A new tunable dynamics platform for milling experiments

•Damping is added to a flexure using an eddy current damper.•The eddy current damper design is detailed.•Modal tests demonstrate a 229% increase in damping.•Milling tests validate the predicted stability behavior.

This paper describes a flexure-based platform with tunable dynamics that is used for milling stability experiments. Damping is added to a parallelogram, leaf-type flexure by incorporating an eddy current damper. Using this flexure/damper combination, the platform dynamics can be selected (tuned) at the design stage to match the desired experimental conditions. An increase in the dimensionless damping ratio of over 200% is demonstrated through the addition of the eddy current damper. The design analysis is detailed and experimental results are presented for modal testing and milling stability trials.