Page 216 - Modular design for machine tools

176 Engineering Design for Machine Tool Joints

Y
Main spindle
bearing
system Z

X
Bolted joint

Foundation Guideway
Figure 5-1 Representative joints in a machine tool (courtesy of Okuma).

the design and manufacture of the machine tool. In the late 1950s, a con-
siderable number of publications addressed the wear and friction of the
guideway [2–4]. In addition, the MTIRA (Machine Tool Industry
1
Research Association) of the United Kingdom often published note-
worthy research reports, which were seen only by its members, and
within them, we can find of course a report concerning the friction and
wear of the slideways [5].
Figure 5-1 delineates how and to what extent a machine tool has
joints. In due course, joints govern the overall stiffness of the machine
tool as a whole to a large extent; for instance, Píˇ c reported the effects
of the joint on the overall stiffness of the bolted column in a horizontal
boring and milling machine [6], as shown in Fig. 5-2. As can be readily seen,
the static stiffness of a bolted column reduces from 10 to 20 percent compared

1
The successor of the MTIRA is AMTRI (Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research
Institute).