In-Situ Measurement and Slow-Tool-Servo Compensation Method of Roundness Error of a Precision Mandrel

This paper describes a method for measuring and compensating the roundness error of a larger mandrel manufactured by an ultra-precision diamond-turning lathe aimed to obtain a calibration cylinder with a roundness of less than 0.1 μm. The diamond-turning machine has a cross-stacked hydrostatic guideway, produces a cutting depth and feed movement direction, and a dual-spindle system that is firmly connected to the bed. Due to the good repeatability of aerostatic spindles, only in situ rather than online real-time measurements are required. To this end, three high-precision capacitance displacement sensors were utilized to detect the cross-section of the workpiece and the time domain via the three-point error separation technique to separate the roundness error from the rotation motion error. The slow tool servo (STS) cutting technique was employed to compensate for the roundness error, which did not require extra axes, only the excellent dynamic response of the feed axis; hence, the servo control parameters could be suitably adjusted. The experimental results reveal that the low-order harmonic error, often caused by aerostatic spindles, is almost removed completely. For this particular lathe, the experiments indicate that about 60% of the rotational error motion is compensated, and the roundness error is reduced to less than 0.1 μm, which is evaluated by the least-squares circle method.