SUMMARY
The use of computer technology in manufacturing industries can improve manufacturing flexibility significantly, especially in manufacturing processes; many software applications have been utilized to improve machining performance. However, none of them has discussed the abilities to perform direct machining. In this paper, an integrated system for remote operation and monitoring of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines is put into consideration. The integrated system includes computerization, network technology, and improved holding mechanism. The work proposed by this research is mainly on the software development for such integrated system. It uses Java three-dimensional (3D) programming and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) at the client side for visualization of machining environment. This research is aimed at developing a control system to remotely operate and monitor a self-reconfiguration fixture mechanism of a CNC milling machine through internet connection and integration of Personal Computer (PC)-based CNC controller, a server side, a client side and CNC milling. The performance of the developed system was evaluated by testing with one type of common protocols particularly User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Using UDP, the developed system requires 3.9 seconds to complete the close clamping, less than 1 second to release the clamping and it can deliver 463 KiloByte.