Multiaxis Machining

The original, and still the best? Photo from 1997 shows G&Ls Variax, the first commercial PKM for metalcutting. One of the machines is still cutting metal at Englands University of Nottingham.

Return

HEXAPODS
A new generation of PKM machines is making its way into commercial use
Jim Destefani, Senior Editor

of the

K, so youre probably thinking that the title of this report is a little over-dramatic, because metalcutting machines based on parallel kinematic mechanisms (PKMs), including hexapod-type machines, never really went away.

But of course they never really caught on, either. Since 1994, when Giddings & Lewiss (Fond de Lac, WI) Variax hexapod caused a sensation at IMTS, commercial success has proved elusive for the machines. The company, in fact, sold exactly one Variaxto the University of Nottingham (England)before pulling the plug on the project. According to Paul Sheldon, principal, SheldonWorks Consulting (Milwaukee) and one of the prime movers behind the Variax machine, the lack of acceptance is not

caused by the PKM concept but rather by the execution of individual machines. Hexapods are like any machines. You can design a good one or you can design a bad one, he says. And there have been so many poor designsdesigns that ignore fundamental engineering truthsthat the machines now have a reputation for not being stiff and not being accurate. Sheldon points out that stiffness and accuracy are actually PKMs greatest strengths, if the machines are designed properly. He believes G&Ls failure to sell the Variax was not due to any kind of technical issues with the machine. They decided to not sell the machine as part of a strategy

February 2003 www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering

75

Multiaxis Machining

to not threaten their existing a count off. And so on. So products, he says. The people thats essentially how errors who made that decision are can cancel each other out in gone, but the fact remains. these machines. Of course, its The Variax machine at the happening in six dimensions, University of Nottingham is still but thats the basic principle. going strong, according to Exemplifying the current Sheldon, producing aerospace crop of hexapod machines is components. He says it has been the PM-600 Cosmo Center very reliable, and remains accufrom Okuma (Charlotte, NC), rate and rigid. That machine is which the company says can important because its proof that provide high-efficiency proPKMs can work, and they can duction of aluminum parts be reliable in the long term. and dies and molds. The Advantages of the PKM machine is capable of machindesign versus conventional ing speeds to 100 m/min and A look inside Okumas PM-600 machine, machines are numerous. mechan1.5G acceleration. Spindle ically, theyre less complex than which is cutting transmission housings and slant capability is 25. conventional designs, so theoret- other automotive components in several Each of the machines six ically they can be more reliable. ballscrews is integrated with a applications in Japan. And they can possess extremehollow servomotor and a holly high rigidity. Most stresses are in tension and compreslow rotary encoder. Universal joints use a combination of sion rather than in bending, and multiple ballscrews share pre-tensioned roller bearings. Other features include a 420 machining loads. 420 400-mm work cube, and a 4-kW motor that can drive the spindle at speeds to 30,000 rpm. Gayle Vollmer, Okuma director of technical resources, says the company has sold five of the machines in Japan, where theyre being used by automotive OEMs to produce aluminum transmission housings, among other parts. One of a properly designed

Stiffness and accuracy should be the greatest strengths

PKM machine.

Perhaps most significant, the machines can have excellent volumetric accuracy. This is because, unlike conventional machines, errors in individual actuators of PKM machines tend to average out rather than stack up, according to Sheldon. Hexapod positioning errors tend to statistically average each other out, so you come out ahead at the spindle, he says. The proof for that is based in relatively intense statistics, but picture the following: lets make a onedimensional machine, a ballscrew that moves back and forth. If it has an encoder and the ballscrew is one count off, then thats it, itll be one count off. Now picture two ballscrews, side by side, with a link that rotates on each nut connecting them, he continues. If we put the spindle in the middle of that link, one of four things can happen: if both ballscrews are right on, the spindle is right on. If one ballscrew is a count long and one is a count short, the spindle is still right on. If ones right on and the others a count high or low, youre a half

Patent drawing shows important features of Paul Sheldons Triax three-axis PKM machine. Sheldon is still looking for a partner to license the technology.

76

www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering February 2003

Multiaxis Machining

machine is in the United States at Okumas tech center, where Vollmer intends to keep it for a while. We have talked to die/mold and aerospace companies in the US about the machine, and theyre very interested, he says. A couple of companies have wanted the machine, but we need to get up to speed with it first. Although machines in use in Japan are machining mainly aluminum parts, Vollmer says the machine is plenty stiff even for cutting hardened steels for mold and die applications. Right now were doing steel cutting with our machine, he says. Stiffness is not an issue, but we are somewhat limited in horsepower by the size of the head, which were trying to keep small to minimize moving mass. Vollmer says the machines price tag is comparable to that of a fiveaxis machining center. Programming is analogous to that for a five-axis machine as well. Any five-axis postprocessor will handle the data needed, he says. Its really a six-axis machine, but we use five-axis programming. That machine can also be programmed for three-axis milling, keeping the head stationary in the vertical plane. Another company weighing in with a PKM machine is DMG (Schaumburg, IL). First shown as an experiment at EMO in 2001, the companys TriCenter DMT100 machine uses linear motors, laser technology, integrated spindle motors, open and highspeed controls with Intel processors, and a Windows operating system. The machine uses three actuators to move a central tube on which rides a specially designed two-axis milling head. The setup can cover the machines 1500 800 700-mm work cube with rapid traverse rates to 100 m/min. With a positioning range of 120 in the A axis and 180 in C, the design allows single-setup machining of all types of complex work-

pieces. DMG says serial production of the machine, which is aimed mainly at aerospace machining applications, will begin in 2004.

Yet another relative newcomer to PKM metalcutting technology is Starrag-Heckert, which rolled out production of its Kinematic series of

February 2003 www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering

77

Multiaxis Machining

machines last year. The machines use either a NC rotary table for four-axis work or a rotary/swivel table for fiveaxis machining. The company says the machines are designed to mill housing-style workpieces in aluminum alloy or steel with rapid traverse rates to 100 m/min and acceleration of 10 m/s2. Machines come with either a 500-mm square pallet or a 500 630-mm pallet and a 650 mm work cube. Other standard features include a 15,000-rpm spindle and a 60-tool chain tool magazine. A company that has been in the PKM metalcutting machine business for a relatively long timesince 1994 is SMT Tricept (Vasteras, Sweden), which claims to have sold more than 200 machines, mainly to automotive and aerospace customers such as BMW, Volvo, Scania, Peugeot, Citron, and Boeing. SMT produces three Tricept PKM machines for metalcutting and other applications. The largest, the Tricept 845, uses a combination PKM and traditional cartesian positioning system mounted on the machines center tube

and its suspension. The two systems compare the X-Y-Z coordinate values in real time to provide volumetric positioning accuracy of 50 m. Other standard features include spindle power and speed to 60 hp (45 kW) and 30,000 rpm, and a rack-type 13-tool magazine. In one application Boeings Wichita, KS facility uses a Tricept machine for high-speed machining of floor beams for its 747 and 777 aircraft. The machine features a 15-hp (11-kW), 32,000-rpm spindle. On the automotive side, a Peugeot plant in France performs high-speed milling and drilling of four-cylinder engine blocks using multiple Tricept machines in a transfer line configuration. The PKM machines from DMG, Tricept, and Starrag all use Siemens Sinumerik 840D control which, according to Sheldon, has effectively become the standard CNC for PKM machines. Siemens has done a lot of work to make the 840D control the CNC of choice for PKMs, Sheldon says. Its a nice control with plenty of power, and its easily modifiable down in the gutswhich is what you need, because

78

www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering February 2003

Multiaxis Machining

youre running all the nonlinear transforms in real time. Hexapods by nature are six-axis machines, but Sheldon says the future may lie in PKM machines for threeaxis work. If you look at the market for metalcutting machines, the number of three-axis machines dwarfs the number of five-axis machines, he says. I think the fact that hexapods are inherently six-axis machines kind of throws people offif you have a choice between a three-axis machine and a six-axis hexapod, the choice is clear for most users. Accordingly, Sheldon has designed and patented the Triax, which is not technically a hexapod but uses some
WANT MORE INFORMATION? SMEs publications catalog lists several books and videos relating to advanced manufacturing technology and management. For example, Next-Generation Manufacturing: Methods and Techniques is the title of a recent book detailing the efforts of the Next Generation Manufacturing project. Readers will learn how manufacturing is evolving and find out about the tools and techniques needed to develop strategies to meet corporate goals and customer expectations. For a complete catalog of SME books, videos, CD-ROMs, and other materials, call (800) 733-4763, 8 am5 pm, Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. For more information from companies mentioned in this article, circle the appropriate number: Company DMG America Okuma America SheldonWorks Consulting Siemens SMT Tricept Starrag Circle 370 371 372 373 374 375

of the technology to provide threeaxis machining capability. Sheldon envisions the machine being used to provide single-setup production of

automotive components and other parts, but he has yet to find a partner willing to license the technology and build a machine. s

February 2003 www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering

79