A Five-axis Manufacturing Device For Virtual Sculpting Design

Virtual Reality Technology (VR) is one burgeoning cross-subject, which canimmerse users in 3D interactive environment generated by computer using interactivetools created by computer science, sensors technology and mechatronic controllingtechnology;users can perform certain task in this virtual environment. ThroughComputer Science, VR and VD can be integrated, instant manufacturing system canmachine the designed prototype to users immediately.This thesis work is to develop a five-axis rapid manufacturing device for virtualsculpturing design, including mechanical structure's designing, making and setting,electro-circuit designing and hardware programming of numerical control (NC)system, programming interface between NC and virtual sculpturing software. As formechanical structure, refitted a 2D NC sculpturing machine to five combined axes,whose two new additional rotatory axes are realized via precise electronic controlrotatory platforms. As for NC system and interface, the NC system receives the tracefiles generated by virtual sculpturing design software, and according to the outcomeof virtual sculpturing design to control the device so that it can instant manufacturethe designed prototype.This thesis also analysis the coordinate mapping from virtual sculpting to realmachining based on the Human Computer Interactive input way of electromagnetictracing. The experimentation have proofed the new way can distinctly enhance thesculpturing reality and design effect, and the output NC code is more usable thanother interactive way used before.The original products developing method brought forward in this thesis, that isvirtual sculpturing then NC machine, is different from conventional method whichusing CAD software to design products and automatically generate or programmingNC codes, then manufacturing products;experimentation have proofed the feasibilityof this novel designing method. And some ideas and technology used in developingthis device is favorable base to deeper research and industrial application of thissystem.