DESIGN AND VALIDATION OF A FRICTIONLESS MACHINE FOR MICROMILLING OPERATIONS

Abstract

The increase of the precision and the fi nishing quality along with the downsizing of the parts and their details demand developing specifi c machines and tools prepared to fulfi ll these requirements. IK4-Ideko in conjuction with Soraluce and other Spanish partners has designed and manufactured micromilling and ultra short pulse laser ablation machines. In this article, the main characteristics of the developed ultraprecision micromilling machine are explained, being two of them exclusive and innovative. The fi rst one is that both the main structure and the moving slides are made of natural granite. The second one is that the X axis slide, the table where the parts are clamped, is designed in such a way that there is no contact between the stationary and moving elements. All the active elements and protection systems are in the base. The fi nal result is a machine with very agile dynamics compared to other machines of its characteristics. Besides the description of the characteristics of the machine, the verifi cation tests and the parts that are machined with tools with a diameter less than 0.1mm are described in this paper.