An analysis of the functional capability of an in-house developed miniature 4-axis machine tool

In-house developed miniature multi-axis miniature machine tools (MMTs) are now becoming more popular with the demand for reduced energy consumption and workshop floor when machining small/medium batch size micro-components. This paper reports on theoretical and experimental analysis of the functional capability of a 4-axis MMT that has been considered as a case-study to examine the challenges when developing such micro-machining systems. Starting from the description of the design specifications and the integration of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMSs), the paper continues to describe the theoretical and experimental aspects of the procedures employed to evaluate the functional characteristics such as uncertainties related to the system construction-models development, simulation and validations: calibration of an in-situ surface scanning facility-gauging of a laser displacement sensor with a metrology analysis system; miniature machine as a low vibration working environment-assessment capability of the system to dump external vibrations. This comprehensive study, along with the subsequent micro-machining tests, has shown that the in-house developed MMT has the capability of generating, in a "self-sufficient" mode, small components/features with a satisfactory degree of accuracy. Although some challenges in employing such systems still exist, it is expected that for small batch productions, multi-axis MMTs can be a viable option when reasonable part accuracies are sought for minimal capital investment. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.