Page 29 - Modular design for machine tools

Chapter
1

Basic Knowledge:
What Is the Modular Design?

These days the modular principle is a very popular method in the design
of the automobile, diesel engine, home appliances, information devices,
industrial equipment, and so on. This trend can be considered as one of
the great contributions of modular design of machine tools to those work-
ing in other industries. In retrospect, the predecessor of the current mod-
ular design appeared explicitly at the beginning of 1930s, and since then
the related technologies have been duly advanced, revealing the remark-
able impact of the modular principle not only on the machine tool design
itself, but also on other products. The machine tool engineer is proud of
the modular design. However, there are, in contrast, some difficulties in
understanding exactly what modular design is and its historical back-
ground, which dates to the beginning of the 1930s. For example, the
modular design can be classified into a considerable number of variants,
depending on the idea, aims, and scope of the application, application
area, expected advantages, and so on. In addition, the terminology of
modular design itself has changed together with the hierarchical rami-
fications of its meaning, as already described in Terminologies and
Abbreviations. It is thus very difficult to represent modular design in a
simple sentence; however, we need a quick statement to understand the
essential features of modular design. At present, employment of modu-
lar design in the manufacturing sphere ranges from the tool, jig, and fix-
ture, through the machine tool, to the manufacturing system. In the
following, several illustrations and some typical examples will be shown.
Figure 1-1 shows a representative modular tooling system proposed
by Sandvik Co. in the middle of the 1980s. The tooling system was
marketed under the commercial name Block Tool System, and it was duly

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