Design and performance of a small—scale diamond turning machine

Machining with single-point diamond tools is an area of increasing interest in the manufacture of optics, lens moulds, hard discs and other products Although many materials have been machined with impressive results, questions remain regarding the science of diamond turning. These questions concern the suitability of certain materials for turning, the properties of the tool and machine structure which limit the quality of the final product, and the modelling of the cutting process. To study these phenomena, a laboratory-scale diamond turning machine has been designed and built at the Precision Engineering Center. This machine, PAUL, although simple and compact, has produced excellent results on a variety of static and dynamic cutting experiments. The key points of its design, as well as an evaluation of PAUL's performance, are given in this paper.