Abstract: For the shortage of conventional isoparametric toolpath linking methods, a simple and effective Zigzag isoparametric toolpath linking method is presented. In this method, cutter contact point (CC-point) is encapsulated into the form with input and output ports, CC-point can link its own ports to the corresponding ports of the other CC-point. In order to effectively organize discrete CC-points, a data structure called ‘numerical control line net (NCL-net)’ is employed. To obtain a NCL-net, first, a circular double-linked list is constructed by using linking feature points, and then the linking relationship between the NCLs is established according to the information acquired from the circular double-linked list; after the NCL-net is obtained, in order to acquire the sub-paths, the NCL-net from the user-specified port is used to search the usable path. In addition, to simplify the global linking between sub-paths, a simple method is adopted to substitute for the traditional heuristic algorithms. Its effectiveness is verified through simulation tests, and which shows the characteristic of being capable of handling trimmed surface with holes.

Key words: Isoparametric toolpath, Numerical control machining, Toolpath linking, Trimmed surface