90 Int. J. Rapid Manufacturing, Vol. 4, Nos.

2/3/4, 2014

A feature-based approach to an integrated CAD/CAPP

system in sheet metal blanking dies

Emad S. Abouel Nasr

Industrial Engineering Department,
College of Engineering,
King Saud University,
P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
and
Faculty of Engineering,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Helwan University,
Cairo 11792, Egypt
E-mail: eabdelghany@ksu.edu.sa

H.M.A. Hussein
Advanced Manufacturing Institute,
King Saud University,
Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: hhussein@ksu.edu.sa

Adham E. Ragab*
Industrial Engineering Department,
College of Engineering,
King Saud University,
Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: aragab@ksu.edu.sa
*Corresponding author

Ali K. Kamrani
Indusrtial Engineering department,
College of Engineering,
University of Houston,
Houston, TX 77004, USA
E-mail: akkamran@central.uh.edu

Abstract: Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) is considered to be the

bridge that links computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM).This paper describes a new approach to introduce
computer-aided process planning into sheet metal blanking dies industry.

Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 91

The proposed system consists of two modules which are the CAD module and
CAPP module. The first module is capable of reading 2D drawings of sheet
metal parts provided by AutoCAD software, extracting geometric data from the
drawings, building a die geometry that would produce the sheet metal part, and
producing solid models of each die component. The second module receives
the 3D blanking die components in IGES format and applies an intelligent
feature extraction methodology in order to extract their manufacturing
characteristics and produce a machining plan for each component. The
proposed system is limited to prismatic die components. Finally, a case study is
presented for demonstration purposes.

Keywords: CAD; computer-aided design; CAPP; computer-aided process

planning; blanking die; feature recognition; prismatic parts; data extraction;
IGES; initial graphics exchange specification; B-rep.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Abouel Nasr, E.S.,

Hussein, H.M.A., Ragab, A.E. and Kamrani, A.K. (2014) ‘A feature-based
approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal blanking dies’,
Int. J. Rapid Manufacturing, Vol. 4, Nos. 2/3/4, pp.90–118.

Biographical notes: Emad S. Abouel Nasr is an Associate Professor in

Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud
University, Saudi Arabia, and Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Helwan University, Egypt. He received his PhD in Industrial
Engineering from University of Houston, TX, USA, in 2005. His current
research focuses on CAD, CAM, rapid prototyping, advanced manufacturing
systems, supply chain management, and collaborative engineering.

H.M.A. Hussein is an Assistant Professor in Advanced Manufacturing Institute,

King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He received his BCs, MSc, and PhD from
Helwan University in Cairo. His current research focuses on CAD, CAPP,
CAM, in their applications in sheet metal Dies. CAD in bus skeleton design,
welding fixtures, and CAD in automotive body-in-white design.

Adham E. Ragab is an Assistant Professor at Industrial Engineering

Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
He received his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the Ohio State
University, USA, in 2003. His current research focuses on manufacturing
processes modelling and simulation, CAD/CAM and statistical analysis of
industrial data.

Ali K. Kamrani received his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University
of Louisville in 1991. Currently, he is an Associate Professor and PhD
Programme Coordinator at the University of Houston, Department of Industrial
Engineering, Houston, TX, USA. His current research interests include cellular
manufacturing, systems engineering, collaborative engineering, product design
life cycle and rapid prototyping.

1 Introduction

Process planning (PP) is the interface between the design and manufacturing processes in
any industrial facility. It is considered the industrial component concerning with the
production of the process plan, which guides the responsible personnel with the creation
92 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

and execution of the part in its final shape. Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) is
the modern version of traditional process planning that was developed to match the new
era of computer-aided design and manufacturing. By nature, CAPP does not belong to a
specific industry. It represents a separate general ideology applicable to any
manufacturing system. Even in the same manufacturing company, different CAPP
systems are used in different company sectors. During the previous decades, several
researchers, in academia and industry, have built CAPP modules to fit in most well-
established manufacturing processes. However, most of these suggested modules were
built to fit a particular CAD/CAM system. Thus, more efforts are needed to cover all
possibilities in this field.
Application of CAPP in die and moulds components became a promising area of
research due to the importance of dies and moulds in several industries such as
automobile bodies and airplane wings. Lee (1993), has described a system called
IKOOPP (intelligent knowledge-based object-oriented process planning) system, which
directed to computer-aided process planning and manufacturing of the sheet metal
progressive die plates. The IKOOPP system uses part definition data extracted directly
from a plate model based on a computer-aided die design system. Nasser (1997), has
described an intelligent CAPP system for laying out the process planning for prismatic
and cylindrical parts called ‘IAPP’. The program has been constructed using C++ as
shape recognition and data extraction module, AutoCAD, as a graphical language. The
CLIPS program is used as an expert system programming and employed in creating the
process planning for the specified part. Chaturvedi and Allada (1999), has described
‘IMPSD’ CAPP system as an integrated manufacturing system in punch and die
components. The low-cost PC-based integrated manufacturing system for punches and
dies (IMSPD) is prepared for a small-scale tooling industry. This integrated system
eliminates the necessity of employing different software packages for drafting, process
planning, and NC programming activities. Tiwari et al. (2001), has presented an expert
system using ‘case-based reasoning’ (CBR), together with the CAPP system. Dereli
(1998), has produced 2 systems for process planning, the first called ‘OPPS-ROT’
for cylindrical parts and the other called “OPPS-PRI” for prismatic parts. He used
artificial intelligence (AI) technique based on artificial neural network (ANN) in his
systems. The technique used in IAPP, IMPSD, OPPS-ROT, and OOPS-PRI is concerned
with converting the part data from AutoCAD 3D solid models database into the CAPP
system.
The CAPP systems in sheet metal have different meanings from the machines parts.
Many researchers add their contributions in the area of sheet metal CAPP. Park and
Prasad (2004), introduced a 4-module CAPP system for non-axisymmetric deep drawing
products. The system used an AutoLISP written code to calculate the blank area for a
particular part. The illustrated CAPP system includes an expert system module based on
the production rules for non-axisymmetric parts. Interviews with die designers and field
engineers were used to build and modify the expert system. Xie and Xu (2006), proposed
a system that is compliant with STEP, to integrate CAPP, CAM, and CNC programming
for sheet metal product development. The system consists of four main modules which
are STEP compliant module, CAPP module, simulation module, and the system core
structure. Naranje and Kumar (2014) built a knowledge-based system to automate the
process of die design for deep drawing of axisymmetric parts. The system is composed of
27 modules. AutoLISP programming language was used to build the system modules,
while Visual Basic was used to build the interaction modules.
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 93

Hussein (2008), built an expert system for sheet metal blanking die design. The
system receives the blanked part in 2D shape as a text file, analyses its data, and passes
the process information through an expert system to select the optimum design of the
blanking die. The system has 14 different design patterns for blanking die stored inside
the system. The system is a package including Visual Basic 6 for programming,
MS-Access as a database, and AutoCAD as a graphical media. The output of the system
is a complete 3D component of the blanking die.
Abouel Nasr and Kamrani (2006), suggested a new approach for extracting
manufacturing features from CAD systems. The described CAPP system was developed
for 3D prismatic parts. The system takes a neutral file in initial graphics exchange
specification (IGES) formats as input and compiles the CAD information stored
in the file. The boundary representation (B-rep) geometrical information of the
part geometry is analysed by a feature recognition program that is created specifically
to extract the feature from the geometrical information based on geometric
reasoning approach. A feature recognition algorithm is used to recognise different
features of the part such as steps, holes, etc. The system is written in C++ language on a
PC-based system.
A proposed integration between CAD and CAPP systems as applications for
blanking die components is described in this paper. The proposed system combines
the CAD and CAPP systems described by Hussein (2008) and Abouel Nasr and
Kamrani (2006). The package is user-friendly, and works in an interactive method.
The system covers only blanking of prismatic parts. A case study is presented to illustrate
the system.
Including this introductory section, the paper is organised into four sections. Section 2
describes the proposed system description for integrating CAD and CAPP systems as
applications for blanking die components. The case study is presented to demonstrate the
proposed system in Section 3. Finally, Section 4 presents conclusions.

2 System description

The proposed system in this paper is divided into two main modules: CAD module and
CAPP module. Each module consists of several steps as illustrated in Figure 1. The CAD
module can be described as follows:
• The blank part data, saved in AutoCAD format, is exported in the form of a text file.
The converter program is written in AutoLISP and was described in previous
publication (Hussein, 2008).
• The user enters the necessary part data using the program interface screens.
• The module analyses the 2D sheet metal part drawing data, associated
documentation data and then, classifies and selects the optimum blanking die design
from different 14 stored design patterns of blanking die designs.
• The CAD module draws automatically the optimum design blanking die in 3D form
via graphical media ‘AutoCAD’.
94 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Figure 1 CAD/CAPP system (see online version for colours)

The steps of constructing the 3D model of the blanking die are summarised in the
interface screens shown in Figure 2. The CAD module mechanism of selecting the
optimum blanking die design is based on three levels of filtering:
• checking the thickness to direct the part towards one of the following two
directions, the fixed stripper blanking die or the movable stripper blanking die
(Hussein, 2008)
• checking the contour length
• checking the outermost points surrounding the blank part.
In every filtering step, the decision directs to more specified direction of the expert tree.
Figure 3 shows the classification mechanism of the optimum die design based
on the parts shape and data. The expert tree was explained in detail in a previous
publication (Hussein, 2008). The CAD module selects the optimum blanking die design
from 14 different stored design patterns shown in Tables 1 and 2.

Figure 2 Sample of constructing 3D model steps for the blanking die: (a) main menu;
(b) converting the text file into visual part geometry; (c) filling the part design data;
(d) locating the centre of pressure and calculating the contour length; (e) automatic
recognition of die code and (f) drawing the blank die assembly (see online version
for colours)

(a) (b)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 95

Figure 2 Sample of constructing 3D model steps for the blanking die: (a) main menu;
(b) converting the text file into visual part geometry; (c) filling the part design data;
(d) locating the centre of pressure and calculating the contour length; (e) automatic
recognition of die code and (f) drawing the blank die assembly (see online version
for colours) (continued)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

As the input to the CAPP module, each die component is separately exported into
IGES file. The boundary (B-rep) geometrical information of the component, stored in the
IGES file, is analysed by a feature extraction program that is developed specifically
to extract the individual features and handle the interaction between manufacturing
features by using geometric reasoning and object-oriented approaches (Naranje
and Kumar, 2014; Hussein, 2008). The feature extraction program is able to recognise
different manufacturing features such as slots (through, blind, and round corners),
pockets (through, blind, and round corners), inclined surfaces, holes (blind and
through) and steps (through, blind, and round corners) and the interaction between
them. These features are the manufacturing information that is mapped to process
planning.
The CAPP module consists of three main subsystems:
• a data file converter
• an object form feature classifier
• a manufacturing features classifier.
First, CAD data in IGES/B-rep format are converted into an object-oriented data
structure. Second, the CAPP module classifies different part geometric features
obtained from the data file converter into different feature groups. Finally, the third
96 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

subsystem is mapping the extracted features into a process plan (Abouel Nasr and
Kamrani, 2006).

Figure 3 Blanking die design expert tree (see online version for colours)

2.1 Object-oriented structure for CAD data

IGES is one of the standard formats used to define the data of the entity drawing in solid
modelling CAD systems in B-rep structure. Entity’s geometric and topological
information in IGES format can be represented by the entry fields that represent the IGES
file. The geometric information is in low level entities such as lines, planes, circles, and
other geometric entities for a given object. On the other hand, the topological information
defines the relationships between the object’s geometric parts, for example, by the loops
(external loop and internal loop). An external loop gives the location of main geometric
profiles and an internal loop represents a protrusion or a depression (through/blind holes)
on an external loop.
To facilitate having a good generic representation of the designed object for CAM
applications such as process planning, the overall designed object description and its
features require to be represented in an appropriate structured database. In this paper, an
object-oriented representation will be used to achieve this objective. The first step toward
automatic feature extraction will be achieved by extracting the geometric and topological
information from the (IGES/Brep) CAD file and redefining it as a new object-oriented
data structure as demonstrated in Figure 4.
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 97

Table 1 Blanking die (fixed stripper) (see online version for colours)
98 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Table 1 Blanking die (fixed stripper) (see online version for colours) (continued)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 99

Table 2 Blanking die (movable stripper) (see online version for colours)
100 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Table 2 Blanking die (movable stripper) (see online version for colours) (continued)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 101

Figure 4 Hierarchy of classes and attributes of the designed object (see online version
for colours)

The highest level data class is the designed object (shell) in this hierarchy. An object
consists of manufacturing features that can be classified into form features which is
composed of either simple or compound features. A simple feature can be defined as the
intersection of two general geometric surfaces. On the other hand, compound feature can
102 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

be considered as the interaction of two or more simple features such as slot and pocket.
Moreover, features can be classified into concave or convex as attributes in the generic
feature class. Concave features consists of two or more concave faces while convex
features are decomposed of either one or more convex faces or the interaction between
other features in the object. In this paper, multi-level form feature classification is
proposed based on the feature geometry and topological characteristics. Due to the
defined features in CAM-I, the lowest level in this hierarchy features is presented.

2.2 Edge classification

The wireframe of any 3D solid model can be represented by the edges while any two
adjacent faces can be connected by only one edge. Edges can be classified as concave,
convex, or tangent edges as shown in Figure 5. This classification of edges will facilitate
the implementation of the proposed methodology as proposed in Figure 4. To represent
edge types, the normal vectors of the two faces connecting that edge and the edge
direction are determined as shown in Figure 6. Then by applying the connectivity test
(Dhanalakshmi et al., 2006), the edge classification can be achieved. Moreover, the angle
between the two faces (Ȧ) is determined by the following formula:

§ ·
Angle(ω ) = COS−1 ¨
X 1 X 2 + Y1Y2 + Z1 Z 2 ¸X π (1)
¨¨ 2 2 2 2 2 2 ¸¸ 180
© X 1 + Y1 + Z1 X 2 + Y2 + Z 2 ¹
where
(X1 Y1 Z1) = the components of the normal vector N1 of the first face
(X2 Y2 Z2) = the components of the normal vector N2 of the second face.

Figure 5 Edges classifications: (a) convex edge; (b) concave edge and (c) tangent edge

(a) (b)

(c)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 103

Figure 6 The surface normal vectors

Figure 7 Loop classification

2.3 Loop classification

The boundary of a face constitutes a loop. Furthermore, the loop represents the
intersection border of the face with its adjacent faces. In this paper, a loop is used as a
basic indication to recognise the interior and exterior form features. Moreover, the loop is
classified into two categories which are external loops and internal loops (Lee, 1999;
Zeid, 2004; Fu et al., 2003). External loop is the exterior border of a basic face of which
the loop is investigated. On the other hand, the internal loop is located within the basic
face.
By investigating the basic face, an external loop can be identified by the maximum
margin of the basic face while the internal loop can be recognised by the interior interface
boundary of the basic face with its interior features. For illustration as shown in Figure 7,
the basic face contains three loops, one is an external loop while the other two are
internal loops.

2.4 Data structure definition for geometric entities

In general the basic entities that constitute the features are the faces which are further
defined by edges that are represented in terms of vertices, which are defined in terms of
coordinates in CAD files. Consequently, the hierarchy of the designed object that was
described in Section 2.1 represents the multi-level of different classes. All classes, except
for the main class representing an object as a whole, are objects of classes that are higher
up in the data structure. For instance, each edge object is represented in terms of vertex
objects. The data attributes required for each class in the object-oriented data structure is
developed in Abouel Nasr and Kamrani (2006).
104 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

2.5 Extracting geometric entities algorithms

The IGES file is read on a line basis and parsed into appropriate entry classes known as
DEntry and PEntry. The directory section and the parameter section are the most
important and useful sections of the IGES structure file. DEntry represents an entry in
the directory section while PEntry represents an entry in the parameter section. The
collection of directory entry classes are contained in a container class called DSection.
Similarly, the parameter entry classes are contained in the PSection class. A parser class
object is created using these classes to parse the information present in the entries and
classify the information into different classes that are used to represent different entities
of the diagram described by the IGES file. Two algorithms for extraction of data from the
IGES file into a proper set of data structures are developed. After that, production rules
for every manufacturing feature are developed (Abouel Nasr and Kamrani, 2006).

2.5.1 Extracting entries from directory and parameter algorithm

// Algorithm to extract the directory entries
// and the parameter section entries from the IGES file.
// This process takes place during the construction of an object of IGES File class.
// Each such object represents one IGES file.
1 Create a file descriptor IGES File
2 Create an empty dSection1 class (container to store dEntry objects).
3 Create an empty pSection1 class (container to store pEntry objects).
4 Open the Iges file for reading using IGES File descriptor
// Read the file to scan and extract the directory and parameter sections.
5 While ReadLine line1 from the Igesfile
5.1 If line1 belongs to Directory section
5.1.1 If line1 is the first line of Dsection
5.1.1.1 Set dIndex to 1
5.1.2 ReadLine line2 from the IGES file
5.1.3 Create an object dEntry1 of class DEntry
5.1.4 Set dEntry1 index using dIndex
5.1.5 Initialize dEntry1 using string Line1+Line2.
5.1.6 Add dEntry1 to dSection1 class
5.1.7 Set dIndex = dIndex + 1
5.2 If line1 belongs to Parameter Section
5.2.1 If line1 is the first line of PSection
5.2.1.1 Set pIndex to 1
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 105

5.2.2 Create an empty string Line2

5.2.3 while pEntry data incomplete
5.2.3.1 ReadLine Line3 from the Igesfile
5.2.3.2 Append Line3 to Line2
5.2.4 Create an object pEntry1 of class PEntry
5.2.5 Set pEntry1 index equal to pIndex
5.2.6 Initialize pEntry1 using string Line1+Line2
5.2.7 Add pEntry1 to pSection1 class
5.2.8 Set pIndex = pIndex + 1
5.3 If line1 belongs to Terminate Section
5.4 exit while loop
6 End of while loop

2.5.2 Extracting the basic designed part entities algorithm

// Part-extraction module, contained in the Shell class.
// This module extracts entities and groups them into lists
// For example: it creates a list of all Faces in the object represented by the IGES file.
Procedure to extract entities.
1 Create an object vertexList1 of vertexList class
2 Create an object edgeList1 of edgeList class
3 Create a vector of pointers loopList to Loop class
4 Create a vector of pointers faceList to Face class
5 Begin parsing entities from the IGESFile object
5.1 Initialise counter i=1
5.2 For i=1 to size of dSection1 object from IGES File object
5.3 dEntry1 = DEntry object of index i from dSection1
5.4 if dEntry1 is a vertex list
5.4.1 pEntry1 = PEntry object pointed to by dEntry1, obtained from
pSection1 of corresponding IGES File object
5.4.2 Initialise counter j=1
5.4.3 For each vertex present in the pEntry1 object do
5.4.4 Instantiate a new vertex1 object of class Vertex
5.4.5 Assign id as j to vertex1.
106 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

5.4.6 Initialise the object with vertex data from pEntry1

5.4.7 Add to vertexList1 a pointer to vertex1
5.4.8 Increment j by 1
5.4.9 End of For loop
5.5 End For
5.6 Initialise counter i=1
5.7 For i=1 to size of dSection1 object from IGES File object
5.8 dEntry1 = DEntry object of index i from dSection1
5.9 If dEnry1 is an edge list
5.9.1 pEntry1 = PEntry object pointed to by dEntry1, obtained from
pSection1 of corresponding IGES File object
5.9.2 Initialise counter j = 1
5.9.3 For each edge present in the pEntry1 class do
5.9.4 Instantiate a new object edge1 of class Edge
5.9.5 Assign id as j to edge1
5.9.6 Retrieve dEntry2 object that contains edge specific data
5.9.7 Retrieve pEntry2 object corresponding to dEntry2
5.9.8 Instantiate a new object edgeS that is specific to the edge type
5.9.9 Initialise the edgeS object with edge1 and data from pEntry2
5.9.10 Assign start and terminate vertex to the edge using pointers from
the vertexList1 object.
5.9.11 Add to edgeList object a pointer to edgeS
5.9.12 Increment j by 1
5.9.13 End For
5.10 End For
5.11 Initialise counter i=1
5.12 For i=1 to size of dSection1 object from IGES File object
5.13 dEntry1 = DEntry object of index i from dSection1
5.14 If dEntry1 is a loop
5.14.1 pEntry1 = PEntry object pointed to by dEntry1, obtained from
pSection1 of corresponding IGESFile object
5.14.2 Create an instance loop1 of Loop class
5.14.3 Assign an id to loop1 using ( size of loopList + 1)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 107

5.14.4 For each edge in the pEntry1

5.14.5 If next edge is a Vertex
5.14.5.1 Add to the loop1 a pointer to the vertex
5.14.6 Else Add to the loop1 a pointer to the edge
5.14.7 End For
5.14.8 Add to loopList the pointer to loop1.
5.15 End For
5.16 Initialise counter i=1
5.17 For i=1 to size of dSection1 object from IGES File object
5.18 dEntry1 = DEntry object of index i from dSection1
5.19 If dEntry1 is a Face
5.19.1 pEntry1 = PEntry object pointed to by dEntry1, obtained from
pSection1 of corresponding IGES File object
5.19.2 Create an instance face1 of Face class
5.19.3 Assign an id to face1 using (size of faceList +1)
5.19.4 Obtain dEntry2 containing the DEntry of the Surface type of the
Face from dSection1.
5.19.5 Instantiate a surface1 object specific to the type of the surface of
the face.
5.19.6 Add to face1 a pointer to that surface object
5.19.7 For each Loop on the Surface
5.19.7.1 Add to face1 a pointer to loop object from loopList that
represents this loop.
5.19.7.2 For each Edge in the loop add a pointer to face1.
5.19.8 End For
5.19.9 Add to faceList the pointer to face1
5.20 End For
6 End of extract entities procedure.
After extracting all geometric entities from the IGES file, the analysis of these raw data is
developed to classify the geometric information of the designed part.

2.6 Interaction of features

Several researchers have extensively studied the recognising interaction problem among
features. Shah and Mantyla (1995) considered the feature interaction as “intersections of
feature boundaries with those of other features such that either the shape of the semantics
108 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

of a feature is altered from the standard or generic definition”. When the feature
interaction happens, the shape of features is distorted and the original topology or pattern
information for an individual feature is changed. The interaction of features makes the
feature recognition problem more difficult to handle. Furthermore, the feature
interactions can have an effect on the feature recognition procedure and the
manufacturing planning in general.
The methodologies of feature interaction recognition are based on searching the
feature arrangement for the geometry of the part. The interaction information is restricted
to geometrical entities of a part. In this paper, the interaction of the features is developed
by using the geometric reasoning approach after extraction of the single features. The
interactions of the features are extracted by the geometrical model of the designed object
and by the feature level. The interactions between features are unique for each pair of
features.

2.6.1 Algorithms for intersecting features extraction

The proposed methodology is able to extract many intersecting manufacturing. Each
feature has its own algorithm (production rule). The following is an algorithm used for
extracting T slot through:
1 For every 7 faces (named as face1 (F1) to face7 (F7)).
2 If face1, face7 have convex outer loops and all faces are connected sequentially
except face1 and face7.
2.1 If face1 and face7 are parallel, face2 and face6 are on the same plane, and
face3 and face5 are parallel to each other and perpendicular to face4.
2.1.1 T SLOT THROUGH found
2.2.2 Create a new T SLOT THROUGH feature and add it to the feature
list.
3 End For
Feature T SLOT THROUGH (Figure 8)

Figure 8 T Slot through (see online version for colours)

In general, the following steps are the proposed methodology for features extraction and
classifications (Abouel Nasr and Kamrani, 2006):
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 109

Step 1: Extract the geometry and topology entities for the designed object model from
IGES file:
(1.1) Identify vertices, edges, faces, loops of the object.
Step 2: Extract topology entities in each basic surface and Identify its type:
(2.1) Identify the total number of loops in each surface.
(2.2) Identify the basic surface due to total number of loops.
(2.3) Classify the loops into different types (concave, convex, and hybrid).
Step 3: Test the feature’s existence in the basic surface based on loops.
(3.1) If no features exist and then stop, otherwise, go to step 4.
Step 4: Identify feature type:
(4.1) Identify Exterior Form Features by searching for hybrid loop.
(4.2) Identify Interior Convex Form Features by searching for convex loop.
(4.3) Identify Interior Concave Form Features by searching for concave loop.
Step 5: Identify the detailed features and extract the related feature geometry
parameters:
(5.1) Identify feature’s details (number of surfaces, surface type).
(5.2) Identify the parameters of each feature (length (L), width (W), height (H),
radius (R).
(5.3) Identify the relative location of each feature due to the origin coordinates
of the part.
Step 6: Identify the detailed machining information for each feature and the designed
part (CAPP):
(6.1) Identify the operation sequence of the designed part (OS).
(6.2) Identify the operation type (OT), the machine (M), and the cutting tool
(CT) for each feature.
(6.3) Identify the tool approach/machining direction for each feature (TA/MD).
(6.4) Identify the removed machining volume for each feature (RMV).

3 Case study

In this case study, the resulted 3D CAD blanking die is divided into nine main
components. Only the prismatic parts will be run through the proposed CAPP system.
The system first module separates the complete assembly into its components. For each
component, the file is saved as IGES file. Using the CAPP system, the IGES file is dealt
as an IGES-Brep and the component features are extracted and recognised. The second
module then creates the process plan sheet for each die component. Figure 9 shows the
blanking part and the die set produced through the system CAD module. Table 3
summarises the process plan resulted from the system CAPP module for each die
component.
110 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 111

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours) (continued)
112 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours) (continued)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 113

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours) (continued)
114 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours) (continued)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 115

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours) (continued)
116 E.S. Abouel Nasr et al.

Table 3 Process plan for die set components (see online version for colours) (continued)
 A feature-based approach to an integrated cad/capp system in sheet metal 117

Figure 9 Blanking part and produced die set model (see online version for colours)

4 Conclusions

An integrated CAD/CAPP system was built for sheet metal blanking die design and
manufacturing. The system consists of two modules: CAD module and CAPP module.
The CAD module uses an AutoLISP code to read the 2D Auto CAD drawing of the
blanked part. The module then uses an expert system to choose the most appropriate die
design from 14 different stored die designs pattern and start to achieve it in 3D
modelling. The die components are saved one by one in IGES format. The CAPP
module, then, reads those IGES files. The CAPP system, then, extracts the file data,
recognises their features such as (slots, pockets, holes, etc.) A process plan is thus
produced for each die component that can be used through a CAM system. A case study
is presented. The system is limited to prismatic die components.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by NSTIP strategic technologies programs, Grant number

(12-INF2816-02) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the authors would like to
thank the Advance Manufacturing Institute (AMI) at King Saud University for their
support throughout the research work.

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