Click Image to Enlarge Figure 2. There are a number of reasons
why even the best translator can't reproduce every model from
IGES data. But the CAM system General Tool uses makes it
relatively easy to work with even these incomplete files. In
this case, the model on the left arrived without boundary
surfaces. However, just a few clicks with the mouse can trim
each surface back to what the designer intended. Figure 3. Five-
axis machining with the turn-mill machine provided the ideal way
to machine this 65-inch jet engine mounting ring. The part isn't
round; it's elliptical by 0.25-inch. Also, the taper angle
varies by about five degrees around the inner circumference.
Figure 1. This solid model represents an aircraft compressor
casing. Through an improved ability to import customer design
files, General Tool has cut programming time for the typical
part like this by about 200 hours. Imagine the programmer as a
river pilot. The part geometry is his raft, and his river flows
from the customer's CAD system at its