Development of meso-scale milling machine tool and its performance analysis

To overcome the shortcomings of current technologies for meso-scale manufacturing such as MEMS and ultra precision machining, this paper focuses on the investigations on the meso milling process with a miniaturized machine tool. First, the related technologies for the process mechanism studies are investigated based on the analysis of the characteristics of the meso milling process. An overview of the key issues is presented and research approaches are also proposed. Then, a meso-scale milling machine tool system is developed. The subsystems and their specifications are described in detail. Finally, some tests are conducted to evaluate the performance of the system. These tests consist of precision measurement of the positioning subsystem, the test for machining precision evaluation, and the experiments for machining mechanical parts with complex features. Through test analysis, the meso milling process with a miniaturized machine tool is proved to be feasible and applicable for meso manufacturing.