Water jet trim head simulator

A trim head simulator for connection to a cutting head of a trim apparatus having driven means for mounting the cutting head for movement relative to a fixed base about a plurality of axes and including programmable drive means programmed in accordance with movement of the cutting head with respect to a workpiece to be trimmed by an energy stream issuing from a nozzle on the cutting head during programmed operation of the trim apparatus, said simulator comprising:

• a light source;
• a hollow body portion adapted to be connected to the driven means;
• light transmission means connected to said hollow body portion and exposed to said light source for directing a light beam from said light source to said hollow body portion;
• tracking means for visually indicating a desired spatial relationship between said hollow body portion and the workpiece by means of an eye discernible focused spot image;
• said hollow body portion being moveable with the driven means to direct the eye discernible spot image at selected spaced points along the surface of the workpiece which points represent the path of the energy stream for trimming the workpiece to a final configuration;
• and
• means responsive to movement of the hollow body portion as determined by the eye discernible spot images to direct input signals to the programmable drive means to repeat the spot image path when the trim apparatus is operated to trim the workpieces on a production basis.