an iQ 300 machine is already looking at putting that into a controlled environment.”
The system also features temperature control through an Oilmatic unit that regulates the temperature of the spindle and the machine’s linear motors, Howard added, to maintain the system’s high precision machining. Temperature is controlled to about ±1.8ºF [±-17ºC] with the Oilmatic, a commercially available chiller. “We actually put a thermocouple in the bed of the machine so that we can monitor the temperature of the bed, and then we have this Oilmatic unit cycle on and off to maintain the lubrication that we send through the spindle and to maintain the temperature of the spindle and the linear mo- tors so that everything is the same temperature—the castings, the chilling of the linear motors, and the temperature of the spindle. In essence, we’re creating an ambient manufacturing zone among all the major machine tool elements.
“Wafer-scale manufacturing principles allow us to achieve extreme precision, at the sub-millimeter scale.”
“This is such a new area of technology, people are ap- proaching it from two different ways,” Howard said. “We’re approaching it from the traditional machine tool builder in that we’re removing metal to get to a tolerance. Other people are adding chemical deposition layers and literally building a part from nothing to get to those tolerances. They’re literally build- ing the tolerance by an atom or a layer at a time.” Many customers use micro machining technology for very small components, such as battery technology in cell phones, he added, as well as for diaphragms, pumps and stents in medical applications, just for starters. “There’s also a lot of it that’s in R&D applications and for military and proprietary technology,” Howard noted. “In some cases, we work with the customer to develop processes specific to their part designs. In other cases, design details may be so sensitive that all processing is handled internally by R&D labs.”
Micro Fills a Niche
More companies today are trying to find their niche by turning to producing smaller and smaller, high-end products, enabling them to stand apart from others in their fields, noted Danny Haight, MC Milling national product manager, MC Ma- chinery Systems Inc. (Wood Dale, IL), a subsidiary of Mitsubi-
shi Corp. and the importer of the Roku-Roku micro machining line as well as Mitsubishi EDM, Mitsubishi Laser, MC Waterjet, MC Press Brakes and MC Milling equipment. “We always educate our customers to realize that buying a small cutter does not constitute micro manufacturing,” Haight said. “Obviously you must be working with a well-built, rigid and stable machine. The machine must also have a reliable, high-speed, low run-out spindle and the right CNC for a con- trolled toolpath.” Toolholders have to be critically balanced, with minimal run-out, Haight advised, and cutters should be high-quality carbide with the proper coating and geometry to match the material being machined, with extreme accuracy and repeat- ability from cutter to cutter. “Having software that can produce complex high-speed toolpaths and minimize tool burial is imperative,” he added. “Environment is often overlooked, as manufacturers are being asked to hold tighter and tighter tolerances and produce smaller and smaller parts—maintain- ing a stable environment is key factor.” With Roku-Roku’s micro machining technology, it is not
uncommon to machine tool steel with a 0.004" (0.102-mm) ball end mills, Haight added. “Our applications department in Japan has successfully drilled 0.0004" (0.0102-mm) holes in machinable ceramic,” he noted, “and we can achieve position- to-position accuracy of less than 0.00002" (0.00051 mm) with the proper machine.” ME