Development of a Swing-Arm Type Polishing Machine for Large Optics

스윙암 방식을 이용한 대형 광학부품 연마가공기 개발

A polishing machine adopting a new unique structural mechanism has been developed, named as a swing-arm type polishing machine. The mechanism is such that the tool path tracks on a spherical surface, of which the diameter is adjusted by setting up the machine mechanism properly. It has a strong benefit especially for polishing axis-symmetric concave mirror surfaces. The swing-arm type polishing machine with 5-axes has been designed in order to polish a concave mirror surface lip to diameter of 2 meters. The drawings are made using 3D CAD and strain-stress analysis has been done by finite element method. AC servo-motor has been used to move the swing arm and a operating software has been developed using a LapVIEW tool. Result of the test run was satisfactory which convinces the usefulness of the swing-arm type polishing machine.