Welcome, Friday , Nov , 08 , 2024 | 11:08 IST
Welcome, Friday , Nov , 08 , 2024 | 11:08 IST
Micromachining refers to a material removal process in which the machined feature or parts have at least one of the dimensions in micro meter (10-6 of a meter). This demands unprecedented accuracy and precision in machining operations. The very small micro parts are used in a myriad of applications ranging from precise and sharp surgical tools used in healthcare to highly polished optical mirrors and reflectors used in aerospace industry.
Machines to fabricate parts with micron scale dimensions are manufactured by few of foreign manufacturers. In India, such machines are imported by industries and educational institutions to perform their desired job. The cost to productivity ratio becomes higher which leads to lower returns. In addition, a large number of industries are forced to outsource the jobs due to financial crunch and very high price of such systems.
CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute located at Durgapur, West Bengal India has developed a micro machining facility which is totally indigenous in terms of its controller and graphical user interfaces and can conduct operations such as micro turning, micro milling, micro drilling and micro patterning with a maximum machining resolution of 10 microns.
The developed system is expected to open up new vistas for Indian manufacturing sector and would make the backbone of the manufacturing sector stronger. As the cost of the system is low, the educational institutions would be benefitted as they could procure such systems for proper skill development. The machine has two different variants: (i) With in-built computer (ii) With RS232 port (DB-9 connector) which can be attached to any computer bearing DB-9 port.
Potential applications:
Potential applications of the system include the following though the applications are not limited to the ones stated as under.
Specifications |
Value |
Axes Definition |
X, Y, Z axes. Controller has provision of extension to 4th axis. |
Travel range |
50 mm along X, Y and Z axes. |
Travel resolution |
10 microns along X, Y and Z axes. |
Maximum error |
+/- 0.018 % of max travel range along X, Y and Z axes. |
Repeatability |
1 micron along X, Y, Z axes. |
Spindle speed |
7500 RPM (max) |
Operations |
Micro milling/ Micro turning/ Micro drilling/ Micro patterning |
Coding |
Standard G-code |
Materials |
Metals up to Vickers Hardness 129 with tool indexing, Polymers such as acrylic (tool indexing non functional) |