International Conference and Workshop on Emerging Trends in Technology (ICWET 2010) – TCET, Mumbai, India
Error Measurement and Calibration of Five Axis CNC
Machine using Total Ball Bar Device
A Sata
P.G. Student
Indian Institute of Technology
Mumbai
09869822448
ameet_sata2000@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
To improve the accuracy of machined parts, it is necessary to
increase the accuracy of the machine tool. Machine tool
accuracy depends on a number of errors including the
geometric error of the body structure, backlash and the
distortion due to temperature changes, humidity, servo-control
error and error in motion of spindle axis rotation. The reasons
for these are that machine tool accuracy varies widely
depending on set-up, environment, and operating history. The
operating history includes static loads, machining loads and
heat produced by preceding machining. It is very difficult to
avoid error completely during manufacturing while
measurement and calibrating of error is best way. Therefore, it
is required to measure these errors and calibrated regularly for
their error i.e. 3-dimensional positioning error, for high-
precision machining. There are various techniques available
for error and calibration of the CNC machine but every
technique are having its own limitations. The total ball bar
device is useful for measurement in all axis. This paper
includes study of measurement techniques and calibration
techniques of five axis CNC machine using total ball bar
device taking industrial case study.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
J.6 (Computer aided engineering)
General Terms
Measurement
Keywords
Five axis CNC machine, Errors in CNC Machine, Calibration
of CNC machine, total ball bar device.
1. INTRODUCTION
With a tremendously increasing need for machined
components with geometric complexity and high dimensional
accuracy recently Computer Numeric Control machines are
extensively used in various manufacturing. Because of its
versatile functionalities, it offers notable benefits that include
increased material removal rate, enhanced surface accuracy
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and reduced effective machining time. Five-axis CNC machine
tools are widely used the machining of sculptured surface. The
advantages of five-axis machining of sculptured surface
include much higher metal removal rate, improved surface
finish and significantly lower cutting time. In addition to three
servo-controlled linear axes, five-axis CNC machine tool has
normally two extra servo-controlled rotary axes.
2. CLASSIFICATION OF ERRORS FOR
CNC MACHINE
The machine error analysis literature is vast and error
definitions may vary considerably, often creating confusions in
the interpretation. In this particular study, terminology
concerning the machine error classification is proposed in
order to clarify the subsequent analysis. The classification is
based upon the causality principle. The errors are categorized
in three parts, the upper level errors causes originating from the
lower level errors.
Geometric errors, joint kinematic errors, volumetric errors
Figure 1 Types of errors [1]
The first category is constituted of guide-way geometric errors
which are the surface straightness errors of the guide-ways
upon which a machine axis carriage moves as well as the
relative location errors of the guide-ways of a particular axis.
[1].
The joint kinematic errors are the axis motion errors: three
translations and three rotations which completely describe the
undesired motion of a machine axis carriage under the
assumption of rigid body kinematics. A joint kinematic error is
the result of the combination of various geometric errors of the
guide-ways on which the carriage moves simultaneously
(Fig.1). [1].
The volumetric errors describe the total error in position and
orientation of the machine end effectors (spindle, cutting tool
or stylus tip) within its working volume with respect to the
object acted upon such as a work-piece. They result from the
combination of joint kinematic errors and link geometric errors
of the machine axes constituting the kinematic chain of the
machine. They form the highest-level category of errors. [2].
 International Conference and Workshop on Emerging Trends in Technology (ICWET 2010) – TCET, Mumbai, India

3. MEASUREMENT OF ERRORS IN Figure 2 shows the accuracy test on the target five-axis milling
machine with the total ball bar device. Figure 3. Show some
CNC MACHINE test results.

Many devices are available for measuring the errors. The most
efficient and time saving one is the six-degree-of-freedom laser
interferometer, which is capable of measuring all six motional
errors. On the other hand, the double ball bar (DBB) is
frequently used to measure the dynamic errors such as gain
mismatch, lost motion and stick-slip. To extend the
measurement range of DBB, the so-called laser-ball bar (LBB)
has been developed to measure positioning errors in a three-
dimensional working space [4]. These measurement devices
have been successfully used to measure the accuracy of five-
axis CNC machine tools [7]. In this paper, concentration of
measurement of errors is towards the total ball bar device.

3.1 Total Ball Bar device

The linear and rotary axes of a five-axis machine tool are
driven simultaneously to generate a specified tool position and
orientation in work-piece coordinates. It is crucial that these
servo-controlled axes are of balanced dynamics to achieve high
tracking accuracy. In this section, ball bar circular tests for all
possible combinations of linear and rotary axes of a five-axis
machine tool will be discussed.
When CNC machine tools are used for high feed rate
machining, whereby two or more axes are simultaneously-
driven, significant feed rate-dependent motion errors appear.
Bryan first developed the double ball bar (DBB), used to
inspect the performance characteristic of two simultaneously-
driven linear axes [10]. Axis- specific dynamic errors including
friction-induced stick-slip and servo glitch can be detected at
quadrant changes, where the axial velocity changes direction.
These error origins can be rapidly diagnosed by comparing the
measured error plots with asset of reference trace patterns. It is
well known that the rotary axes of five-axis CNC machine
tools are the dominant sources of error, both statically and
dynamically.
The ball-bar test method can be used to inspect the dynamic
errors of the two rotary axes. The selection of two arbitrary
axes in a five-axis machine tool for a ball-bar test results in 10
axis couples, which can be classified into three categories:
linear–linear (LL), rotary–rotary (RR) and linear–rotary(LR)
[7]. The LL category contains three axis couples: XY, YZ, and
the ball-bar test methods for these couples are described in ISO
230-4 [8]. The RR category contains one axis couple, AC. The
LR category contains six axis couples: XA, XC, YA, YC, ZA
and ZC; these axis couples can also be found in compound
machining centers, in which the main spindle is used as a
position-controlled rotary axis. The general ball-bar test
method for any combination of linear and rotary axes begins
with the analysis of the work space created by the two tested
axes. Then, a test circle on the work space is defined as the test
path and the corresponding axial driving signals for the circular
path are derived through backward kinematic transformation.
Fig. 2 shows a typical set-up of a commercially available ball
bar, where one ball is fixed on the table of a machine tool and
the other is attached to the spindle of the machine tool.
3.2 Experimental Results
The Experiment was conducted at Laboratory of Jyoti
automation pvt. Ltd. – Rajkot. A five- axis milling machine
with a FANUC controller has been studied. The experimental
five-axis milling machine is connected with an industrial PC
with a core 2 duo microprocessor running at 1.9 GHz.
Figure 2 Arrangement of Total ball bar device [8]
Figure 3 Static errors in five axis CNC milling
machine [3]
4. COMPENSATION OF ERRORS
When kinematic errors are accurately identified and thus the
error in the tool position and orientation can be estimated by
using the kinematic model, error compensation can be applied
to reach the ideal position and orientation by modifying the
reference trajectory.
There are three ways of the compensation of errors: 1.
Continuous compensation in the path generation of the CNC
controller (real-time transformation of interpolated points). 2.
End point compensation. Geometry errors still appear in the
path. 3. Final result compensation for measuring machines. For
machining of parts, the first option is clearly favorable to
generate accurate features and surfaces. Applications have
been demonstrated, where an end point compensation was
realized by a NC-code transformation. To reduce the problem
of remaining errors in the path, nominal movements can be
incremented by single commands, where the end point
compensation is applied to each single incremental movement.
In the case of a compensated path generation, the effect of
translational and rotational errors on the position of a tool
reference point can be fully compensated.
For a 5-axis machine the physical rotations of the tool can be
fully compensated, too. But it has to be considered that, due to
the distance between the tool centre point and the rotary axes
location, even the compensation of small angles may require a
significant additional motion of the linear axes. A typical cycle
time of a modern CNC controller is 2 ms or less. During this

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 International Conference and Workshop on Emerging Trends in Technology (ICWET 2010) – TCET, Mumbai, India

time the interpolated trajectory points have to be transformed
according to the kinematic model and the respective
compensation parameters. Alternatively, a preprocessing of the
tool path can be performed in so-called soft real-time [5, 6].
Some compensation methods are not based on single geometric
errors of the machine axes, but directly compensate X, Y, Z
deviations in the working volume of the machine, applying an
error lattice. In this case, only translational deviations, which
may be caused by linear or rotational error motion, can be
compensated. Recent work on volumetric compensation for
machine tools by researchers, for both geometric and thermally
induced errors of 3-axis and 5-axis machines has resulted in
geometric errors been reduced by as much as 97% and thermal
errors by 75% [6]. Also, in the error compensation scheme, a
software module-the correcting interpolator-is introduced in to
work concurrently with the main interpolator in the machine
tool controller. The main interpolator generates the tool path
expressed by the NC (part) program, while one or more
correcting interpolators generate the compensation according
to the error models derived from the error information of a
previously machined part.
The proposed scheme is essentially a close loop system which
feedbacks the information of the previous process for making
more accurate cutting in the subsequent ones. [6].
auto-alignment laser interferometer. Precision Engineering 23
(1999) 243–252.
[3] Jyoti CNC automation pvt. Ltd. – Rajkot (Gujarat)
[4] M. Sharif, Uddina, Soichi Ibarakia, Atsushi Matsubaraa,
Tetsuya Matsushita. Prediction and compensation of
machining geometric errors of five-axis machining centers
with kinematic errors. Precision Engineering 33 (2009) 194–
201.
[5] R. Ramesh, M.A. Mannan, A.N. Poo. Error compensation
in machine tools — a review Part I: geometric, cutting-force
induced and fixture dependent errors. International Journal of
Machine Tools & Manufacture 40 (2000) 1235–1256.
[6] R. Ramesh, M.A. Mannan, A.N. Poo. Error compensation
in machine tools — a review Part II: thermal errors.
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 40
(2000) 1257–1284.
[7] W.T.Lei , I.M.Paung, Chen-ChiYu. Total ball-bar dynamic
tests for five-axis CNC machine tools. International Journal of
Machine Tools & Manufacture (2009).

[8] W.T. Lei a, Y.Y. Hsu. Accuracy enhancement of five-axis

CNC machines through realtime error compensation.
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43
(2003) 871–877.

[9] W.T. Lei, Y.Y. Hsu. Accuracy test of five-axis CNC

machine tool with 3D probe–ball. Part I. design and modeling.
Figure 4 Compensation of errors International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 42
(2002) 1153–1162.
5. CONCLUSIONS
[10] W.T. Lei , Y.Y. Hsu .Accuracy test of five-axis CNC
machine tool with 3D probe-ball. Part II: errors estimation.
In this paper, the total ball bar dynamic tests were presented.
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 42
The new methods can be used to inspect and improve the
dynamic errors of five-axis CNC machine tools in particular (2002) 1163–1170.
those errors resulting from a gains mismatch. Experiment has
shown the axis couples XC, YC and ZC for a ball-bar test in
bridging the linear and the rotary dynamic systems. It has also
shown that there is requirement of online compensation to save
the total calibration time for errors generated in five axis CNC
machine
This work has reviewed the fundamentals of errors in CNC
machine, technology to measure the errors of machines and
their basic characteristics. Since machine geometries are
changing over time in the field, recalibration of machines will
not only be offered by machine manufacturers, but also by
qualified service providers with dedicated equipment.
Consequently, error compensation will also increasingly
become a service business. For the development of market and
technology, the availability of proper interfaces for metrology
equipment as well as the access and the documentation of the
respective compensation data will be of crucial importance.

6. REFERENCES

[1] H. Schwenke, W. Knapp, H. Haitjema, A. Weckenmann, R.

Schmitt e, F. Delbressine. Geometric error measurement and
compensation of machines—An update. CIRP Annals
Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 660–675.

[2] Jenq Shyong Chen, Tzu Wei Kou, Shen Hwa Chiou.
Geometric error calibration of multi-axis machines using an

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