Micro/Meso Cutting with Micro Turning Lathe

Micro 선반을 이용한 Micro/Meso 절삭에 관한 연구

In this paper, a micro-turning lathe is introduced for micro machining of aluminum rod. To give feed motion, stepwise motion[2] actuators are used instead of the conventional inchworm mechanism. These are consisted of two Piezoelectric ceramics; one is for feeding the slider, and the other is for clamping the slider in the guide way of the body. The guide is V-form. The linearity and positional accuracy of the actuators is good enough far high precision motion. Since the system is more compact than the conventional system using three Piezoelectric ceramics, it is applicable for the micro-machine or MEMS unit. To fabricate the lathe, a small spindle unit with ball bearings of diameter of 10 millimeter is built-up on the top the slider. The motion is feed backed with miniaturized linear encoder attached each axis slider. The diamond tool bite is used for cutting tool. The machining is tried to make small diameter rod. The possible diameter that can be machined in this machine is presented as well as chip formation, surface roughness, and machinability.