A Unified Framework of Postprocessor for Multi-axis Machine Tools

A postprocessor is used to convert the cutter location date into motion of axes of multi-axis machine tools. However, the configurations of multi-axis machine tools are complicated. Therefore, the authors analyze the configurations of multi-axis machine tools and then set up the forward and inverse kinematics model using the product of exponential formula of serial robot. The method proposed is unified for serial multi-axis machine tools. In addition, standard interfaces for different type machine tools are given. Moreover, a generic postprocessor program for multi-axis machine tools was developed under Visual C++6.0.