PC Based STEP-NC Milling Machine Operated by STEP-NC in XML Format

Most of NC machines are operated by Is06983 standard called G-code, which was developed in the early days of machine tools. This G-code limits hardware performance of the currently developed high-performance hardware & machine tools. By describing only movements of tool, almost all of information of previous production departments is lost, and the machining department cannot exchange information with other departments. For adjusting new hardware environment and direct communication of CNC machines with CAD/CAM software, ISO 14649, STEP -NC is researched. This new standard stores CAD/CAM information as well as operation commands of CNC machines. In this research, the new CNC machine operated by STEP-NC was built and tested. Unlike other STEP-NC milling machines, this system uses the STEP-NC file in form of XML as data input. It makes possible for STEP-NC machines to exchange information to other databases using XML. The mentioned system of this paper loads the XML file, analyzes it, makes tool paths of two5D features with information of STEP-NC, and machines automatically without making G-code. All of software is programmed with Visual C＋＋, and the milling machine is made with table milling machine, step motors, and motion control board for PC that can be directly controlled by C＋＋ commands. All modules of software and hardware were independent, it allows convenient for substitution and expansion of the milling machine. The example 1 in ISP14649-11 that had all information about geometry and machining and the example 2 that has only geometry and tool information were used to test automatic machining by the open-architecture milling machine.

XML형식의 STEP-NC파일로 구동되는 PC 기반의 STEP-NC milling machine