A Low-Cost and High-Resolution Micromachine Tool With Toggle-Based Mechanism

The products of 3C, bioscience, medical industry, and aerospace industry are becoming smaller and smaller. The components of the products are made of various materials with complex 3D shapes requiring high accuracy in their dimensions and contours. An accurate micro-/mesoscale computer numerical control (CNC) machine tool is an essential part of this technology. A new type of CNC micromachine tool with a togglelike mechanism having the characteristics of low-cost and fine-resolution was developed. With geometric reduction principle, the machine can provide finer feed resolution and better positioning accuracy without using high-end driving components and controller. The kinematics model and characteristics of the machine were derived and analyzed. Modal analysis and dynamic compliance analysis were employed to design a light-weight structure with good stiffness. The accuracy calibration results showed the machine can reach a positioning accuracy of 500 nm. Prototype of the machine was built, and furthermore, some micromachining examples were demonstrated in this paper.