Direct NC Toolpath Generation from 3D Point Cloud Datasets

: In reverse engineering, the measurement of the object's surface is carried out by 3D scanning producing 3D point cloud data. Scanning performed from various positions will have different data, which will then be registered to form a product topography. The next process is to reconstruct 3D CAD, which is then converted into working drawings, used for manufacturing processes such as CNC machining by generating G-Code. The crucial stage was the 3D CAD reconstruction of the point cloud dataset, which required a complicated triangulation process and long computation time. In this research, 3D point cloud data is used directly to generate tool paths for CNC machining without 3D CAD reconstruction. The goal is to shorten the reverse engineering time with a quality that can still meet the requirements. The stage is to model the tool path of the tools used in CNC machining relative to feature point cloud sets. This toolpath will be used as the basis for creating G-code. The toolpath makes it possible to degenerate directly from the verified 3D point cloud registration data based on the modeling results.