A machining test to calibrate rotary axis error motions of five-axis machine tools and its application to thermal deformation test

This paper proposes a machining test to parameterize error motions, or position-dependent-geometric errors, of rotary axes in a five-axis machine tool. At the given set of angular positions of rotary axes, a square-shaped step is machined by a straight end mill. By measuring geometric errors of the finished test piece, the position and the orientation of rotary axis average lines (location errors), as well as position-dependent geometric errors of rotary axes, can be numerically identified based on the machine's kinematic model. Furthermore, by consequently performing the proposed machining test, one can quantitatively observe how error motions of rotary axes change due to thermal deformation induced mainly by spindle rotation. Experimental demonstration is presented. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.