Effect of manufacturing tolerances on indexing accuracy and synthesis of the Geneva Mechanism

Abstract

Machine tools used for batch and mass production are generally equipped with the Geneva Mechanism for indexing. One of the factors affecting the machining accuracy in these machine tools is the positional accuracy of the tools with respect to the work which, in turn, is affected by the indexing accuracy of the indexing mechanism. This paper discusses the effect of manufacturing tolerances on indexing accuracy. It is observed that indexing accuracy is different for constrained and unconstrained designs corresponding to the same value of tolerance. Results regarding indexing accuracy for different values of tolerances in constrained designs are recorded and suggest that, in the case of constrained designs, careful allocation of tolerances on design parameters is needed. The method of tolerance allocation suggested by Choubey and Atluri 8 is followed. Synthesis of a six-slot Geneva Mechanism incorporating manufacturing tolerances and following stochastic non-linear programming and the exterior penalty function method is carried out to study these effects. Practical implications of the effects of manufacturing tolerances on indexing accuracy and synthesis of Geneva drives are discussed, giving suitable examples