The Investigation of a Micro-Component Machined on a Custom-built Miniature Machine Tool

Custom-built Miniature Machine Tools (MMTs) are now becoming more popular with the demand for reduced energy consumption and workshop floor when machining small/medium batch size micro-components. This paper investigates the capability of a custom-built 4-axis MMT through machining an “adapted standard‟ of micro-testpiece. The experiments have been carried out in two different materials: Carbon Steel (AISI 1040) and Titanium Alloyed (TiAl6V4) using solid carbide flat end mill cutters with 0.6mm diameter. From here, the surface quality and geometrical accuracy of the machined testpiece are evaluated and analysed. The investigation has shown that acceptable geometrical accuracies and surface quality of the machined micro-parts can be achieved using the in-house developed MMT. These results show that the use of the custom-made MMT does not hinder the micro-milling process to produce a good and satisfactory surface quality (Ra=0.04-0.07μm) and acceptable geometrical accuracy.