industrial overlord

Chapter 90 Five Axis
Five-axis machine tool, the full name is five-axis linkage machine tool, refers to a machine tool with at least three linear coordinates and two rotational coordinates.In order to process complex workpieces, sometimes five-axis is further extended to seven-axis, eleven-axis, thirteen-axis, etc. The basic principles are similar, and sometimes they are all unified into five-axis machine tools.

The so-called linear coordinates refer to coordinates in three dimensions: up and down, left and right, and front and back. Traditional machine tools can do it. For example, when some milling machines are processing, the workpiece moves back and forth, and the milling cutter moves up and down, so that it can come out two axes.

Rotational coordinates are a little more complicated. It means that the workpiece or tool rotates around a certain axis during processing, so that a specific curved surface can be processed on the workpiece.

In fact, the human hand is the most typical five-axis machining system. It can move back and forth, left and right, and up and down, and can also rotate around each joint to a certain extent. Therefore, the human hand can complete various complex operations.The operation of craftsmen carving on wood is a multi-axis processing process, which is impossible to achieve with traditional machine tools.

With the development of computer technology, developed countries have developed five-axis machine tools, which can use computers to control the relationship between each axis, so as to complete operations similar to manual dexterity.

In the 80s, five-axis machine tools belonged to high-tech products that Western developed countries restricted exports to Eastern countries.The famous Toshiba incident in military history was due to the private export of several five-axis machine tools to the Soviet Union by Toshiba Corporation of Japan. The Soviet Union used them to process the propellers of submarines, which greatly reduced the noise of submarines.After the incident was revealed, Toshiba was severely sanctioned by the United States.

In addition to the military field, in the civilian field, whether it has five-axis machining capability is also one of the important indicators to measure the industrial level.Complex molds, engine blocks, marine crankshafts, etc., all require five-axis machine tools for machining.It was not until the beginning of the 21st century that China began to gradually form its own five-axis machine tool design and production capacity. By around 2010, a large number of Chinese-made five-axis equipment had been able to achieve import substitution, and at the same time, it could be exported to Western developed countries.

At this point in the early 80s, Populus euphratica was able to imitate the effect of five-axis machining on ordinary machine tools through mathematical simulation. What a commendable thing it is.

Lin Zhenhua couldn't help but wanted to shout: What kind of spirit is this?This is the greatest cottage spirit!
Out of this understanding, Lin Zhenhua readily agreed to Hu Yang's experiment request and immediately put it into practice.

The first step of Populus euphratica's experiment is to transform the original machine tool from two axes to four axes, and the linkage between several axes needs to be controlled by a computer chip.The workpiece designed by Populus Euphratica is too large to be processed by ordinary universal milling machines, so a gantry milling machine must be used.

Naturally, the factory cannot allow Lin Zhenhua and others to disassemble the gantry milling machine into eight pieces for numerical control transformation, and Populus euphratica did not try to do so in the design.The method he adopted was not to change the original structure of the machine tool, but only to add fixtures to the original structure. The object manipulated by the control chip was the fixture. There is a conflict.

Wei Jingwen is also very interested in this scientific research. Although he is engaged in electronics, he also understands the significance of five-axis machine tools to the industrial system.It is the last semester before the college entrance examination, Wei Jingwen is extremely busy with school work, but as long as he can spare time, he will ride a bicycle and fly to the Hanhua factory to discuss with Lin Zhenhua and Hu Yang, He even rolled up his sleeves and groped along the machine tool with Lin Zhenhua and the others.

These three people can be regarded as a very perfect combination. Lin Zhenhua has advanced concepts, Hu Yang has a solid foundation in mechanics, and Wei Jingwen is an excellent electronic engineer.The three cobblers got together and pondered for a month, and finally a wooden cow and horse of the new era finally took shape.

Several senior technicians including Peng Gang were also invited to participate in this research team. Starting from their own practical experience, they put forward many valuable opinions on the design of the simulated five-axis system.At the final stage of converting the design drawings into real objects, the role of several veteran workers is even more significant. Many very precise control components can only be processed with their skills.

After the equipment transformation was completed, Lin Zhenhua took several old workers to install fixtures and other accessories on the gantry milling machine, and Wei Jingwen personally connected and debugged the circuit.Zhao Yongqun brought the blank of the workpiece from the foundry workshop, which was made by Populus euphratica himself, and then cast by the foundry workers in the foundry workshop.

"Okay, it's time to start." Hu Yang announced.

Three veteran workers stepped forward, facing the technical drawings, and installed the blank parts on the fixture. Then, Peng Gang presided over the operation, with the turner Zhou Houcheng and the fitter Sun Changyuan assisting.

The motor hummed, the workpiece moved forward slowly under the push of the fixture, the milling cutter rotated rapidly, and cut off pieces of tiny chips from the surface of the blank, and the cutting fluid flowed out from the nozzle and sprayed on the cutting surface. surface, take the cuttings to the waste tank.

A wonderful scene appeared. Under the guidance of the instructions issued by the Z80 chip, the fixture began to perform various incredible movements.The milling cutter was about to cut to a certain position, but unexpectedly, the workpiece rotated automatically, sending another position to the edge of the milling cutter, and a beautiful arc-shaped processing surface slowly appeared in front of everyone.

"It's amazing!" Zhou Houcheng and Sun Changyuan applauded. Peng Gang's face was full of tension and seriousness, but a strange look of joy clearly flowed in his eyes.

"Okay, change to another position!" Hu Yang shouted.

Before his words fell, Sun Changyuan had already stepped forward, skillfully loosened the hexagonal screws on the fixture, and adjusted the workpiece to a certain position.Several workers were busy with gauges, calipers and other tools to ensure that there was no deviation in the position of the workpiece, and then took a step back to let Peng Gang start milling again.

The processing work lasted for a full six hours, and all the people were excited without a trace of tiredness.Yang Xin and Qin Ying took care of the logistics and delivered delicious meals to everyone.While eating, the technicians and workers talked happily about this epoch-making processing experiment.

"How is it? Did you succeed?" Zhu Tiejun appeared behind the crowd at some point, and greeted them cheerfully.

Of course, the research by Lin Zhenhua and others had to be reported to the factory in advance. Since this experiment did not bring any visible benefits to the factory, the factory stated that all experimental expenditures, including workers' overtime pay, etc. , the factory will not be reimbursed at all.Lin Zhenhua didn't care about this. He included this experiment in the research and development plan of the labor service company, and all the funds were allocated from the labor service company.

Although unable to pay, Zhu Tiejun still gave spiritual support to the experiment.He didn't know what five-axis linkage was, but he felt that something that both Lin Zhenhua and Hu Yang were so obsessed with must have some meaning.Seeing that everyone was rejoicing around a finished workpiece, he couldn't help but stepped forward to share everyone's joy.

"Director Zhu, look, this is the workpiece we just processed." Peng Gang excitedly reported to Zhu Tiejun.

"What's this for?" Zhu Tiejun didn't know this thing either, it looked really weird.

Lin Zhenhua said with a smile: "This is just a toy, just to test whether our simulated five-axis system is effective. Now it seems that our experiment has achieved complete success."

"This thing is very delicately processed." Zhu Tiejun touched the surface of the workpiece, feeling the wonderful streamlined shape, "The five-axis linkage you mentioned can process such a complicated surface?"

"If we have enough time, we can use this machine tool to process a statue of Venus." Lin Zhenhua laughed.

"That's right, Director Zhu. You don't know, in the past, if we wanted to process such a surface, we could only do it by hand. Now, with Xiaolin's machine, we can do it much easier. Zhou Houcheng was also full of excitement. As a worker, he knew the difficulty of processing such a complex curved surface. He never thought that such a curved surface could be produced by himself.

"Well, it's pretty good." Zhu Tiejun also understood a little bit, but he still wanted to ask: "Is this kind of technology helpful to our production? Xiaolin, what kind of complicated parts are you planning to produce?" ?"

Lin Zhenhua shook his head in embarrassment, and said, "At present, there should be no help. This can only be regarded as a technical reserve. Maybe one day, in case..."

Hu Yang said depressedly: "This technology is currently one of the most advanced processing technologies in the world. However, our factory really can't use it at present. However, I hope it will be useful one day."

Zhu Tiejun nodded and said, "That's fine, just be prepared. Or, this workpiece should be placed in the office of your labor service company as your honor."

(End of this chapter)