Types Of Five-axis Machine Tools Research Articles

Geometric error identification of five-axis machine tools using dual quaternion

A universal identification method for position independent geometric errors (PIGEs) of dual rotary axes of five-axis machine tools with arbitrary rotary axis position structures is proposed based on the unit dual quaternion (UDQ). The PIGEs of translational/rotary axes are redefined based on UDQ transformation, which effectively reduces the transformation parameters and avoids the unitization process of UDQ compared with the existing UDQ kinematics model. Based on the redefined PIGEs, a kinematic error model of a five-axis machine tool is established for error identification. Taking the cradle-type five-axis machine too with non-intersecting rotary axes as the research objective, a novel method for identifying PIGEs through the synchronous motion of dual rotary axes using a double ball bar (DBB) is proposed. Compared with BK1 and BK2 in ISO10791-6 and other existing methods, the advantage of the proposed method is that it can greatly reduce the complexity of the experiment and the operation steps by directly constructing the relative kinematic relationship between the tool and the workpiece based on the error model. Only one installation and one measurement trajectory are needed to simultaneously identify the eight PIGEs of the dual rotary axes. In addition, a trajectory equalization algorithm is proposed to effectively solve the asynchronous problem of motion and data sampling in DBB trajectory operation. By combining the simplified error model with the sampling data of DBB, the pseudo-inverse matrix is used for decoupling. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by DBB compensation comparison experiment. The proposed error identification method can be applied to other types of five-axis machine tools with a few changes in the configural parameters, which is ideal for periodic checks and calibration to ensure the machining accuracy.

Using a Cone Frustum Part in the Evaluation of Multiple Types of Five-Axis Machine Tools with the Taguchi Method

There are many methods to conduct data-based evaluations of multi-type five-axis machine tools, but in recent years, it has been very difficult to overcome the problem of conducting these tests and presenting the evaluations in an intuitive and simple way. In this paper, we introduce and test a successful method of direct cutting using a Cone Frustum workpiece with the Taguchi method, which is applied to the evaluation of multiple types of five-axis machine tools. As can been seen in the experimental results, every model is listed separately, and the overall results and details are displayed for the user to evaluate; this effective and simplified method solves the long-standing performance evaluation debate.

Multi-machine tools volumetric error generalized modeling and Ethernet-based compensation technique

This article proposes a volumetric error generalized model and a distributed error compensation technique for multi-machine tools. A detailed generalized kinematic model for three- and five-axis machine tools is built. It can be applied to 4 types of three-axis machine tools and 12 types of five-axis machine tools. By simply inputting the translational and rotary type numbers of the specific machine tool, the final kinematic model can be obtained without further human interventions. A new compensation technique based on an Ethernet distributed numerical control system is proposed. Ethernet distributed numerical control software integrated with the generalized kinematic model is developed for machine tools with Fanuc and Siemens systems. Based on the Ethernet distributed numerical control system, the real-time volumetric errors of multi-machine tools are simultaneously compensated for. The proposed generalized kinematic model and Ethernet distributed numerical control systems are experimentally verified on three machine tools, whose volumetric errors are significantly reduced after compensation.

STUDY OF A NEW AND LOW-COST MEASUREMENT METHOD OF VOLUMETRIC ERRORS FOR CNC FIVE-AXIS MACHINE TOOLS

An effective and inexpensive volumetric error measurement method is an essential of the software-based error compensation method that can improve the machining accuracy of a CNC machine tool without increasing hardware manufacturing cost. In this paper, a new volumetric-error measurement method incorporating of three derived error models, two-step measurement procedure, and use of telescoping ball-bar was proposed for three major types of five-axis machine tools. Comparing to the methods currently used in industry, the proposed method provides the advantages of low cost, easy setup, and high efficiency. The simulation and experimental results have shown the feasibility and effectiveness of the method.

Tool path optimization in postprocessor of five-axis machine tools

Generally, tool path is generated in a computer-aided manufacturing software considering only the geometry of machining parts. It is converted into numerical control (NC) codes in the postprocessor based on the particular machine kinematics. For some special types of five-axis machine tools, e.g., non-orthogonal five-axis machine tools, the generated NC codes may produce unqualified parts because of the existence of the non-linear error. Conventional commercialized postprocessors usually do not have the function of non-linear error checking. Observing that the tool path is a non-smooth trajectory full of corners and a series of connected line segments, cubic spline interpolation is applied to smooth the tool path at regular points in this study. The cutter tip center points are computed by the cubic spine interpolation, while the cutter posture vectors are obtained via linear interpolation. At the splines (for regular points) and the line segments (feature points), more points are chosen to be converted into NC codes to reduce the non-linear error, which is called data densification. Using the cubic spline to smooth the tool path and the data densification to reduce the non-linear error, a novel tool path optimization algorithm in postprocessor is proposed. Experiments were carried out on an inclined rotary spindle axis non-orthogonal five-axis machine tool. It shows that the proposed tool path optimization provides improved accuracy and surface quality.

A Ball-Bar Based Error Measurement Method for a RRTTT-Type Five-Axis Machine Tool

Measurement method using telescoping ball-bar that can directly determine the volumetric errors of three main types of five-axis machine tools was developed. Adopting Single Socket method, and the method following the defined two-step measurements sequence and incorporating with derived error models, can quickly determine the five degrees-of-freedom (DOF) volumetric errors of five-axis machine tools. Comparing to most of the current used measurement methods, the proposed method provides the advantages of low cost, high efficiency, easy setup, and high accuracy.

Postprocessor development of a five-axis machine tool with nutating head and table configuration

The postprocessor is an important interface that transforms cutter location data into machine control data, and in a five-axis machine tool is highly complex because the simultaneous linear and rotary motions occur. Since most works of the five-axis postprocessor method have dealt only with the orthogonal machine tool’s configuration, this study presents a postprocessor scheme for two types of five-axis machine tools, each with a nutating head and a table whose rotational axes are in an inclined plane. The benefit of such a configuration is that it allows switching from vertical to horizontal machining by a single machine. The general analytical equations of NC data are obtained from the forward and inverse kinematics and the homogeneous coordinate transformation matrix. The linearization algorithm for the postprocessor is developed to ensure the machining accuracy. The presented algorithm is implemented using a window-based five-axis postprocessor with nutating axes, and programmed in Borland C++ Builder and OpenGL. A simulation is performed using solid cutting software and a trial-cut experiment was conducted on a five-axis machine tool with a nutating table to elucidate the accuracy of the proposed scheme.

Configuration analysis of five-axis machine tools using a generic kinematic model

Five-axis machine tools are designed in a large variety of kinematic configurations and structures. Regardless of the type of the intended analysis, a kinematic model of the machine tool has to be developed in order to determine the translational and rotational joint movements required to achieve a specified position and orientation of the cutting tool relative to the workpiece. A generic and unified model is developed in this study as a viable alternative to the particular solutions that are only applicable to individual machine configurations. This versatile model is then used to verify the feasibility of the two rotational joints within the kinematic chain of three main types of five-axis machine tools: the spindle rotating, rotary table, and hybrid type. A numerical measure of total translational joint movement is proposed to evaluate the kinematic performance of a five-axis machine tool. The corresponding kinematic analyses have confirmed the advantages of the popular machine design that employs intersecting rotational axes and the common industrial practice during setup that minimizes the characteristic rotating arm length of the cutting tool and/or workpiece.

A Postprocessor Based on the Kinematics Model for General Five-Axis Machine Tools

This paper presents a novel concept to describe the three types of five-axis machine tools by a generalized kinematic structure. A generic postprocessor capable of converting the cutter location (CL) data to machine control data was developed based on the generalized kinematics model of five-axis machine tools. The machine tool's form-shaping function matrix is derived according to the homogeneous coordinate transformation matrix and the kinematic parameters characterizing the configuration of general five-axis machine tools. The analytical equations for NC data are determined by equating the CL data matrix and the form-shaping function matrix. A trial-cut experiment on a typical five-axis machine tool and the verification on the coordinate measurement machine demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. The algorithm proposed here can facilitate determination of the postprocessors for various five-axis machine tools more systematically.

Developing a postprocessor for three types of five-axis machine tools

This paper presents a postprocessor capable of converting cutter location (CL) data to machine control data for three typical five-axis machine tools to establish an interface between computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems and numerically controlled (NC) machines. The analytical equations for NC data are obtained using the homogeneous coordinate transformation matrix and inverse kinematics. In addition, the developed postprocessor method is implemented through a trial-cut on a five-axis machine and verified on the coordinate measurement machine. Experimental results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed postprocessor method which can be used to integrate the various five-axis machine tools employed in manufacturing systems.