A new error measurement method to identify all six error parameters of a rotational axis of a machine tool

Abstract This paper presents a new error measurement method, a Dual Optical Path Measurement Method (DOPMM), to identify error parameters of the rotational axis of a machine tool along its error sensitive directions. The method development was carried out on a motorized rotary stage equipped with a Doppler laser instrument. An error measurement experiment and a machining experiment were conducted on a five-axis machining center with a titling rotary table. It was found that the DOPMM can identify all of the six volumetric error parameters with the simple algebraic operations. Compared with the existing ball bar tests, which need a mathematical error modeling of machine tools to separate the error parameters, the identified process of DOPMM is more simple and easier to understand. And the operation of machine tools during the measurement is much easier than that of the existing ball bar tests. The experimental results showed that the part precision can have a significant improvement of 68% when the identified error parameters are used for error compensation. Hence, the measurement method established in this study is sensible and efficient, and could be used for the error compensation on a wide range of machine tools to improve their machining precision.