CAD/CAM Integration System of 3D Micro EDM

In 3D scanning micro electro discharge machining (EDM), the CAD/CAM systems being used in mechanical milling of numerical control (NC) are unable to be applied directly due to the particularity of tool electrode wear. Based on industry computer and RT-Linux software platform, a CAD/CAM integration system of 3D micro EDM is developed. In the developed CAD/CAM integration system, the hardware includes mainly a micro feed mechanism for servo control, XY worktable, a high frequency pulse power supply, monitoring circuits etc., and the functions consist of model design, scanning path planning and simulation, NC code generation and post processing, real-time compensating of tool electrode wear, and machining control of states and process. The method of double buffer storage is adopted to transmit numbers of NC machining data. Servo scanning EDM method is used to realize real-time electrode wear compensating and thereby 3D micro structures are machined automatically. The machining experiments are made about model design, parameters optimizing, and process control. The typical 3D micro structures with space curved surfaces and lines have been machined such as micro prism, micro half tube, camber correlation line, and so on. The machining process and results show that the CAD/CAM integration system has the characters of higher real-time, reliability, and general using.