Automatic Operation of 5-Axis-Control 3-Dimensional Coordinate Measuring Machine by Means of CAD and Image Data

The study deals with the automatic measuring path generation of 3-dimensional measuring machine (3 D-CMM) with 5 degrees of freedom. The 3 D-CMM consists of the Cartesian coordinate structure and a touch probe with 2 rotational degrees of freedom. The measuring path is automatically generated in off-line on the basis of CAD, taking account of the collision between the touch probe and workpieces. The measuring path is converted to the actual one by matching the CAD data with the image of workpiece being arbitrarily set on the 3 D-CMM. The system enables the measurement without changing the setting of workpieces, which remarkably reduces the measuring time.