Design of an ultra-precision 5-axis machine for ELID grinding

Highly-effective grinding of aspherical and freeform surfaces to optical quality at low cost has imposed challenging requirements on manufacturing systems. To meet the market gap, a European project - Nanogrind - has been set up to develop a high precision 5-axis grinding machine integrated with ELID grinding technology and to verify the feasibility of producing cheap, smooth and curved optical surfaces. This machine incorporates a unique measurement system containing three metrology frames, and this system satisfies the Abbe principle and uses direct end-point measurement. The machine is further equipped with an in-situ measurement device to enhance machine performance. Some design principles and techniques in precision engineering are applied in the machine development.status: publishe