Machine Tool Improvement through Reverse Engineering and Computational Analysis with an Emphasis on Sustainable Design

Abstract

In engineering industries, multifarious machineries of differing functions are required for manufacturing, transportation, maintenance, and automation purposes. Some parts in these machineries can become critically damaged at a certain stage; there may also be lack of availability of these parts in the market or technical data of the machine might have been lost. Over the course of time, new or modified machine tools are required to increase the production rates and efficiency while considering sustainability issues. The process of Reverse Engineering provides an effective solution to these problems, abating the production cycle of the required parts, and minimizing the financial losses. The primary objective of this chapter is to explain how to implement the principles of both geometric and functional reverse engineering using two real-life examples to improve the strength and performance of the selected machine tools and to make them safer to use. Both selected machines were located at the machine shop facility of Middle East Technical University – Northern Cyprus Campus (METU – NCC). In the first case study, reverse engineering of a bench-type drilling machine was carried out. General procedure of reverse engineering was applied to morph it into an improved replication through rigorous computational analyses. The applied procedure comprises disassembling the drilling machine, taking measurements of the disassembled parts, CAD solid modelling of the parts of the drilling machine, and carrying out the finite element, sustainability, and cost analyses of the spindle, which is a crucial component of the drilling machine. An evaluation matrix was then used to find the optimum solution for improving the spindle based on the weights assigned to the factor of safety, cost of material, and its environmental impact. In the second case study, reverse engineering of a metal/wood cutting band saw was conducted in a similar fashion. For digitizing complex geometrical features, a semicontact picture designation method was used. Following that, stress and sustainability analyses were performed, yielding critical output in the form of maximum von Mises stresses, maximum displacements, factor of safeties, carbon dioxide footprint, and water and energy usage during production of parts. Both case studies proved that reverse engineering coupled with computational analysis is a powerful platform to improve existing machine tools with a particular attention paid on more sustainable and economical machine design.