Article
Studies on the Numerical Control Programming
for Multi-Axis Machining of Turbomolecular Pump Rotor
Teng-Hui Chen 1,*, Jeng-Nan Lee 1, Ming-Jhang Shie 2 and Yu-Cheng Chen 2
Citation: Chen, T.-H.; Lee, J.-N.;
Shie, M.-J.; Chen, Y.-C. Studies
on the Numerical Control
Programming for Multi-Axis
Machining of Turbomolecular Pump
Rotor. Electronics 2023, 12, 1281.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
electronics12061281
Academic Editor: Hamid Reza
Karimi
Received: 26 January 2023
Revised: 27 February 2023
Accepted: 1 March 2023
Published: 7 March 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license
(https://creativecommons.org/license
s/by/4.0/).
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12061281
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cheng Shiu University, No.840, Chengcing Rd.,
Kaohsiung City 83347, Taiwan
2 Institute of Mechatronic Engineering, Cheng Shiu University, No.840, Chengcing Rd.,
Kaohsiung City 83347, Taiwan
* Correspondence: 0641@gcloud.csu.edu.tw; Tel.: +886-7-7358800 (ext. 3935)
Abstract: Turbomolecular pumps (TMPs), boasting advantageous high pumping rates, stability,
and cleanliness, have been widely used in the semiconductor and photoelectric industries. In the
aviation industry, the lightweight rotors of turbomolecular pumps can enhance the performance of
generators. With technological advancements and increased industrial performance demands,
various designs for turbomolecular pump rotors utilizing twisted and curved blade surfaces have
been proposed. This increase in complexity runs parallel with machining difficulties. Contact and
noncontact reverse engineering equipment was used to reconstruct a computer-aided design
(CAD) model of turbomolecular pump rotors. The machining of thin and long blades, cutting tool
arrangement, and toolpath was planned. Postprocessing was used to convert the toolpath into
numerical control (NC) programming codes, which were combined with solid model cutting sim-
ulation software to verify the efficacy of the generated machining NC program for turbomolecular
pump rotors. A five-axis horizontal machining center (CK type) with aluminum alloy AL6061-T6
was used to conduct actual machining tests measuring the efficiency of the machining methods.
The rapid prototyping (RP) blocks can be creatively used as a jig and stuffed between the blades to
suppress the chatter problem during processing, and the roughness of the surface of the blades can
be reduced from 4.4 μm to 1.3 μm. The processed rotor can meet the flow test requirements, and
the overall research can be used as a reference for the industry.
Keywords: multi-axis machining; reverse engineering; rotor; turbomolecular pump (TMP)
1. Introduction
Gaede introduced the drum molecular pump structure in 1913 [1]. In 1958, Becker
further developed blade turbomolecular pumps [2], which exhibited extremely high
performance in 10−3 Torr molecular flows. With its high pumping rate, compression ratio,
and cleanliness, the turbomolecular pump rapidly replaced traditional positive dis-
placement vacuum pumps and was widely applied in the semiconductor manufacturing
or photoelectric industries [3–6].
Turbomolecular pumps comprise twin-rotor horizontal and single-rotor vertical
systems, with rotors and stators interleaved in assembly design [2,5,7]. Rotors rotate
rapidly, enabling gas to collide with the blades and transmit kinetic energy. The working
pressure begins from 10−3 Torr, and the final pressure can reach 10−8 or 10−9 Torr. Sengil [8]
illustrates that different blade designs can be used to enhance performance through im-
provements in the pumping rate and compression ratio. With modern advancements, the
manufacturing process of semiconductors has undergone considerable development,
which in turn has increased the performance requirements of vacuum pumps. The de-
signs of turbomolecular pumps have become more diverse, with the concurrent difficulty
of machining highly dependent on the design.
www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 2 of 14

In the aviation industry, the performance of generators determines the functions and
purposes of aircraft. The bladed rotor or blisk of turbomolecular pumps is a crucial and
novel component in modern aircraft generators. It is favored for its lightweight design,
integrated bladed disks [9], high pneumatic efficiency, and increased service life. How-
ever, this component is costly and difficult to produce. Bussmann and Bayer [10] de-
scribed the technological development of the integrated compressor impeller and blisk in
contemporary engine structures. They also identified the future technological applica-
tions of blisks, accounting for the challenges in terms of their function, quality, and cost.
Because the blade has an intricate twisted and curved surface, multi-axis machining has
proven more advantageous than traditional triaxial machining [11].
However, owing to the synchronous motion of the cutting tools, the application of
multi-axis machine tools is complex and can result in the interference or collision of the
cutting tools with the curved surface [12,13]. Klocke et al. [14] analyzed the technical and
economic costs of the material removal rate of rough machining through milling, elec-
trical discharge machining, and electrochemical machining on blisks made of titanium
alloy Ti-6Al-4V and nickel base alloy 718. Milling is the most cost-effective of the many
machining techniques used for titanium alloy blisks.
Chaves-Jacob et al. [15] proposed optimization strategies for impeller blade finishing
and examined the deformation resulting from geometric errors using different ball-nose
end mills in machining methods such as point contact cutting, flank milling, and multi-
path flank milling. Its geometrical error indicates a deviation between the machined
surface and the nominal surface. The feed rate greatly affects the cutting forces and, thus,
the deflections of the blade and tool during machining, which in turn affects the geomet-
ric errors caused by these deflections. They also conducted experiments with titanium
alloy to measure radial cutting forces. The machining path length is typically divided by
the maximum feed rate to determine the machining time, and the ideal feed rate is de-
fined to avoid geometric errors arising from the deviation of the cutter. The three indi-
cators (a flow indicator, a mechanical indicator, and a machining indicator) can evaluate
whether the machining strategy meets the geometric function requirements.
To further demonstrate the pneumatics of impellers and blisks with an increasing
number of blades and increasingly complicated curved blade surface geometry errors,
the present study employed three-dimensional (3D) scanners and incorporated reverse
engineering and five-axis machining techniques to design new models for industrial
development. Zhao et al. [16] conducted reverse modeling and five-axis machining ex-
periments on aircraft engine impellers, revealing that the machined sample and research
model had an error lower than 0.06 mm. In addition, She and Chang [17] used 3D meas-
urement devices to obtain geometric point data, which they then used to generate turbo
blade CAD models in the CAD and computer-aided machining (CAM) system of Uni-
graphics (UG). Discarding the CAM module of the UG software, they applied the UG
Graphics Interactive Programming language to generate the cutter machining paths, the
efficacy of which was then verified using the cutting simulation software VERICUT [18,19].
The objectives of this study are to reverse engineer the rotors of turbomolecular
pumps, rebuild 3D solid models of the rotors using the CAD/CAM system, and plan the
machining process and paths. Subsequently, the cutting simulation software VERICUT
was used to confirm the NC code path. A five-axis horizontal machining center (CK type)
was applied to machine an aluminum alloy (AL6061-T6) solid sample to evaluate the ef-
ficiency of the machining process and methods. This work also attempts to improve TMP
processing.

2. Experimental Methods
This study evaluated the feasibility of manufacturing a turbomolecular pump rotor
with nine turbine stages that have been applied in semiconductor vacuum pumps. The
longest blade length of this rotor is 100 mm, and the shortest blade length is 35 mm. The
total length of the nine stages is 149 mm. However, it is extremely complicated and dif-
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 3 of 14

ficult to create a 3D model for a new design of a turbomolecular pump rotor, and this will
also involve aerodynamics. When it is damaged and needs to be remanufactured, reverse
engineering technology can be applied to replicate the turbomolecular pump rotor
without obtaining the engineering drawing. The coordinate measuring machine (CMM)
ZEISS CONTURA RDS 7106 (ZEISS, Oberkochen, Germany) and noncontact 3D scanner
AICON SmartScan-HE (AICON, Braunschweig, Germany) for reverse engineering were
applied to extract the data of the rotor sample profiles. They will be able to overcome the
results of the interference scanning of the blades of various stages under the multi-stage
turbine blades scanned by a single non-contact scanner. The measurement accuracy of
the two is about 0.007 mm and 0.03 mm, respectively. Then, reverse engineering soft-
ware Geomagic Studio 2012 and Geomagic Qualify 2012, for inspection purposes, were
used to position the data and compare errors. Siemens NX CAD 12.0 software was em-
ployed to import the data for the subsequent fitting of curves and curved surfaces and
reconstruction of the complete 3D solid model of the blade CAD models [20–22]. Siemens
NX CAM 12.0 [23,24] was used to program and plan the process of the rotor machining
paths and cutter arrangement. Cutting simulation verification software VERICUT 7.4.1
was then applied to verify whether the toolpaths exhibited overcutting, collision, or ab-
normal mechanical motion. A five-axis horizontal machining center was used to mill an
aluminum alloy block in order to obtain the turbomolecular pump rotor. Finally, the
process efficiency and machining methods were evaluated; the research flowchart is
sketched in Figure 1.

Turbine Rotor Blisk

Reverse engineering scan

Coordinate measuring
Non-contact laser 3D scanning
machine(CMM) inspection

Geometric modeling

Reverse model Inconsistency

comparison

Tool path planning

Verification of cutting NO
simulation

Yes

Five-axis CNC machining

Process evaluation

Figure 1. Flowchart of the research process.

Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 4 of 14

2.1. Geometric Reconstruction of Reverse Engineering

Because the geometry of the turbomolecular pump rotor is too complicated to be
reverse modeled in one operation, both a contact coordinate measuring machine and a
noncontact scanner were employed to extract point coordinate data of the hub and blade
separately. The extracted results needed to be positioned and restructured.

2.1.1. Coordinate Measurement

To construct the rotor profiles of the turbomolecular pump, a CMM was used to
manually measure the outer contour size and the inner bore of the rotor. The sample
surface profile positions were recorded with respect to geometric features, including
planes, circles, and cones. Displacements of the geometric features were computed to
determine the profile dimensions of the hub. The measurement results of the profiles
were applied to reconstruct the 3D solid model using the graphic software NX CAD,
determining the accurate blade thickness of nine turbine stages and the corresponding
position on the hub, as illustrated in Figure 2.

(a) (b)
Figure 2. Coordinate measuring machine used for measuring the surface profile and reconstruction
of the solid model. (a) Blade thickness and stage-interval measurements; (b) reconstruction of the
3D solid model obtained using CAD software.

2.1.2. Noncontact 3D Scanning

The rotor blade geometry is a freeform surface. Data extraction was mainly per-
formed using the 3D blue light scanner. The intervals between the fifth to ninth turbine
stages were too short to extract complete blade geometry data. Therefore, the turbomo-
lecular pump rotor was segmented into six parts, as depicted in Figure 3, with each part
scanned separately to extract the complete geometry data of different turbine stages of
the rotor. As presented in Figure 4, the scanner error (noise) on the first-stage and sec-
ond-stage blades was compensated to provide a more smooth arrangement of points and
curved surface fitting. After fitting was complete, the image was exported as an STL
(STereoLithography) file to facilitate reconstruction of the solid CAD model
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 5 of 14

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

Figure 3. Segmentation of the TMP rotor into six parts for non-contact 3D scanning. (a) First-stage
and second-stage blades; (b) third-stage blade; (c) fourth-stage blade; (d) fifth-stage blade; (e)
sixth-stage blade; (f) seventh-stage, eighth-stage, and ninth-stage blades.

Figure 4. Scanner error (noise) repair and surface fitting after scanning of the first and second tur-
bine stages.

2.1.3. CAD Model Positioning and Reconstruction

Following coordinate measurement and noncontact scanning, CAD model posi-
tioning and reconstruction were conducted. Since the coordinates identified using the
two measuring devices differed, the curve surface editing function of the Geomagic Stu-
dio was employed to align the STL files of all turbine stages obtained using a 3D scanner
with the XYZ coordinate axes drawn by NX CAD. Finally, the file was exported as an IGS
file for the reconstruction of the CAD model. Figure 5a illustrates the positioning of the
first and second turbine stages. After positioning and file transformation for the entire
assembly were performed, the files were exported to the NX CAD. According to the de-
gree of curvature of the blade, the blade geometric model was reconstructed, as depicted
in Figure 5b.
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 6 of 14

(a) (b)
Figure 5. CAD model of rotor reconstruction. (a) Positioning of the first and second turbine stages;
(b) reconstruction of the curved surface circular array and Boolean combination.

2.1.4. Comparison of Model Errors

Following the rotor CAD model construction, the model accuracy was verified. Re-
verse engineering software Geomagic Qualify was employed to compare the errors of the
scanned data of the rotor CAD and blades to identify any abnormalities or inconsisten-
cies in the CAD and sample positions, dimensions, and geometries. The set nominal
range ±0.1 mm and critical value ±0.5 mm are based on the manufacturer’s requirements
and cannot be lower than the scanner’s specifications. These settings were compared to
ensure that all turbine blades satisfied the precision requirements. If the comparison re-
sults are inconsistent, the CAD model shall be corrected. The comparison results are
presented in Figure 6. It can be found that the deviation values are almost all within ±0.1
mm. In fact, the point data at the edge of the scanned object will be scattered, so it is
reasonable to expect a higher deviation value at the tip of the blade.

Figure 6. Error comparison results.

Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 7 of 14

2.2. Processing of Turbomolecular Pump Rotor

In the toolpath, turbomolecular pump rotor machining was divided into the fol-
lowing five parts: blade groove rough machining, blade curve surface semiroughing,
blade curve surface finishing, hub semiroughing, and hub finishing. The five-axis sim-
ultaneous machining was applied to all five paths. Groove rough machining used an end
mill, while the other toolpaths involved the use of ball nose end mills. Standard length
(80 mm) or elongated cutting tools (100–150 mm) from CMTec Taiwan were selected for
machining according to the designated range. However, the width of the blade groove
will be greater at the tip of the blade and narrower near the root of the blade. Therefore,
the diameter of the end mill will decrease with the distance from the root of the blade in
milling the groove between the blades. The diameter of the end mill is reduced from 12
mm to 4 mm for the 1st–4th stage blades; the diameter is in the range of 2–4 mm for the
5th–9th stage blades. Ball nose end mills with a diameter of 8 mm and 4 mm are used to
process the blades and hubs of the 1st–2nd and 3rd–4th stage of the rotor blades, respec-
tively. Ball nose end mills with smaller diameters (2–4 mm) process the curved surfaces
of the 5th–9th stage blades and hubs. The machining of the integral turbomolecular
pump rotor used 17 tools.
In toolpath planning, the rotor blades were thin and long, leading to the possibility
of generating considerable vibration. To reduce vibration and ensure the rigidity of the
cutting tools, the toolpaths of the blades were divided into four segments according to
the blade length. The first two segments were machined using cutting tools of standard
lengths, whereas the other two segments were machined using elongated cutting tools.
Taking the first-stage turbine blades as an example, the toolpath is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Toolpath planning for of the turbomolecular pump rotor.

Process. Tool and Depth Tool Path

Tool: End mill

Depth: 0~13%

Tool: End mill

Depth: 11~40%

Roughing

Tool: End mill

Depth: 35~70%

Tool: End mill

Depth: 65~95%

Tool: Taper ball-End mill

Depth: 0~11%
Blade Semi-Finishing
and
Blade Finishing
Tool: Taper ball-End mill
Depth: 9~36%
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 8 of 14

Tool: Ball-End mill

Depth: 34~66%

Tool: Ball-End mill

Depth: 65~93%

Tool: Ball-End mill

Depth: 0~100%

Tool: Taper ball-End mill

Depth: 93~100%
Hub Semi-Finishing
and
Hub Finishing
Tool: Taper ball-End mill

1. Blade groove rough machining

Groove rough machining employs end mills to perform five-axis simultaneous
machining. To avoid shortening the service life of the cutting tool, and to reduce vibra-
tions resulting from overly lengthy clamps, the toolpath planning of the first two seg-
ments involved the use of a standard-length cutting tool at a spindle speed of 4000 rpm,
feed rate of 1600 mm/min, cutting depth of 1 mm, and cutting width of 4.8 mm. The first
two segments were 0–13% and 11–40% of the length of the blade. The other two segments
were cut as 35–70% and 65–95% of the length of the blade using elongated cutting tools
with a spindle speed of 6000 rpm, feed rate of 1200 mm/min, cutting depth of 0.3 mm,
cutting width of 4.8 mm, and reserve of 0.5 mm.
2. Blade curve surface semiroughing
The semiroughing reserve was set at 0.3 mm. Along the rough toolpath, a conical
ball end mill and five-axis simultaneous machining were used for cutting. The toolpath
was divided into four segments. The first two segments were machined using cutting
tools with a standard length of 0–11% and 9–36% of the blade length, and the other two
segments were machined using elongated cutting tools at a length of 34–66% and 65–93%
that of the blade. A spindle speed of 6000 rpm, feed rate of 1200 mm/min, and cutting
depth of 0.01 mm were applied consistently for all segments.
3. Hub semiroughing
Hub semiroughing involved semiroughed grooving on the blade hub. Because the
end mill in rough machining had shape limits and the cutting depth could not reach the
hub of the blade, a ball nose end mill with an elongation of 110 mm was used to groove
cut the workpiece during semiroughing. The cutting depth was 93–100% of the blade
length, and the reserve was set at 0.3 mm. The spindle speed was 6000 rpm, the feed rate
was 1200 mm/min, and the cutting depth was 0.1 mm.
4. Blade curve surface finishing
A ball nose end mill with an elongation of 110 mm was used to machine the full
length of the blade in a nonsegmented fashion. The spindle speed was set as 6000 rpm,
the feed rate as 1200 mm/min, and the residual height as 0.005 mm.
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 9 of 14

5. Hub finishing
The residue material at the bottom of the hub was removed from this toolpath. A
ball nose end mill with an elongation of 110 mm was used to machine a small plane on
the blade hub. The spindle speed was set as 6000 rpm, the feed rate as 1200 mm/min, and
the residual height as 0.005 mm.
The jig is essential in the machining process and clamps or fixes the workpieces on
the machining platform to limit the freedom of movement of the raw materials. If work-
pieces cannot be secured during machining, errors, position deviation, and dimension
errors can occur. The jig must be designed to securely fix the position of the workpiece
and minimize the effect on the operation range of machining. The fixture jig used in this
study is currently designed in reference to the geometry of the inner bore surface of the
rotors. The engineering tolerance of the clearance of 0.03 mm was obtained to ensure
clearance fit of the rotor and jig fixture. An adapter board was used to fix the rotor on the
jig of the mill machine, as depicted in Figure 7. The Ø24 mm through hole on the hub of
the rotor is used for fine positioning during assembly with the jig. The surrounding
eight holes can be used to fasten the rotor to the jig with eight M6 screws.

(a) (b)

Figure 7. Jig design. (a) Schematic diagram of rotor and jig assembly; (b) combination with screws
and pin positioning.

3. Cutting Simulation, Verification, and Multi-Axis Machining

3.1. Verification of Cutting Simulation
Because the geometry of milling was complicated, VERICUT software was used to
simulate the NC code of the toolpaths after postprocessing conversion to verify that no
collision, overcutting, or NC data procedural error occurred in the simulation results. The
engineering tolerance was set to ±0.1 mm. Geometry error matching functions (Au-
to-Diff) were used to match toolpath overcutting and the margin to ensure the toolpath
NC code satisfied the engineering tolerance precision and dimensions requirements. The
results, as presented in Figure 8, revealed no overcutting.
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 10 of 14

Figure 8. Verification of solid model cutting simulation.

3.2. Multi-Axis Machining

The five-axis horizontal machining center Tongtai HB-630SE(Tongtai, Kaohsiung,
Taiwan) was used to cut the turbomolecular pump rotor. The blank was aluminum alloy
AL6061-T6(Sheng Kwang Aluminium Co. Ltd., Kaohsiung, Taiwan) with a height of 269
mm and a maximum diameter of 300 mm. A CNC lathe was first used to cut the nine
stages of the blade blanks, as depicted in Figure 9. Table 2 lists the blade number of each
stage and the machining time. The total machining time was 18 days and 23 h. The ma-
chining process and final product are illustrated in Figure 10. The average current
measured during processing was about 15A, and the total processing power consump-
tion was about 4500 KWH.

Figure 9. Blank of AL6061-T6 after lathing.

Table 2. Rotor machining time.

Blade Layers Processing Time (d:h:m) Number of Blades Blade Length (mm)
1 01:07:39 16 100
2 01:03:02 20 95
3 01:07:52 33 78
4 01:06:32 37 69
5 01:14:27 57 46
6 02:21:59 65 38
7 02:23:20 66 35
8 03:05:35 66 35
9 03:05:35 66 35
Total time 18:23:01
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 11 of 14

(a) (b)
Figure 10. Final product of the turbomolecular pump rotor. (a) Rotor machining process; (b) final
product of the turbomolecular pump rotor.

4. Results and Discussion

The Auto-Diff geometry error matching function of VERICUT was used to compare
the margin and overcutting. The maximum margin of 0.4 mm was generated at the sec-
ond-stage blade, marking the path for the tool to leave the root during finishing. A resi-
due was generated due to limitations of the tool rotation direction; the cutting toolpath
must thus be adjusted to solve the problem.
The initial machining plan was to conduct semiroughing on different segments of
the blade and then to machine finishing paths. However, the machining results indicated
that the transition of the paths on the curved surface of the blade of each segment pre-
sented apparent joints. Therefore, the path plan was changed, and finishing of the full
length of the blade following the semiroughing of each segment was performed.
The first four stages' blades near the tip exhibited poor surface quality resulting
from the machining vibration induced by the clamp length of the finishing cutting tools
and blade design, as shown in Figure 11a. The surface roughness is 4.4 μm. Even chang-
ing the processing parameters, such as the cutting depth, feed rate, and spindle speed,
failed to improve the quality. In order to limit the freedom of the opposing blades and
suppress chatter during machining, several block jigs were designed, as shown in Figure 12.
This block was printed through RP with stereolithography resin, and the size of its out-
line could be determined by the blade surface and stage distance of the CAD model.
These blocks can be used to finish the curved surface of the blade. Since there will be a
reserve of 0.5 mm after the rough machining of the blade, a block jig can be inserted be-
tween the blades during processing to support the blade.
Figure 11b shows that the machining of the stuffed RP solids leads to a good im-
provement in the surface quality of the blade, and the surface roughness is reduced from
4.4 μm to 1.3 μm. However, because the blade number at the fifth stage to the ninth stage
was high, the filling method had low overall efficiency. The spindle speed was adjusted
to under 6000 rpm to effectively improve the blade surface quality.
The processed turbomolecular pump rotor was tested according to the flow test
standard in the industry, and the relationship between chamber pressure and flow was
determined, as shown in Figure 13. Compared with the original TMP rotor, there are
consistent characteristics in the variation of chamber pressure with the flow.
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 12 of 14

(a) (b)
Figure 11. Chatter results can be suppressed or solved when the RP blocks are stuffed between the
blades in finishing. (a) Chatter occurs on the blade surface, as indicated by the arrow; (b) better
surface quality on the blade surface.

Figure 12. Jig machining condition.

70

Original TMP rotor

60
Paper
Chamber Pressure (mTorr)

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400

Nitrogen Flow (sccm)

Figure 13. The variation of chamber pressure with the flow for the processed and the original TMP
rotors.
Electronics 2023, 12, 1281 13 of 14

5. Conclusions
This study used contact and noncontact reverse engineering devices to measure the
dimensions and extract data from different turbomolecular pump rotor components. The
proposed method considerably reduced the reverse engineering time. In addition, re-
verse engineering software was used to unify, position, and compare errors of work-
pieces to increase the precision of rotor model construction. After appropriate machining
methods were applied, solid model cutting simulation was used to verify blade precision
and path planning. These simulations were used to examine the machine operations of
the toolpath NC codes and avoid machine–tool collision, overcutting, or NC data pro-
cedural errors, thus achieving the set requirements. Although sufficient preprocessing
procedures were conducted, machining vibration would still need to be addressed to
improve machining surface quality in the five-axis machining process. Vibrations were
addressed through the use of an RP block, which can be used for the first four stages,
allowing for high spindle speed and feed rates. Using these RP blocks reduced machin-
ing vibration and increased machining surface quality, enhancing the overall machining
efficiency. The remaining turbine stages contain shorter blades and, therefore, cannot be
accommodated with an RP block. They must have their spindle speed reduced in order to
minimize vibrations during machining. Finally, the flow test was carried out for the
processed turbomolecular pump rotor; it met the requirements of the company.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, J.-N.L.; methodology, T.-H.C.; software, M.-J.S. and
Y.-C.C.; validation, T.-H.C. and J.-N.L.; formal analysis, J.-N.L.; investigation, T.-H.C.; re-sources,
J.-N.L.; data curation, T.-H.C., M.-J.S. and Y.-C.C.; writing—original draft preparation, T.-H.C.;
writing—review and editing, T.-H.C.; All authors have read and agreed to the published version
of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the
corresponding author.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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