Several newly developed contouring systems for testing the dynamic performance and geometric errors of CNC machine tools

This paper presented several newly developed contouring systems for the different testing purpose of CNC machine tools. The first system, a quadrant sensor contouring system with a small contouring radius, composed of a laser diode and a quadrant sensor, was employed for checking the dynamic performance of a CNC machine tool. The second system, an optic scale contouring system with a larger contouring radius, composed of an optic scale and the designed linkages was developed for the verification of the positional error and the volumetric error of a CNC machine tool. The third system, a 2D optic encoder contouring system was introduced to test the performances of CNC machine tools under various NC paths. Finally, a self-supported linkage measurement device was described for checking the contouring performance of a CNC machine tool under the actual cutting conditions. Experimental works were carried out and the test results showed these proposed systems are successfully applied to test a CNC machine tool.