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ELEMENTS OF CNC MACHINE

NC MACHINE
• Numerical control can be simply defined as
controlling the machine tool by numbers.
• The input information for controlling the
machine tool is provided by means of punched
tape in a coded language.
• The operator in a conventional machine tool is
replaced by a data processing part and the
control unit.

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Basic elements of NC

CNC MACHINE:
• A CNC machine can be defined as a machine
tool that uses a dedicated computer to
prepare part programs and controls some or
all the operations of the machine tool.
• It is a mechatronic system, since the machine
tool which is a mechanical system is integrated
with the electronic controls for its different
drives and computer system for interfacing the
software with the mechanical and electronic
system.

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MAJOR ELEMENTS OF CNC

I. Machine structure
II. Guideways/ Slideways
III. Spindle and spindle bearings
IV. Drives and transmission systems

i. Machine structure
• Machine structure is the load carrying and
supporting member of the machine tool.
• It should not deform or vibrate beyond
permissible limits under the action of static and
dynamic load.
• Static load: results from weight of slides and work
piece and force due to cutting.
• Dynamic load: results from constantly changing
forces acting on the structure due to unbalanced
rotating parts, incorrect meshing of gears, bearing
irregularities and interrupted cutting.

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ii. Guideways/ Slideways

• Guideways are used to serve :
(i) to control the direction of the carriage or the
table on which a tool or a workpiece is held.
(ii) to absorb all static and dynamic load.
• Guideways may be an integral part of the
structure or may be mounted separately on
the structure.
• It may be horizontal, vertical or inclined.

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Design of guideway
• Factors considered in the design of guideway:
(i) Geometric and kinematic accuracy
(ii) Position in relation to work area.
(iii) Provision for adjustment or play.
(iv) Damping capability.
(v) Protection against swarf and damage.
(vi) Effective lubrication.
(vii)Wear resistance and rigidity.

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Guideway types
• Friction guideways
(i) Vee guideway
(ii) Flat guideway
(iii) Dovetail guideway
(iv) Friction guideway
• Anti-friction Linear motion guideway.
• Frictionless guideway
(i) Hydrostatic guideway
(ii) Aerostatic guideway

FRICTION GUIDEWAY
• These guideways find wide applications in
conventional machine tools due to their low
manufacturing cost and good damping properties.
• They operate under conditions of sliding friction
and do not have a constant co-efficient of friction.
• At the commencement of the movement,
coefficient of friction is very high, but as the
velocity increases it falls rapidly and beyond a
certain velocity it remains almost constant.
• This may lead ultimately to a jerky motion of the
table known as ‘stick-slip phenomenon’

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Coefficient of friction Vs speed

The possibility of stick-slip phenomenon can be reduced by using materials such as

PTTE (poly tetra fluoro ethylene) at the guideway interface. These materials have
A low and constant coefficient of friction of the order 0.1

STICK SLIP PHENOMENON

• Stick – slip phenomenon – To start the movement, the force to overcome friction
has to be correspondingly high. This force results in the drive mechanism, such as a
screw, being elastically deformed. The energy thus stored in the screw, together
with the applied force, causes the carriage to slip and move at a faster rate.

•  As the speed increases the friction decreases and a greater amount of movement
than that intended for the slide takes place. There is a possibility of this cycle of
events repeating itself and resulting in errors in positioning and consequently in
jerky motion. This phenomenon is known as stick – slip phenomenon.

•  There should be a minimum but constant friction between the surfaces in contact
to avoid this phenomenon. It is achieved by using strips of materials such as Poly
Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE) or Turcite lining at the guideway interface.

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VEE GUIDEWAYS
• Widely used in lathe.
• These guideways wear away rapidly due to
lack of bearing surface

FLAT GUIDEWAYS
• They have better load bearing capabilities than
other guideways.
• These are easier to manufacture.
• Chip accumulation and lubrication problems are
high.
• They do not wear away easily.
• They are suitable for heavy duty transmission
• They are fitted with jib strip and adjustment
screw to ensure accurate fitting of the slide on
the guideway.

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DOVETAIL GUDEWAY
• These have large load bearing capacity and
tend to check overturning tendency under
eccentric loading.
• Provisions have been made to prevent the
table from lifting off the guideway.
• Jib and adjusting screw are fitted to ensure
correct fitting.

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CYLINDRICAL GUIDEWAYS
• The bore in the carriage/table provides
support all around the guideway.
• These are relatively very efficient for short
traverse and small loads.
• There are chances of sagging or bending when
subjected to heavy loads.

ANTIFRICTION LINEAR MOTION (LM)

GUIDEWAYS
• These are commonly used in CNC machine
tools to reduce amount of wear, friction, heat
generation and improve smoothness of the
movement.
• The anti-friction linear motion guideways are
employed to overcome the relatively high
coefficient of friction in metal to metal contact
as in friction bearing.
• They use rolling elements in between moving
and stationery elements of the machine.

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TYPES OF ANTIFRICTION GUIDEWAYS

• Linear bearing with balls.

• Linear bearing with rollers

Linear bearing with balls

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FRICTIONLESS GUIDEWAYS
HYDROSTATIC GUIDEWAYS
• The surface of the slide is separated from the
guideway by a very thin film of fluid supplied
at pressure as high as 300 bar.
• Frictional wear and stick-slip are entirely
eliminated.
• A high degree of damping is obtained.
• Owing to high cost, their applicability is
limited.

AEROSTATIC GUIDEWAYS
• This uses a cushion of compressed air which
entirely separates the slide and guideway
surface.
• They have low stiffness and are used in CMM
only.

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iii. SPINDLE AND SPINDLE BEARING

• Spindle carries the work piece or the tool and is
driven at constant speed.
• When subjected to high cutting speeds and high
MRR, it experiences deflection and thrust forces.
• To ensure increased stability, the machine
spindle is designed to be short and stiff.
• The rotational accuracy of spindle is dependent
on the quality and design of bearings used

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SPINDLE BEARING
The various types of bearings used in the design of
a spindle of a machine tool are:
1. Antifriction bearing.
2. Hydrostatic bearing.
3. Hydrodynamic bearing.

1. Antifriction bearing
Antifriction bearings are suitable for high speeds
and high loads because of:
• Low friction
• Lower wear rate
• Lesser liability to incorrect adjustment
• Ease of replacement when necessary.
• High reliability
• Moderate dimensions

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• Different types of ball and roller bearings used

in CNC machines are;
– o Ball bearings
– o Deep groove ball bearings
– o Angular contact ball bearings
– o Roller bearings
– o Cylindrical roller bearings
– o Cylindrical roller bearings (double row) with
taperd bore
– o Tapered roller bearings

Bearing Types
• The following types of ball and roller bearings
are used:

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• The ball and roller bearings are called

antifriction bearings because the contact of
support of rolling element is point contact in
case of ball bearing and line contact in case of
roller bearing.
• It is of utmost importance that the bearings
are manufactured with high accuracy
otherwise any error in any of these elements
will severely affect the quality of job.

Preloading of bearings
• There are some amount of radial and axial
clearances in the bearings in itself.
• When a spindle is mounted on bearings, there
should be neither an axial nor a radial play in the
main spindle assembly. This is achieved by
preloading.
• Preloading is the process of applying initial load
to the inner racer of the bearing in the axial
direction that would result in increasing axial and
radial rigidity of the balls/ rollers.

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• Left image: A bearing with no play, or an interference fit has

all rolling elements loaded, wears and heats up excessively.

• Center image: A bearing with standard play when loaded has

low rigidity, and rolling elements can slide or skid instead of
rotating.

• Right image: A standard bearing with proper preload applied

will provide system rigidity, reduced vibration, and optimal
bearing life.

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2. Hydrostatic Bearing
• These are externally pressurised fluid bearings
in which the spindle is supported by a thick
film of oil supplied under pressure.
• The oil is supplied to the bearing through a
pump to maintain pressure and volume.
• The oil tend to remain stationary between
spindle and the bearing.
• Load carrying capacity of these bearings are
independent of speed of rotation.

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3. HYDRODYNAMIC BEARING
• The pressure of oil within the bearing is created by
the rotation of the spindle.
• As the spindle rotates, due to centrifugal action, the
oil in contact with the spindle is carried into wedge
shaped cavities between the spindle and bearing
and hence, the oil pressure is increased.
• The load carrying capacity of this bearing is
dependent of speed of rotation.
• Such bearings are mostly used in low load
applications and where frequent on/offs are not
required.

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iv. DRIVES
• Drives are devices which impart motion to
mechanical elements.
• Most of the drives used in machine tools are
electrical.
• Machine tool drives are classified as:
1. Feed drives (variable speed)
• Servomotor.
2. Spindle drives (constant speed)
• D.C shunt motor (separately excited).
• Three phase induction motor.

iv. TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

• The main element of a mechanical transmission
system in a feed drive is the element that
convert rotary motion into linear motion of the
table/carriage.
• The element that does this job in a CNC is a
recirculating ball screw-nut mechanism.
• To keep the transmission error minimum, the
following requirements are essential:
Low friction, High stiffness, Sufficient damping,
backlash free operation, High natural frequency.

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Recirculating ball screw-nut

• In ball screw and nut, sliding friction
encountered in conventional screws and nuts is
replaced by rolling friction in a manner
analogous to replacement of a journal bearing
by a ball bearing.
• Mounting arrangement of a ball screw depends
on its required speed, length and size.
• The position of the ball screw should be near
the line of the resultant force arising from
cutting , frictional and inertial forces.

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• Transmission efficiency is of the order of 90 percent.

• Following are the advantages:
I. High efficiency
II. No stick-slip effect
III. Low frictional resistance
IV. Low drive power requirement
V. Less wear and longer life
VI. High traverse speed
VII. Little temperature rise.

Preloading of ball screw

• In order to obtain bidirectional motion of the carriage
without any positional error, the backlash between the nut
and screw should be minimum.
• Zero backlash can be obtained by fitting two nuts with
preloading (tension or compression) or by applying a load
which exceeds the maximum operating load.
• A shim plate (spacer) is inserted between two nuts for
preloading. Preload is to create elastic deformations
(deflections) in steel balls and ball grooves in the nut and
the screw shaft in advance by providing an axial load.
• As a result the balls in one of the nuts contact the one side
of the thread and balls in the other nut contact the
opposite side.

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Tension preload
• Tension preload provides the required amount of preload
by the insertion of a spacer of specified width between the
two nuts.
• The nuts are pushed apart to create a tension force.
• Width of the spacer depends on the desired amount of
preload.

Compression Preloading
• In this the nuts are pulled together to create a
compression force
• Due to this the ball are pressed against the thread
• Even when the movement is reversed there will be
no backlash

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Recirculating roller screw

Recirculating roller screws use a screw and nut with matching

leads, but the rollers are grooved, so they advance axially within
the nut as they revolve around the screw.

• The rollers in this case are not threaded and are provided with
a circular groove and are positioned circumferentially by a cage.
• There is some axial movement of the rollers relative to the nut.
Each roller moves by a distance equal to the pitch of the screw
for each rotation of the screw or nut and moves into an axial
recess cut inside the nut and disengage from the threads on the
screw and the nut and the other roller provides the driving
power.
• Rollers in the recess are moved back by an edge cam in the nut.
Recirculating roller screws are slower in operation, but are
capable of transmitting high loads with greater accuracy.

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Planetary roller screws:

Planetary roller screws use a screw, nut, and rollers with

matching leads. The ends of the rollers engage with geared rings
on each end of the nut, allowing the rollers to spin on their axes
while revolving around the screw shaft.

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• The rollers are threaded with a single start

thread.
• Teeth are cut at the ends of the roller, which
meshes with the internal tooth cut inside the
nut.
• The rollers are equally spaced around and are
retained in their positions by spigots or spacer
rings.
• There is no axial movement of the rollers
relative to the nut and they are capable of
transmitting high load at fast speed.

BALL Vs ROLLER SCREW-NUT

Aspects Ball screws Roller screws
Physical contact Balls in the intermediate Rollers with circumferential
element make physical grooves make physical
contact with threads on contact with threads on
screws and nut. screws and nut.
Accurate position control Relatively Difficult Possible
Backlash Backlash exists and is Backlash free
reduced by preloading of
nuts.
Type of contact Contact between ball and Contact between rollers
nut is point contact. and nut is surface contact.
Number of components Less Relatively more
Cost Low High

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CONTROL SYSTEMS
Control system performs the control action of
CNC machines.
• CNC machines are classified according to the
types of control systems used:
1. Open loop control system.
2. Closed loop control system.

Open loop control system

• It is known as control system without feedback
or non-feedback control system.
• The control action is independent of desired
output since the output is not compared with
reference input.
• The components are controller and controlled
process.
• In CNC, MCU acts as the controller and
positioning of slides, cutting tool speed, feed
etc as the controlled process.

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Closed loop control system

• It is also known as feedback control system.
• The control action is dependent on the desired
output.
• The output is compared with a reference input by
a comparator and an error signal is produced.
• The error signal is fed to the controller to reduce
the error till the desired output is obtained.
• Any system having one or more feedback paths is
a closed loop system

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NC Vs CNC

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