CNC Machining Feature Recognition

Table of Contents

• Capabilities
• Scope of accepted geometries
• API overview

The recognition can be run on a CAD file to find machining features, e.g. pockets, holes, etc. As a result of the recognition, list of found features of the part will be returned.

As the API changes to accommodate the needs of users compatibility will be preserved as much as possible but is ultimately not guaranteed.

Capabilities

It is possible to recognize pockets, holes of various types (through, blind, flat-bottom, partial), countersinks and milling/turning faces. A detailed description of the features is given here.

Below is a simple example of recognition.

3D Model	Features
	4x Pocket 7x Blind Hole 3x Flat Bottom Hole 1x Through Hole 4x Countersink 14x Concave Fillet Edge Milling Face 7x Convex Profile Edge Milling Face 5x Curved Milled Face 3x Flat Face Milled Face 3x Flat Side Milled Face

• CNC Machining Features

Scope of accepted geometries

The recognition can be run on B-Rep representations, namely it works with ModelData::Solid .

API overview

Machining_FeatureRecognizer is the class that performs machining feature recognition. The tool has parameters that allow to modify rules for recognition.

There are 2 possible ways to use machining tools:

• Using Machining_FeatureRecognizer on its own and processing the detected features. CNC Machining Feature Recognizer Example demonstrates this approach.
• Using Machining_Analyzer. This approach supports running several recognition tools at once (currently, only Machining_FeatureRecognizer available) and collecting all of the computed data into the special Machining_Data class. Below is an example of how machining tools can be used with this approach:

  using namespace cadex;
   
  ModelData::Solid aSolid = ...;
  Machining_Analyzer anAnalyzer;
  anAnalyzer.AddTool (Machining_FeatureRecognizer());
  Machining_Data aData = anAnalyzer.Perform (aSolid);
   
  MTKBase_FeatureList aFeatures = aData.FeatureList();
  /* Process features */

The resulting Machining_Data can be passed as an input parameter for tools. Machining_Data can be used to run machining tools separately.