There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

The miniaturization of machine components is perceived by many as a requirement for the future technological development of a broad spectrum of products. Miniature components can provide smaller footprints, lower power consumption and higher heat transfer, since their surface-to-volume ratio is very high. To create these components, micro-meso-scale fabrication using miniaturized mechanical material removal processes has a unique advantage in creating 3D components using a variety of engineering materials. The motivation for micro-mechanical cutting stems from the translation of the knowledge obtained from the macro-machining domain to the micro-domain. However, there are challenges and limitations to micro-machining, and simple scaling cannot be used to model the phenomena of micro-machining operations. This paper surveys the current efforts in mechanical micro-machining research and applications, especially for micro-milling operations, and suggests areas from macro-machining that should be examined and researched for application to the improvement of micro-machining processes.

Investigation of micro-cutting operations

This tutorial review offers protocols, tips, insight, and considerations for practitioners interested in using micromilling to create microfluidic devices. The objective is to provide a potential user with information to guide them on whether micromilling would fill a specific need within their overall fabrication strategy. Comparisons are made between micromilling and other common fabrication methods for plastics in terms of technical capabilities and cost. The main discussion focuses on “how-to” aspects of micromilling, to enable a user to select proper equipment and tools, and obtain usable microfluidic parts with minimal start-up time and effort. The supplementary information provides more extensive discussion on CNC mill setup, alignment, and programming. We aim to reach an audience with minimal prior experience in milling, but with strong interests in fabrication of microfluidic devices.

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Micromilling: a method for ultra-rapid prototyping of plastic microfluidic devices

Micro and Nano Machining by Electro-Physical and Chemical Processes

Making CNC machine tools more open, interoperable and intelligent: a review of the technologies

This paper presents a PC-based 5-axis micro milling machine, which can be used for machining micro-sized parts, and be easily constructed a low cost. Micro cutting is a method for manufacturing three-dimensional micro parts; however, machine tools for micro machining are expensive. The micro milling machine presented in this paper is mainly composed of commercially available micro stages, and an air spindle and PC-based control board. An effective method for initializing the spindle position is proposed. Test results of the micro milling machine are presented, which include machining of micro walls, micro columns and micro blades.

5-axis micro milling machine for machining micro parts

Fabrication of free-form surfaces that are frequently demanded for the construction of optical imaging systems is described. To obtain a tool motion with large amplitude and high bandwidth, a novel long-stroke fast tool servo is proposed and installed on the Z-axis of a diamond turning machine as an additional synchronized axis. In addition, a special on-machine measurement device is used to measure the optical parameters of the machined surface and to compensate for the residual form of errors that are commonly produced in the diamond turning process. Actual machining test results show that the proposed procedures are capable of generating the copper free-form mirrors of 50 mm diameter to a form accuracy of 0.15 μm in peak-to-valley value error.

Fabrication of free-form surfaces using a long-stroke fast tool servo and corrective figuring with on-machine measurement

Development of an Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm and Hand for Interactive Humanoids

This paper presents a new micro assembly system, which is composed of a micro gripper, a micro remote center compliance (RCC) unit, a voice coil motor-driving mechanism and precision motion stages. The micro gripper is actuated by two shape memory alloy (SMA) wires, and its grip is 1 mm. The micro RCC unit has low translational and rotational stiffness sufficient for micro parts assembly. The voice coil motor-driving mechanism can generate linear motion with an adjustable stiffness, and it can also measure external force in the moving direction. An algorithm for the automatic assembly of micro parts is also proposed, and assembly experiments are performed.

Micro parts assembly system with micro gripper and RCC unit

The STEP-NC project, which is an international IMS project researching ISO14649, was performed to develop and supplement ISO14649, which will replace the G&M code, which itself is based on ISO6983 and has been a widely used standard for machine tools' operation. There has been much interest in ISO14649 as a database, which is based on the ISO10303 STEP, and international standard for three-dimensional computer-aided design that combines computer-aided manufacture data and the numerical control (NC) command. This study examines a milling machine operated by ISO14649, which is called a STEP-NC milling machine. Instead of directly giving the tool path to CNC machines, ISO14649 just provides the information required in generating tool paths. Therefore, to make a STEP-NC machine, a tool path generator and motion controller operated by the STEP-NC code are required. A controller was developed combining the personal computer and motion control board for the personal computer. The tool path generator and all soft...

Young-bong Bang

Papers

5-axis micro milling machine for machining micro parts

Fabrication of free-form surfaces using a long-stroke fast tool servo and corrective figuring with on-machine measurement

Development of an Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm and Hand for Interactive Humanoids

Micro parts assembly system with micro gripper and RCC unit

Design and implementation of an ISO14649-compliant CNC milling machine