Reconfigurable data driven virtual machine tool: Geometric error modeling and evaluation

Standards communities are developing robust machining and instrumented performance tests to evaluate the accuracy of 5-axis machining centers through the direct and indirect measurement of errors affecting the simultaneous motion of all five axes. The combined effect of the numerous geometric errors and servo errors complicates diagnostic analysis of the measurement results and estimation of the individual errors. To better understand the effect of the individual errors on the measurement results, we developed a reconfigurable five-axis data driven virtual machine tool (DDVMT) error simulator. The DDVMT is a generalized model that incorporates machine tool information models, geometric error models, controller models, and (standardized) machine tool metrology test methods and analyses into one modeling scheme. This paper describes the data driven virtual machine tool and demonstrates its ability to simulate the effects of geometric errors on multi-axis performance tests.