Horizontally-structured CAD/CAM modeling for virtual fixture and tooling processes

摘要

Disclosed herein is a method of horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing process for fixtures and tooling comprising: selecting a contact area geometry; generating a tooling model (25) corresponding to the contact area geometry; virtual machining the tooling model (25) to generate the fixtures and tooling; and generating machining instructions to create the fixtures and tooling; where the tooling model (25) exhibits an associative relationship with the contact area geometry. Also disclosed herein is a horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing process for fixtures and tooling, comprising: a selected contact area geometry; a tooling model (25) that corresponds to the contact area geometry, generated from the selected contact area geometry; where the tooling model (25) includes virtual machining operations to generate the fixtures and tooling; and the tooling model (25) exhibits an associative relationship with the contact area geometry. Further disclosed is a storage medium encoded with a machine-readable computer program code for horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling. The storage medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement the method of horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing for fixtures and tooling. Additionally disclosed is a computer data signal for horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling. The computer data signal comprising code configured to cause a processor to implement a method of horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing for fixtures and tooling.