Design of rotary actuated boring tool

Abstract

Actuator assisted machining operations are one of the highly researched pioneering

areas in manufacturing as they offer a tolerance control close to 0.010um and find

wide applications in precision machining and special machine industries [14] .The

costs of these special machines are not justifiable in some machining applications,

requiring local tolerance control. Backlash and positioning errors makes it difficult

to achieve close tolerance in CNC machines. Actuator assisted cutting tools provide

excellent solution to these problems by isolating the depth of cut from CNC using

externally controlled actuators.

This project aims at eliminating the backlash error in CNC machines, particularly in

boring process by developing a piezoelectric actuated rotary boring tool to perform

precision machining on AI 6061 in a conventional CNC milling center by

controlling the depth of cut through externally controlled piezoelectric actuator. The

designed boring tool increased the ability of cutting complex profiles in boring

using piezoelectric actuated cutting tool. The roughness of the profiles machined

varied between 0.151 um to 0.194 um and is in agreement with the literatures.