Preprocessor for laser metal depostion with robotic arm

Hello there!

I'm trying to gather some information on the subject stated in the title.

I'm trying to find a good program that is able to process STL files, before sendig them to the machine. I'm familiar with Materialise Magics for normal 3D-printing, are there any similar programs that can be used for this purpose?
The machine is going to add material to already existing parts. To do this one would need to have both the 3D-file for the existing part, and a 3D-file for the material that is going to be added, right? How would one do this in practice?

It should be noted that I have no previous experience of robotic arms, any information on that subject that could be useful is gladly received.

If relevant, a Trumpf laser in combination with a Kuka robotic arm is going to be used.

How many DOF does the robot arm have?
I assume, you don´t apply material only in plain horizontal layers but want to use a 3D head?
-Olaf

... this is normally done with programs capable of "Inverse Kinematics"-calculations.

Then it's as simple as creating the G-codes for a cartesian RepRap-printer, and the IK-program reads the file, and controls the complete axes of the robot accordingly, so the TCP (Tool-Center-Point) follows this G-code-paths.

Additionally there is avoiding of collisions between the robot and the printed part or predefined mechanical parts of the printer housing ... the better this works, the more expensive is the software. I was programming this sort of coordinate-conversions for 5/8-axis milling some years ago ... the used programs were in the cost range from 5k€ to 50k€ then

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Quote
o_lampe
How many DOF does the robot arm have?
I assume, you don´t apply material only in plain horizontal layers but want to use a 3D head?
-Olaf

6 axis and I want to be able to apply material on all surfaces.

Quote
VDX
... this is normally done with programs capable of "Inverse Kinematics"-calculations.

Then it's as simple as creating the G-codes for a cartesian RepRap-printer, and the IK-program reads the file, and controls the complete axes of the robot accordingly, so the TCP (Tool-Center-Point) follows this G-code-paths.

Additionally there is avoiding of collisions between the robot and the printed part or predefined mechanical parts of the printer housing ... the better this works, the more expensive is the software. I was programming this sort of coordinate-conversions for 5/8-axis milling some years ago ... the used programs were in the cost range from 5k€ to 50k€ then

Ohh, I see! Do you have any examples of such programs?

But the IK-program probably doesn't have the ability to produce G-codes costomized for the LMD, right?

... this were the programs of the Delcam power suite: PowerMill, FeatureCam, PowerInspect and ArtCam ... the machine configuration could be predefined for all sorts of kinematics ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Okay, thanks! Does'nt sound like rocket science.. I'm afraid that I might have to convert G codes to KRL though...
It's very likey that I'll ask more questions tomorrow.