Published Paper Details:

In today's turbulent economy and global marketing machine tool manufacturing companies are striving hard to maintain their competitive edge by developing innovative design to cope up with the modern production requirements like high precision, accuracy and reliability. Thus, machine tool structure development plays an important as they have decisive influence on the parameters that define the capability of machine, motion accuracy, the productivity of machine and quality of machining. This can be achieved by designing the structure with optimal static and dynamic stiffness. In present day designing structural components of machine is targeted to optimum the weight of machine structure while static and dynamic mechanical properties are maintained with desired threshold values. One of the methods to carry out this is through Finite Element Analysis. In the present study structural analysis of the Double Column Vertical Machining Centre is carried out using Pro-e works software. The analysis involves static deformations and strain in structure that is bearing the static forces and design solutions are proposed to optimize the machine structure with maximum deformation in order to have optimum static stiffness, so that balance between productivity and accuracy is achieved. Stiffness of the machine structure for static loads is evaluated by modelling the columns, crossbeam, and cross-slide and ram assembly. Percentage contribution of all the structural members towards the overall deflection at the tool tip is determined. Ram is found to be the important member contributing to the overall deflection at tool tip. Hence detailed analysis of the ram carried out. Various design alternatives are studied to optimize the ram with the objective of increasing its stiffness with minimum weight addition or maintaining same weight with respect to existing ram and decreasing the tool point deflection which in turn increases the stiffness of machine.