Implementation of Integrated Manufacturing of Free-form Surfaces

Mechanical parts with complex geometry features, especially free-form surfaces, are being used widely in the industry. Digital manufacturing techniques have recently been developed to manufacture free-from surfaces with high quality and low cost. In this paper, an integrated digital manufacturing strategy is presented, in which free-form surface are manufactured through design, machining, and errors compensation. In the design stage, Reverse Engineering (RE) techniques are used to construct CAD model of the surface. Then, a 5-axis CNC is used in machining. A laser scanner is used to measure the machined surface and the errors are feedback into the machining using a compensation method to improve surface quality. This integrated digital manufacturing strategy has been implemented and validated in the manufacturing of an impeller blade.