APT

Computer Assisted Part Programming

The alternative to manual part programming is the use of high-level programming language, which:

Defines the geometry part in terms of basic geometry elements (points, lines )
Instructs the machine about the cutting tool

Computer Assisted Part Programming

So the following procedures must be used to obtain the G-code:

The programmer identifies the part geometry, cutter motions, feeds, speeds and cutter parameters The programmer codes the part geometry, cutter motion, feed etc and this is the source using a programming language The source is then compiled to produce the machine independent list of cutter movements and other machine control information (the cutter location control data file or CL data file) The CL data are processed by post-processor to generate machine control data for the particular machine
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APT Language
The most comprehensive and widely used language is Automatically Programmed Tool (APT) the first prototype of the APT system was developed at MIT in 1956.

The APT statements belong to one of the five types:

Identification statements Geometry statements Motion statements Post-processor statements Auxiliary statements

Sample Point Statements

PTA = POINT/3,4,5
LIN2

PTB = POINT/ INTOF, LIN1,LIN2

PTB LIN1

PTC = POINT/YLARGE, INTOF, LIN3,C1 PTC = POINT/XLARGE, INTOF, LIN3,C1 PTD = POINT/YSMALL, INTOF, LIN3,C1 PTD = POINT/XSMALLE, INTOF, LIN3,C1

PTC

PTD LIN3

C1

APT Language
Geometry statements, the general form of geometry statement is: Symbol = geometry_word/descriptive data In the case of points:
P1 = POINT/X, Y, Z P2 = POINT/L1, L2 P3 = POINT/CENTER, C1 P4= POINT/YLARGE, INTOF, P5= POINT/XLARGE, INTOF, P6= POINT/XLARGE, INTOF, P7= POINT/YLARGE, INTOF,

L1, L1, C1, C1,

C1 C1 C1 C1
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APT Language

In the case of lines:

L1 = LINE/X1, Y1, Z1, X2, Y2, Z2 L2 = LINE/P1, P2 L3 = LINE/P1, PARLEL, P2 L4 = LINE/P1, PERPTO, L0 L5 = LINE/P1, LEFT, TANTO, C1 L6 = LINE/P1, RIGHT, TANTO, C1 L7 = LINE/LEFT, TANTO, C1, LEFT, TANTO, C2 L8 = LINE/LEFT, TANTO, C1, RIGHT, TANTO, C2 L9 = LINE/RIGHT, TANTO, C1, LEFT, TANTO, C2 L10 = LINE/RIGHT, TANTO, C1, RIGHT, TANTO, C2 L11 = LINE/P1, ATANGL, L0
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APT Language

In the case of circles:

C1 = CIRCLE/X, Y, Z, R C2 = CIRCLE/CENTER, P1, RADIOUS, R C3 = CIRCLE/CENTER, P1, TANTO, L0 C4 = CIRCLE/P1, P2, P3 C5 = CIRCLE/XSMALL, L1, XSMALL, L2, RADIOUS, R And the same with XLARGE, YLARGE or YSMALL

In the case of planes:

PL1 = PLANE/P1, P2, P3 PL2 = PLANE/PARLEL, PL0, XLARGE, D And the same with XLARGE, YLARGE, YSMALL, ZLARGE or ZSMALL
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APT Language
Motion statements, with regard to point-to-point operation there are three motion statements for positioning the tool at a desired point:

FROM/point_location GOTO/point_location GODLTA/x, y, z

APT Language Example 1:

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APT Language Answer:

P0 = POINT/0.0, 3.0, 0.1 P1 = POINT/1.0, 1.0, 0.1 P2 = POINT/2.0, 1.0, 0.1 FROM/P0 GOTO/P1 GODLTA/0, 0, -0.7 GODLTA/0, 0, 0.7 GOTO/P2 GODLTA/0, 0, -0.7 GODLTA/0, 0, 0.7 GOTO/P0
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APT Language
Other Motion statements:

GO/{TO}, Drive surface, {TO} Part surface, {TO}, Check surface

Or GO/{TO}, Drive surface, {TO} Part surface, {TANTO}, Check surface And the same with PAST or ON instead of TO GOLFT/ GORGT/ GOUP/ GODOWN/ GOFWD/ GOBACK/ For example: GO/TO, L1, TO, PS, TANTO, C1 GO/PAST, L1, TO, PS, TANTO, C1

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APT Language Example 2:

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APT Language Answer:

FROM/SP GO/TO, L1, TO, PS, ON, L4 GORGT/L1, PAST, L2 GOLFT/L2, PAST, L3 GOLFT/L3, PAST, C1 GOLFT/C1, PAST, L3 GOLFT/L3, PAST, L4 GOLFT/L4, PAST, L1 GOTO/SP
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APT Language Example 3:

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APT Language Answer:

FROM/SP GO/TO, L1, TO, PS, ON, L6 GORGT/L1, PAST, L2 GORGT/L2, TANTO, C1 GOFWD/C1, TANTO, L3 GOFWD/L3, PAST, L4 GOLFT/L4, PAST, L5 GOLFT/L5, PAST, L6 GOLFT/L6, PAST, L1 GOTO/SP
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APT Language
Additional statements:
MACHIN/DRILL, 2 COOLNT/ For example: COOLNT/MIST COOLNT/FLOOD COOLNT/OF FEDRAT/ SPINDL/ For example: SPINDL/ON SPINDL/1250, CCLW TOOLNO/ TURRET/ END

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APT Language
Other capabilities of APT, the macro facility, with use variable argument as in a FORTRAN subroutine, for example:

P0 = POINT/0.0, 0.3, 0.1 FROM/P0 CALL/DRILL, X=1.0, Y=1.0, Z=0.1, DEPTH=0.7 CALL/DRILL, X=2.0, Y=1.0, Z=0.1, DEPTH=0.7 GOTO/P0
when the definition of the macro DRILL is:

DRILL = MACRO/X, Y, Z, DEPTH GOTO/X,Y,Z GODLTA/0,0, -DEPTH GODLTA/0,0, DEPTH TARMAC

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APT Language Example 4 (1/2):

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APT Language Example 4 (2/2):

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APT Language Answer (1/4):

PARTNO PART11 MACHIN/MILL, 3 ;machine selection CLPRINT ;prints out CL data file OUTTOL/0.002 SP =POINT/5,0,1 P1 =POINT/1,2,0.5 P2 =POINT/4,2,0.5 P3 =POINT/6,4,0.5 P4 =POINT/8,5,0.5 P5 =POINT/9,7,0.5 P6 =POINT/2,7,0.5 PL1 = PLANE/P1, P2, P3 PS = PLANE/PARALEL, PL1, ZSMALL, 0.5 ;define part surface to be z = 0 21

APT Language Answer (2/4):

C1 = CIRCLE/CENTER, P4, RADIOUS, 1.0 L1 = LINE/P2, P3 L2 = LINE/P3, RIGHT, TANTO, C1 L3 = LINE/P5, LEFT, TANTO, C1 L4 = LINE/P5, P6 L5 = LINE/P6, P1 L4 = LINE/P1, P2 MILL = MACRO/CUT, SPIN, FEED, CLNT CUTTER/CUT FEDRAT/FEED SPINDL/SPIN COOLNT/CLNT FROM/SP
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APT Language Answer (3/4):

FROM/SP GO/TO, L1, TO, PS, ON, L6 GORGT/L1, TO, L2 GORGT/L2, TANTO, C1 GOFWD/C1, TANTO, L3 GOFWD/L3, PAST, L4 GOLFT/L4, PAST, L5 GOLFT/L5, PAST, L6 GOLFT/L6, PAST, L1 GOTO/SP TERMMAC TURRET/4

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APT Language Answer (4/4):

TURRET/4 CALL/MILL, CUT=0.52, SPIN=600, FEED=3.0, CLNT=ON TURRET/6 CALL/MILL, CUT=0.5, SPIN=900, FEED=2.0, CLNT=ON SPINDL/0 COOLNT/OFF END FINI

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Other Part Programming Languages

ADAPT (ADaptation APT) was the first attempt to adapt APT programming system for smaller computers AUTOSPOT (AUTOmatic Sytem for POsitioning Tools) was developed by IBM and first introduced in 1962 EXAPT (EXtended subset of APT) was developed jointly in German in about 1964 by several universities to adapt APT for European use. It is compatible with APT and thus can use the same processor as APT COMPACT was developed by Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc. (MDSI) SPLIT (Sundstrand Processing Language Internally Translated) was developed by Sundstrand Corporation, intended for its own machine tools MAPT (Micro-APT) is a subset of APT, to be run on the microcomputers
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Computer Aided Part Programming:

NC program preparation may be tedious and difficult if the part to be machined has a complex geometry. The main difficulty is to find out the cutter locations during the machining. Computers may be used to assist the programmers in preparing the NC codes.

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Advantages of applying computer-aided part programming include the following:

It reduces the manual calculations involves in determining the geometric characteristics of the part. It provides the cutter path simulation. It provides tool collision checking. It shortens the program preparation time. It makes the program preparation easier.
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CAD/CAM Based Part Programming:

The output of any CAD package include the geometric data of the part to be machined. Therefore, many CAD/CAM package can produce cutter location (CL) data to be used for NC code generation. There is still to be a process planning module for a workable NC code generation. Some of the CAD/CAM packages that have the NC code generation capabilities are Computervision, CATIA, CADAM, ProEngineer, MechanicalDesktop (Auto Desk).

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