Optimization of rotations for six-axis machining

Five-axis machines with three translational and two rotation axes are becoming increasingly popular in serving the needs of the mass production industry due to their ability to handle geometrically complex workpieces using the rotational axes. Theoretically, the combination of the five axes offers a minimal number of the degrees of freedom required to transport the tool into a prescribed spatial position and establish a required orientation. However, the rotation axes lead to an inevitable nonlinearity of the tool tip trajectory and the so-called kinematics errors appearing due to the specific kinematics of the machine. Eventually, one arrives at an interesting question. Is it possible to compensate this error by introducing an additional rotation axis? In other words, ??does an additional rotation axis offer any optimization benefits in the sense of the above mentioned error??? In this paper, we answer this question positively by analyzing a hypothetical six-axis milling machine with two rotation axes on the table and one additional rotation axis on the tool. The sixth axis is build on the top of the existing five-axis machine MAHO600E by Deckel Gildemeister. We present an extension of an optimization algorithm developed earlier by the authors for five-axis machining based on an optimal angle sequencing (the shortest path optimization). The extension is a combination of the shortest path strategy and the use of the additional axis. The algorithm leads to an increase in the machining accuracy, in particular, for rough milling. Numerical experiments and cutting by a virtual six-axis machine built in Vericut 5.0 validates the results of the optimization. The proposed optimization procedure is capable of upgrading the existing five-axis G-codes to the case of six-axis machine.     

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.     

五轴数控空间刀具半径补偿的实现

深入分析了空间刀具半径补偿矢量的计算方法,对实现该空间刀补矢量到五轴联动数控系统中做了算法的准备和验证,并以UG NX6.0生成的刀位文件(CLSF)为坐标数据来源和五轴联动A/C双转台机床为例,开发了一个专用后置处理软件,并通过在Vericut7.0上模拟和五轴联动机床上实际加工叶片,加工结果说明了该算法的正确性和软件的实用性。     

Five axis machine tool volumetric error prediction through an indirect estimation of intra- and inter-axis error parameters by probing facets on a scale enriched uncalibrated indigenous artefact

The volumetric accuracy of five-axis machine tools is affected by intra-axis geometric errors (error motions) and inter-axis geometric errors (axes relative position and orientation errors). Self-probing of uncalibrated facets on the existing machine tool table is proposed to provide the necessary data for the self-calibration of the machine error parameters and of the artefact geometry using an indirect approach. A set of 86 non-confounded coefficients are selected from the ordinary cubic polynomials used to model both the intra- and inter-axis errors. A scale bar is added to provide the isotropic scale factor. The estimated model is then used to predict the actual tool to workpiece position. Experimental trials are conducted on a five-axis horizontal machining centre using its original unmodified machine table as an artefact. For validation purposes only, the estimated artefact geometry is compared to accurate coordinate measuring machine (CMM) measurements. A study of the volumetric error predictive capability of the model for selected subsets of estimated error coefficients is also conducted.     

Influence of position-dependent geometric errors of rotary axes on a machining test of cone frustum by five-axis machine tools

A machining test of cone frustum, described in NAS (National Aerospace Standard) 979, is widely accepted by machine tool builders to evaluate the machining performance of five-axis machine tools. This paper discusses the influence of various error motions of rotary axes on a five-axis machine tool on the machining geometric accuracy of cone frustum machined by this test. Position-independent geometric errors, or location errors, associated with rotary axes, such as the squareness error of a rotary axis and a linear axis, can be seen as the most fundamental errors in five-axis kinematics. More complex errors, such as the deformation caused by the gravity, the pure radial error motion of a rotary axis, the angular positioning error of a rotary axis, can be modeled as position-dependent geometric errors of a rotary axis. This paper first describes a kinematic model of a five-axis machine tool under position-independent and position-dependent geometric errors associated with rotary axes. The influence of each error on machining geometric accuracy of a cone frustum is simulated by using this model. From these simulations, we show that some critical errors associated with a rotary axis impose no or negligibly small effect on the machining error. An experimental case study is presented to demonstrate the application of R-test to measure the enlargement of a periodic radial error motion of C-axis with B-axis rotation, which is shown by present numerical simulations to be among potentially critical error factors for cone frustum machining test.     

Volumetric error modeling and sensitivity analysis for designing a five-axis ultra-precision machine tool

The five-axis machine tools are increasingly popular for meeting the demand of machining the workpiece with growing geometric complexity and high accuracy. This paper studies the volumetric error modeling and its sensitivity analysis for the purpose of machine design. The volumetric error model of a five-axis machine tool with the configuration of RTTTR is established based on rigid body kinematics and homogeneous transformation matrix, in which 37 error components are involved. The sensitivity analysis of volumetric error regarding 37 error components is carried out respectively. The analysis results are successfully used for the accuracy design and manufacture of a five-axis ultra-precision machine tool. The preliminary experiment of machining sine grid surface testifies the high accuracy and effectiveness of the designed five-axis machine tool.     

五轴数控加工中旋转轴运动引起的非线性误差分析及控制

五轴数控(Computer numerical control,CNC)加工中,刀具路径规划阶段与实际加工阶段对旋转轴运动采用的插补方式存在差异,其中刀具路径规划阶段是根据零件的几何信息进行插补,而实际加工中则根据机床信息进行插补,这种差异将引起原理性加工误差。针对五轴数控加工中旋转轴的运动,分析采用线性插补方式控制两个旋转轴进行加工时刀具姿态变化引起的原理性误差,进一步研究不同加工情况下由此产生的在垂直于走刀方向的平面内的非线性误差。通过分析旋转轴运动过程中线性插补引起的刀轴偏差角,证明刀具在相邻两刀位点运动过程的中间时刻处刀轴偏差角取得最大值,并得到由该最大值的显式表达式,在此基础上分析最大偏差角的影响因素。提出通过限制相邻两刀位点间刀轴夹角来控制此非线性误差的方法,并给出实例验证。     

A generalized cutting location expression and postprocessors for multi-axis machine centers with tool compensation

This research deals with tool compensation and postprocessor development for numerical control application. The content consists of three main activities. First, derives a cutting location expression of the tool for compensation and machining stability use. Second, establishes an analytical methodology to develop a kinematics transformation algorithm (KTA) for the specific type machine with a swivel spindle head and two rotary tables. And last, defines correspondent between workpiece and the cutter to attain the aim of three-dimensional tool compensation and presents postprocessors under KTA for two types of five-axis machine centers in examples.     

Prediction and compensation of machining geometric errors of five-axis machining centers with kinematic errors

Kinematic errors due to geometric inaccuracies in five-axis machining centers cause deviations in tool positions and orientation from commanded values, which consequently affect geometric accuracy of the machined surface. As is well known in the machine tool industry, machining of a cone frustum as specified in NAS979 standard is a widely accepted final performance test for five-axis machining centers. A critical issue with this machining test is, however, that the influence of the machine's error sources on the geometric accuracy of the machined cone frustum is not fully understood by machine tool builders and thus it is difficult to find causes of machining errors. To address this issue, this paper presents a simulator of machining geometric errors in five-axis machining by considering the effect of kinematic errors on the three-dimensional interference of the tool and the workpiece. Kinematic errors of a five-axis machining center with tilting rotary table type are first identified by a DBB method. Using an error model of the machining center with identified kinematic errors and considering location and geometry of the workpiece, machining geometric error with respect to the nominal geometry of the workpiece is predicted and evaluated. In an aim to improve geometric accuracy of the machined surface, an error compensation for tool position and orientation is also presented. Finally, as an example, the machining of a cone frustum by using a straight end mill, as described in the standard NAS979, is considered in case studies to experimentally verify the prediction and the compensation of machining geometric errors in five-axis machining.     

Study of applying reverse engineering to turbine blade manufacture

A turbine blade has complex shaped free-form surfaces that can be modelled as surfaces with variable curvature by high-degree polynomials. Industry typically utilizes a turnkey system and special-purpose machine tool to manufacture turbine blades. A turkey system is a closed form design. Users need only input relevant data to this system to manufacture the product directly. However, users are unaware of the internal operation of the system. With rapidly advances in computing technology, commercial CAD/CAM systems can be utilized to design freeform surfaces and generate a tool path for the designed surfaces. This study uses a reverse engineering technology that is used to reconstruct the CAD model for a turbine blade. The prototype is measured by a coordinate measuring machine to obtain the geometrical control data points that are used to generate the CAD model in the UniGraphics (UG) CAD/CAM system. The UG/GRIP (GRaphics interactive Programming) language is used to generate the cutter location data rather than using the default UG CAM module. A five-axis NC code is acquired by the developed postprocessor and verified by the solid cutting simulation software VERICUT®. Real turbine blade machining is performed on a table/spindle tilting five-axis machine tool, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

On the workpiece setup optimization for five-axis machining with RTCP function

Nonlinear errors in five-axis machining process are caused due to the nonlinear motions of the rotational axes, which are inevitable. For the RT-type machine tool, the workpiece setup location on the working table has a direct effect on the nonlinear errors, thus there must be an optimal setup position which can reduce the nonlinear errors. Today’s five-axis machine tools are mostly equipped the with the RTCP (rotational tool center point) function, with which the NC program becomes independent from the workpiece setup. In this paper, we have focused on finding the optimal workpiece setup for the RT-type machine tool with RTCP function, more specifically, the Mikron UCP 600 five-axis machine tool in our lab. The kinematics of the machine tool is briefly analyzed. Based on that, the nonlinear error evaluation method with RTCP interpolation is derived. With this method, nonlinear errors can actually be considered as a function of the workpiece setup position. Then, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to find the optimal workpiece setup, in which a mutation operation is used since PSO traps into local optimum easily. The proposed optimal workpiece setup method is implemented and tested. Example results show that the optimal setup with least nonlinear errors can be found. Some interesting results also show that the nonlinear errors are not sensitive with the z component of the workpiece setup vector. The proposed optimization is nearly zero-cost and easy to both understand and implement, yet has a potential to reduce the nonlinear errors and thus to improve the accuracy of five-axis machining.     

A methodology for systematic geometric error compensation in five-axis machine tools

To enhance the accuracy, an efficient methodology was developed and described for systematic geometric error correction and their compensation in five-axis machine tools. The methodology is capable of compensating the overall effect of all position-dependent and position-independent errors which contribute to volumetric workspace. It was implemented on a five-axis grinding machine for error compensation and for the check of its effectiveness. Error compensation algorithm was designed, and a routine was written in Matlab software. The developed technique and software are based on an error table which interprets the function of axis through cubic spline technique and synthesis modeling of a machine tool. Recursive compensation methodology was used to remove the machine errors from the actual tool path and inverse technique was implemented to find the corrected positions of prismatic and rotary joints. Moreover, it can convert the corrected tool paths into practical compensated NC codes. The generated, corrected and modified NC codes directly fed to the controller of a five-axis machine tool. Validation of the technique was preceded by repeated experimentation of measurement and through machining of typical standard workpieces with some additional specific features. Experimental results exhibit effective compensation and remarkable improvement in the parametric and volumetric-workspace accuracy of the five-axis machine tool.     

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.     

坐标系旋转的五坐标数控加工后处理算法研究及其实现方法

通过坐标变换和分析计算,讨论工件坐标系围绕其自身坐标轴旋转形成新的加工坐标系进行五坐标数控加工时,工件坐标系围绕其各个坐标轴旋转的角度的算法。结合具体的摆头加转台式五坐标机床,计算了刀轴矢量与新加工坐标系的Z轴方向一致的情况下,在斜置平面上进行五坐标数控加工时机床各旋转轴的坐标值。     

A postprocessor for table-tilting type five-axis machine tool based on generalized kinematics with variable feedrate implementation

Improvements in the machine tool and the machining process technologies increased the need for generic postprocessors in order to exploit the capabilities of the machine tools. Contrary to conventional machining approach, next-generation machining technologies such as force-based feedrate scheduling and toolpath optimization requires the implementation of the variable feedrate during toolpath which constitutes the aim of this article. Therefore, this paper introduces a postprocessor for table-tilting type five-axis machine tool based on generalized kinematics with variable feedrate implementation. Furthermore, a practical yet effective method for avoiding kinematic singularities by spherical interpolation and NC data correction is presented as well. Proposed approach is validated for various five-axis machine tools with different kinematic configurations via virtual machine simulation module. Results of the verification tests show that presented postprocessing approach can accurately convert the cutter location information into NC codes and it is demonstrated that integrated virtual simulation module can simulate toolpaths with large number of blocks.     

基于机床运动学约束球头刀多轴加工刀轴矢量优化方法

针对目前航空发动机叶片进排气边加工精度和表面质量较差的问题,提出了一种基于机床运动学约束球头刀多轴加工刀轴矢量优化方法。建立刀位优化变量与刀位数据之间的关系方程,同时建立刀位数据与机床回转轴角度之间的运动变换方程,从而推导出刀位优化变量与机床回转轴角度之间的关系方程。通过求解上述方程得到球头刀多轴加工复杂曲面的刀轴矢量计算公式。在此基础上,给出球头刀多轴加工刀轴矢量优化方法和刀轨生成方法。同时,以某航空发动机叶片为例,分析了本文算法和Sturz算法对机床回转轴角度的影响。分别利用本文算法和Sturz算法生成该叶片进气边加工的刀轨,并在五轴数控机床上进行加工试验。试验结果表明,该算法能够避免加工过程中机床回转轴的大幅波动,使机床轴运动更加平稳和光滑,从而提高曲面的加工质量和加工效率,具有一定的实际应用价值。     

Post-processor development for a turning and milling composite machine tool

The accomplishment of a turning and five-axis milling in only one setup is extremely useful and is possible on a turning and milling composite machine tool. In this work, we present a control algorithm and develop a post-processor for this machine, which has six linear and three rotary axes. To calculate a generalized kinematics model, coordinate systems are established by analyzing the basic kinematic chain relation of the turning and milling composite machine tool. The two vectors, which control the motions of the cutter contact workpiece, are simultaneously transformed to provide the algorithms of the rotary angles and motion coordinate. A special post-processor written in JAVA language is developed according to the proposed algorithm. To evaluate the effectiveness and accuracy of the developed post-processor, a specimen (blade) is used in the cutting simulation and real machining experiment. Experimental results showed the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, Compatibility is improved by adding new functions such as change of target machine, cutter location data change, workpiece origin offset, and cutting feed rate control.     

An adaptive feedrate scheduling method of dual NURBS curve interpolator for precision five-axis CNC machining

Non-uniform rational b-spline (NURBS) tool path is becoming more and more important due to the increasing requirement for machining geometrically complex parts. However, NURBS interpolators, particularly related to five-axis machining, are quite limited and still keep challenging. In this paper, an adaptive feedrate scheduling method of dual NURBS curve interpolator with geometric and kinematic constraints is proposed for precision five-axis machining. A surface expressed by dual NURBS curves, which can continuously and accurately describe cutter tip position and cutter axis orientation, is first used to define five-axis tool path. For the given machine configuration, the calculation formulas of angular feedrate and geometric error aroused by interpolation are given, and then, the adaptive feedrate along the tool path is scheduled with confined nonlinear geometric error and angular feedrate. Combined with the analytical relations of feed acceleration with respect to the arc length parameter and feedrate, the feed profiles of linear and angular feed acceleration sensitive regions are readjusted with corresponding formulas and bi-directional scan algorithm, respectively. Simulations are performed to validate the feasibility of the proposed feed scheduling method of dual NURBS curve interpolator. It shows that the proposed method is able to ensure the geometric accuracy and good machining performances in five-axis machining especially in flank machining.     

Reduction of geometry-based errors in five-axis machining through enhanced 5D interpolation

Geometry-based errors constitute a special category of CAM-originated machining inaccuracies that significantly influence the precision of five-axis surface machining operations. Geometry-based errors reflect the inability of the cutter to accurately trace a prescribed 3D tool path in five-axis machining. Their magnitude constitutes an overlapped effect of the adopted interpolation scheme, cutter, and surface geometries, as well as kinematics of the five-axis machine tool, assumed free of errors by the CAM software. Although the presence of these errors is inherent in the current configuration of five-axis computer numerically controlled machining systems, little efforts were made so far towards their reduction. In this regard, the present study has investigated the magnitude of geometry-based errors as generated by various 5D interpolation schemes. These enhanced interpolation functions were determined by enforcing better approximations of the ideal machine control coordinate (MCC) trajectory as calculated in five-axis machine tool’s joint space. By comparing the geometry-based errors generated by the enhanced 5D interpolation schemes with linear interpolation baseline, it was found that significant error reductions will be obtained when synchronized 5D quadratic functions are used to approximate the ideal MCC curve in joint space. Moreover, the parametric synchronization between rotational and translational machine tool motions represents an essential requirement for limitation of the amount of geometry-based errors.     

五轴加工奇异区域内的刀具路径优化

针对五轴加工在奇异区域内由于旋转轴运动的剧烈变化导致非线性误差过大并对工件、刀具和机床部件造成损害等问题,给出一种奇异区域内加工路径的优化方法。以AC双转台五轴联动数控机床为研究对象,在反向运动学变化中根据正弦、余弦三角函数的周期性对C轴转角进行初次优化;按照加工是否通过奇异点两种情况,采用设定奇异点处的C角值或者修改奇异点附近的刀轴方向两种方法,进一步降低C轴过大转角;以当前加工区间的非线性误差是否超过允许值为判断条件,对仍然不满足精度要求的区间进行递归插值处理。仿真试验和实际加工结果表明,与单纯采用线性插值方法相比,该方法在提高奇异区域内加工精度的同时,有效减少新插入点的数量,从而尽量降低加工速度的损失。