Roundness Error Prediction with a Volumetric Error Model Including Spindle Error Motions of a Machine Tool

The spindle error and geometric error are the main sources of inaccuracy in CNC machining. With the rising of the machine tool parts' temperature, the spindle error and geometric error increase continually, and the error curves have a nonlinear distribution. To analyze the thermal effects on spindle error and geometric error, an experiment is carried out. To improve the machining accuracy of a CNC machine, an error model is proposed based on orthogonal polynomials. With the application of the orthogonal polynomials, the polynomial regression can be transformed into multiple linear regressions which are easier to calculate. In order to implement the real-time error compensation for the thermally induced spindle error and geometric error, an error compensation method is proposed based on the external coordinate offset. The thermally induced spindle and geometric error are compensated by 90 % compared with no compensation.

Modeling and error analysis for assessing spindle radial error motions

The rotating accuracy of a machine tool spindle directly affects the roundness of machined parts. Commonly, a precision arbor and one or two probes are used to inspect the spindle axis error motion. When a reference precision arbor is not available or when the spindle error motion is in the same order of magnitude as the accuracy of the reference arbor, it is imperative to separate the roundness error of the reference arbor from the spindle error. One of the most widely used method is the three-probe method. This paper presents an exact model and in-depth error analysis for the conventional three-probe method. The results show that contrary to conventional wisdom that a precise arbor is not needed with the three-probe method, the arbor accuracy should be at least ten times better than that of the axis motion. To reduce inaccuracy in the converted axis motion and arbor contour, it is also suggested that the mounting error of the probes should be less than one-fiftieth of the size of the axis motion and the arbor size. The exact geometric model developed in this paper can also be extended to analyze the precision aspect of other methods.

A four-point error separation technique integrating three-point roundness and two-point straightness error separations is proposed to measure and reconstruct a cylindrical profile for the accurate evaluation of cylindricity. Four probes mounted onto two sections in the probe carriage target the surface of the cylinder to detect the differential vector of the least-squares centers in two adjacent cross-sectional profiles of the cylinder. The vector of the least-squares center in each cross-sectional profile is extracted by accumulation. The spatial curved median line of the cylinder is determined by fitting the extracted least-squares centers. Theoretical analysis and numerical validation prove that radial error motions of the spindle and straightness error motions of the slider are eliminated during reconstruction of the cylindrical profile. The influence of tilt error motions of the spindle on the accuracy of error separation can be weakened by reducing the distance between the two sections in which the four probes are located. The spatial median line profile of the cylinder is accurately determined even if the error motions of the spindle are not repeatable in each revolution. An experimental system was constructed to perform comparison experiments. The results validate the fact that the technique has higher precision in reconstructing cylindrical profiles owing to its robust anti-interference ability. The technique is suitable for in situ measurement of cylindricity under unrepeatable radial error motions of the spindle and indeterminate straightness error motions of the slider.

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.

A parameter identification procedure for identifying the parameters of a volumetric error model of a large and complex machine tool usually requires a large number of observations of volumetric error components in its workspace. This paper demonstrates the possibility of applying optimal observation/experimental design theories to volumetric error model parameter identification of a large 5-axis machine with one redundant axis. Several designs such as A-, D- and K-optimal designs seek to maximize the amount of information carried in the observations made in an experiment. In this paper, we adapt these design approaches in the construction of machine-tool error observers by determining locations in the workspace at which components of volumetric errors must be measured so that the underlying error model parameters can be identified. Many of optimal designs tend to localize observations at either the center or the boundary of the workspace. This can leave large volumes of the workspace inadequately represented, making the identified model parameters particularly susceptible to model inadequacy issues. Therefore, we develop constrained optimization algorithms that force the distribution of observation points in the machine’s workspace. Optimal designs provide the possibility of efficiency (reduced number of observations and hence reduced measurement time) in the identification procedure. This opens up the possibility of tracking thermal variations of the volumetric error model with periodic quick measurements. We report on the design, implementation and performance of a constrained K-optimal in tracking the thermal variations of the volumetric error over a 5.5 hour period of operations with measurements being made each hour.

Four-Point Method of Roundness and Spindle Error Measurements

Geometric error measuring, modeling, and compensation for CNC machine tools: A review

Identification of position-dependent geometric errors with non-integer exponents for Linear axis using double ball bar

Kinematic accuracy is a key reason which influence workpiece's geometric error precision on traditional working process of precisely CNC（Computerized Numerical Control）P3G（polygon profile with 3 lobes） grinding machine. A systematic geometric error model has been presented for CNC P3G grinding machine， proposed multi-body system theory integrate with the structure of CNC P3G grinding machine tools, researched on the machine's space geometric errors. By means of separate geometric errors from the machine tools, build geometric mathematical error model. Then, identify 21 error parameters through method of 9 lines, analysis and calculate the total space geometric errors of the workpiece and wheel. Finally, formed a parameter-list and applied software error compensational technique ， achieved real-time control to the motions of workpiece and wheel. Experimental results shown that the geometrical error modeling technique is accurate and efficient, and the precision of CNC P3G grinding machine is highly raised 70%.

A new three-point method for spindle roundness error measuring was introduced, three capacitive sensors were installed on the measured shaft circularly, and with a certain angle each other, while the spindle was rotating with a certain speed, the capacitive sensors had measurement on the circular profile simultaneously, then through linear combination for three-sensor output signals, the roundness error was effectively separated from the spindle error. There were no strict requirement to initial installation position by using capacitive sensors, as long as ensuring the change of measured rotor error within the linear range of sensors, we could realize effective measurement. The experiment results have verified the effectiveness of roundness error measuring system based on three capacitive sensors.

The simultaneous measurement and identification of position-independent geometric errors (PIGEs) and position-dependent geometric errors (PDGEs) of dual rotary axes in five-axis machine tools remain a significant challenge in precision machining. To address this issue, this study develops a geometric error measurement system for the dual rotary axes of a five-axis machine tool by integrating a scanning probe, a block, and a calibration sphere. Unlike conventional touch-trigger probes, the scanning probe acquires continuous measurement signals along the surfaces of the block and the calibration sphere, enabling the extraction of richer geometric features and providing sufficient data for the simultaneous analysis of multiple geometric error components. The proposed measurement system is implemented on a five-axis machine tool, Uni5X-400, manufactured by FALCON Machine Tools Co., Ltd., to measure the geometric information of the calibration sphere and the block and thereby identify 20 PIGEs and PDGEs associated with the dual rotary axes. A kinematic model of the measurement system is established using homogeneous coordinate transformation matrices. By applying forward and inverse kinematics, the spatial positions of the calibration sphere and block are derived, forming an explicit relationship between volumetric errors and geometric errors. The resulting error identification equations are solved using the least squares method. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can efficiently and accurately identify the geometric errors of the dual rotary axes and maintain robust reliability under real-world operating conditions, making it suitable for practical calibration and accuracy improvement of five-axis machine tools.

The relative position and orientation deviation between grinding wheel and workpiece caused by geometric errors affect the machining accuracy of five-axis CNC gear profile grinding machine tools directly. Therefore, geometric error modeling and compensation are presented according to homogeneous transformation and differential motion matrix based on the multi-body system theory for the accuracy enhancement of the machine tools. Firstly, the open kinematic chain and the ideal homogeneous transformation matrix from workpiece to grinding wheel are established according to the topological structure of the CFXZAY-type, five-axis gear profile grinding machine tools and the basic homogeneous transformation matrix between coordinate frames. Secondly, the homogenous transformation matrices of linear pairs and rotary pairs with geometric errors are calculated, and the relationships of the error propagation from workpiece to grinding wheel are acquired as well on the basis of 37 geometric error components analysis. The geometric error models including position and orientation errors of grinding wheel in workpiece coordinate system are obtained with matrix multiplication by using small-angle approximation and ignoring the second-order and high-order error terms. Then, the Jacobian is obtained by using transforming differential motion matrix of each motion axis to compensate the integrated error components of the grinding wheel, which can make the compensation effective and convenient with using the corresponding homogeneous transformation matrix. Finally, error measurement, error compensation, and machining experiments are carried out on a five-axis CNC gear profile grinding machine tool SKMC-1200W/10 to verify the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed error modeling, error compensation, and research approach.

This paper proposes a recognition methodology for key geometric errors using the feature extraction method and accuracy retentivity analysis and presents the approach of optimization compensation of the geometric error of a multiaxis machine tool. The universal kinematics relations of the multiaxis machine tool are first modelled mathematically based on screw theory. Then, the retentivity of geometric accuracy with respect to the geometric error is defined based on the mapping between the constitutive geometric errors and the time domain. The results show that the variation in the spatial error vector is nonlinear while considering the operation time of the machine tool and the position of the motion axes. Based on this aspect, key factors are extracted that simultaneously consider the correlation, similarity, and sensitivity of the geometric error terms, and the results reveal that the effect of the position‐independent geometric errors (PIGEs) on the error vectors of the position and orientation is greater than that of the position‐dependent geometric errors (PDGEs) of the linear and rotary axes. Then, the fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) is adopted to determine the compensation values through multiobjective tradeoffs between accuracy retentivity and fluctuation in the geometric errors. Finally, an experiment on a four‐axis horizontal boring machine tool is used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The experimental results show that the variations in the precision of each test piece are lower than 25.0%, and the maximum variance in the detection indexes between the finished test pieces is 0.002 mm when the optimized parameters are used for error compensation. This method not only recognizes the key geometric errors but also compensates for the geometric error of the machine tool based on the accuracy retentivity analysis results. The results show that the proposed methodology can effectively enhance the machining accuracy.

Identification of two different geometric error definitions for the rotary axis of the 5-axis machine tools