Principles and Techniques for Designing Precision Machines

Abstract

This thesis is written to advance the readerÕs knowledge of precision-engineering principles and their application to designing machines that achieve both sufficient precision and minimum cost. It provides the concepts and tools necessary for the engineer to create new precision machine designs. Four case studies demonstrate the principles and showcase approaches and solutions to specific problems that generally have wider applications. These come from projects at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in which the author participated: the Large Optics Diamond Turning Machine, Accuracy Enhancement of High- Productivity Machine Tools, the National Ignition Facility, and Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography. Although broad in scope, the topics go into sufficient depth to be useful to practicing precision engineers and often fulfill more academic ambitions. The thesis begins with a chapter that presents significant principles and fundamental knowledge from the Precision Engineering literature. Following this is a chapter that presents engineering design techniques that are general and not specific to precision machines. All subsequent chapters cover specific aspects of precision machine design. The first of these is Structural Design, guidelines and analysis techniques for achieving independently stiff machine structures. The next chapter addresses dynamic stiffness by presenting several techniques for Deterministic Damping, damping designs that can be analyzed and optimized with predictive results. Several chapters present a main thrust of the thesis, Exact-Constraint Design. A main contribution is a generalized modeling approach developed through the course of creating several unique designs. The final chapter is the primary case study of the thesis, the Conceptual Design of a Horizontal Machining Center.