Latest development of a new standard for the testing of five-axis machine tools using an S-shaped test piece

Abstract

It has been generally recognized that it is very important for industrial users to test the performance of high-accuracy numerical control machine tools before ordering them. Methods based on special devices such as Double Ball Bar and R-test are currently used for kinematic error measurement and compensation of five-axis machine tools. However, these methods need special devices and software, and industrial machine tool users prefer testing machine tools by physically machining a special workpiece, due to its simplicity and intuition, as doing such machining tests are just like manufacturing parts in real production. On the other hand, since existing machining tests such as cone frustum test piece fail to reflect the dynamic performance of five-axis machine tools, it has drawn a lot of attention to the development of a new machining test method to address this issue. This article introduces a new machining test standard that has been proposed for testing the accuracy of five-axis machine tools using an S-shaped test piece. This method has already been accepted by the International Standard Organization and is now under development for inclusion in ISO 10791 Part 7. The advantages of the S-shaped test method in testing machining performance of five-axis machine tools are analyzed and demonstrated in this article. Furthermore, new development has been made to simplify the definition, reduce the testing workload and improve the measurement accuracy of the proposed testing method.