Automatic NC part programming interface for a UV laser ablation tool

This research project commenced in December 2001 and it is expected to be completed by December 2004.The research and experimental work are mainly carried out using the Excimer laser laboratory at IRIS. The main purpose of this research project is to improve the capability of the laser micromachining process, so that any desired 3D surface should be able to be produced by taking the 3D information from a CAD system and automatically generating the NC part programs. In addition, surface quality should be able to be controlled by specifying optimised parameters. The aim of this research project is to develop algorithms and a software system, which processes 3D geometry (STL file format) from a CAD system and produces the NC part program to mill the surface using the Excimer laser ablation process.