Abstract
A part definition must not only provide shape information of a nominal part but also contain non-shape information such as tolerances, surface roughness and material specifications. Although machining features are useful for suitable shape information fur process reasoning in CAPP, they need to be integrated with tolerance information for effective process planning. We develop a tolerance modeler that efficiently integrates the machining features with the tolerance information fur feature-based CAPP. It is based on the association of machining features, tolerance features, and tolerances. The tolerance features in this study, where tolerances are assigned, are classified into two types; one type is a face that is a topological entity on a solid model and the other type is a functional geometry that is not referenced to topological entities. The (unctional geometry is represented by using machining features. All the data fur representing the tolerance information are stored completely and unambiguously in an independent tolerance data structure. The developed tolerance modeler is implemented as a module of a comprehensive feature-based CAPP system.