Patent ID: 8676373

Claim:
A method for locating a part on a CNC machine comprising: clamping a part to a fixture on a table for the CNC machine; machining a plurality of features and surfaces on the part; calculating a plurality of global offsets for the fixture and the table based on location data of the plurality of features and surfaces; determining an actual part position on a global coordinate system for the CNC machine by translating the fixture and the table by each of the plurality of global offsets relative to the coordinate system; compensating the actual part position relative to a nominal part position for each of the controllable axes of the CNC machine; programming a controller with a global offset compensation based upon the calculated offset for each controllable axis of the CNC machine to adjust each of the controllable axes relative to the actual part position; wherein determining the actual part position further includes translating the fixture and the table by each of the plurality of global offsets for every degree of freedom of the machine relative to one of the controllable axes, and wherein translating the fixture and the table by each of the plurality of global offsets further includes: translating the table in an X-direction and a Z-direction relative to the controllable axis of the X-direction and the Z-direction based upon the table offsets; translating the fixture in an X-direction, a Y-direction, and a Z-direction relative to the controllable axis of the X-direction, Y-direction, and Z-direction based upon the fixture offsets; and translating the table relative to the controllable axis of the B-direction based upon the table offsets for a four-axis B rotary table CNC machine.