Process and device for producing a workpiece

Abstract

The invention concerns the creation of a prototype workpiece or production equipment. To produce such prototypes quickly and cost-effectively and to produce functional prototypes from any type of material, the invention proposes that a defined geometric description be broken down in the computer into 3D segments which are then broken down into plates of varying thickness, the cutting planes of each individual plate being chosen so that each plate can be machined in two clampings without undercutting, the plates being made from blanks of suitable thickness and assembled to form a workpiece in that production equipment is used to machine the individual blanks in succession, starting from any plate, so as to create the cutting surfaces and body contours and then adjacent plates are joined together at the machined surfaces to form the workpiece, whereupon this second plate that is now joined to a first plate is machined on the production equipment from its now free surface to create the next cutting surface and other contours of the plate, all projecting ends being removed in the process, while the next adjoining plate is machined on its free surface to form at least parts of the body contour of the plate and the cutting surface and the laid against the free cutting surface of the previously machined plate and joined to this plate, whereupon this third plate that is now joined to the second plate is machined from its now free surface in the same way as the second plate, while the next adjacent plate is machined on the production equipment in the same way as the preceding plate until all plates have been machined on the production equipment in the same way as the preceding plate until all plates have been machined and joined together, whereupon any remaining support material is removed through another machining operation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.