A method for generating machine instructions representing a tool path to be used by a tool of a machine in order to manufacture an object from a workpiece material, comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a model of the object to be manufactured;
• generating a raw tool path comprising a raw pass packet, the raw pass packet comprising a plurality of passes, each pass comprising a plurality of points, each point detailing a location in space to be traversed by a tool in order to manufacture an object from a workpiece material;
• adding tool axis control information to the raw pass packet, the tool axis control information comprising, for each point in the raw tool path, a surface normal, a tip position of the tool and an orientation of the tool, thus obtaining Offset Cutter Location Data;
• performing a de-gouging operation on the Offset Cutter Location Data in order to ensure that there are no collisions of the tool with anything other than the workpiece material from which the object is cut, and that there is no position in which the tool goes beyond a surface boundary of the object, for each point in the raw pass packet, thus obtaining a Safe Offset Cutter Location Data;
• and
• providing linking information about how to transition between start points and end points of each pass except for the last pass of the Safe Offset Cutter Location Data, thus obtaining a tool path.

A computer program comprising computer readable code means to be run in a device comprising processing circuitry and a memory, which computer readable code means when run in the device causes the device to perform the following steps:

• obtaining a model of the object to be manufactured;
• generating a raw pass packet comprising a plurality of passes, each pass comprising a plurality of points, each point detailing a location in space to be traversed by a tool in order to manufacture an object from a workpiece material;
• adding tool axis control information to the raw pass packet, the tool axis control information comprising, for each point in the raw tool path, a surface normal, a tip position of the tool and an orientation of the tool, thus obtaining Offset Cutter Location Data;
• performing a de-gouging operation on the Offset Cutter Location Data in order to ensure that there are no collisions of the tool with anything other than the workpiece material from which the object is cut, and that there is no position in which the tool goes beyond a surface boundary of the object, for each point in the raw pass packet, thus obtaining a Safe Offset Cutter Location Data;
• and
• providing linking information about how to transition between start points and end points of each pass except for the last pass of the Safe Offset Cutter Location Data, thus obtaining a tool path.