Development of an Integrated Approach to the Design of Reconfigurable Micro/Mesoscale CNC Machine Tools

Abstract

In the present, the technology related to the micro/meso manufacturing is promising as a key enabling technology for maximizing high value manufacturing. This paper addresses a new methodology to design reconfigurable micro/mesoscale CNC machine tools in the integrated product, process, and manufacturing system development context. This is followed by a description of the design of a reconfigurable twoaxis firstgeneration test bed CNC micromachine tool that was developed to assess the feasibility of the new design method. The test bed utilizes a highspeed miniature spindle that is required to obtain appropriate cutting velocities for the efficient cutting of metals, use microactuators for the axis movements and openarchitecture controllers, in order to guarantee the reconfigurability properties of the micromachine. Results indicate the new methodology enhances the design of reconfigurable micro/mesoscale CNC machine tools in the integrated product, process, and manufacturing system development context, following the prescriptive models of design.