Described in this thesis is a classification and coding scheme for NC tool components. The coding of tool components (i.e. holders, adapters and cutters) is based primarily on the geometric configuration of tool assembly mechanisms.
A tool component is viewed to consist of a "L-SHANK" and a "R-SHANK". The L-SHANK of a holder, for example, is held by the machine spindle and its R-SHANK is assembled with the L-SHANK of an adapter or a cutter.
The R-SHANK part of a tool component has four types of geometric configurations. They are cylindrical hole type, taperd hole type, cylindrical shaft type, and tapered shaft type.
The tooling S/W system consists of a data management program and a query module. The former is needs for a tool data handling, the latter is needs for an optimized tool selection using a tool-code, the assembly matrix, and the tool selection criteria which are the geometric configurations, a L/D ratio, the dimensions, and a accuracy.
The proposed tooling software system has been implemented in BASIC on an PC/AT computer.
