Enhancement of Motion Accuracy for Cone-Frustum Cutting Motion by Modified NC Program

Abstract

Motion accuracy of NC machine tools is directory copied onto the machined shape. However, it is known that the motion accuracy is deteriorated by several error courses; geometric and dynamic motion errors of feed axes. In this study, in order to enhance the motion accuracy of NC machine tools, a method that modifies the NC program based on the normal direction error at each command point on the designed path is developed. In the method, the error vector between the commanded and estimated machined shape is obtained. The NC program for the motion is modified by adding the obtained error vector with the opposite sign. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, 5-axis motion tests for cone-frustum cutting which is widely applied to the accuracy evaluation of 5-axis machining centers are carried out. At the first, it is confirmed that the proposed method can compensate the dynamic synchronous errors based on the feedback positions and angles of the axes. In addition, it is also confirmed that the proposed method can compensate both of dynamic and geometric errors based on the tool center point trajectory measured by a ball-bar system. As the results, it is clarified that the proposed method can effectively enhance the motion accuracy of the 5-axis machining center.