Title: Procedure for geometrical errors identification in machine tool

Authors: Diana Acosta; Jesús Velázquez; José A. Albajez; José A. Yagüe-Fabra

Addresses: Department of Manufacturing and Design Engineering, University of Zaragoza, María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain ' Department of Manufacturing and Design Engineering, University of Zaragoza, María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain ' Department of Manufacturing and Design Engineering, University of Zaragoza, María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain ' Department of Manufacturing and Design Engineering, University of Zaragoza, María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract: This article presents a procedure to determine any of the 21 geometrical errors of a three axes machine tool (MT) taking into account the machine architecture. This verification technique is based on the utilisation of a 1D ball artefact and a self-centring probe, though it could be easily generalised to be used with a laser tracker. Most of the times, users are not interested in evaluating all the errors of their MTs but a subset. In this way, this procedure allows to any potential user the evaluation of any single error by providing a systematic method to obtain the needed equations and the experimental points to measure, as opposed to volumetric error compensation techniques where the work area is globally evaluated and the focus is shifted from the determination of each MT geometrical error to the reduction of the total error in every point. In that case, relevant information related with the physical values of each error is not preserved.

Keywords: 3-axis machine tools; error calculation; geometrical verification; ball artefact; geometrical errors; error identification; self-centring probes; machine tool errors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2014.064747

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2014 Vol.7 No.2/3, pp.124 - 140

Received: 20 Nov 2013
Accepted: 24 Mar 2014
Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

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