COMPUTER CONTROLLED

MACHINE MAINTENANCE
(MECHANICAL)
K11-24-01

ADTECKEMAMAN/BTPM/SANI
Mechanical Failure
• The mechanical portion of a machine encompasses not only mechanical parts but
also hydraulic, lubrication, pneumatic, and coolant system. Within each of these
subcategories there are some key areas which should always be addressed in a
repair job.
Mechanical Failure
1. Mechanical Components Design and Raw Materials

• The mechanical components of the machine must be rigid and strong to support the
quickly moving parts. The spindle is usually the strongest part and is supported by large
bearings. Whether the spindle holds the works or the tool, an automatic clamping
feature allow the spindle to rapidly clamp and unclamp during the program run.
• Attached to the side of the machine is a magazine of different tools. A transfer arm,
sometimes called the tool bar, removes a tool from the machine, places it into the
magazine, selects a different tool from the magazine, and return it to the machine
through instructions in the program. Typical cycle time required for this procedure is two
to eight seconds. Some machine may obtain up to 400 tools in large “hives”, each
automatically loaded in sequence as the program runs.
• The bed or worktable of the machine is supported on hardened steel “ways” which are
usually protected by flexible guards.
• Cast iron or Meehanite used to be the material of choice for metal working machines.
Today, most machine make liberal use of weldments of hot-rolled steel and wrought
product such as stainless steel to reduce cost and allow fabrication of more intricate
frame design.
• Some machines are designed as cell, which means they have specific group of parts they
are designed to manufacture. Cell machines have large tool magazines to carry enough
tools to do all of the various operations on each of the different parts, large worktables
or the ability to change worktable, and special provisions in the controller for data input
from other CNC machine. This allow the CNC machine to be assembled with other
similarly equipped machines into a Flexible Machining Cell, which can produce more
than one part simultaneously. A group of cell, some containing 20 – 30 machines, is
called Flexible Machining System. These systems can produce literally hundreds of
different parts at the same time with little human intervention. Some are designed to
run day and night with supervision in what is referred to as “lights out” manufacturing.
Possible Failure??
• Scraping
Metal surface scraping is a process to create suitable surface for
the contact parts of two moving metal casting. The process
introduces carefully placed high and low spots on the mating
surface of the CNC machine. While it’s natural instinct to believe
that flat surfaces would be better for machining accuracy, this is, in
fact, not true. Two flat surfaces in contact on the machine will
“stick”, creating inconsistent machining characteristics. Tight
tolerances can only be achieved by adding high and low spots that
hold oil and allow for gliding, rather than sticking. Introducing
more contact point via the high and low spots also allows for
balance and therefore perfect mating. With flat surface there is
only one contact point, which creates a state of imbalance.
Stick-slip phenomenon
• When two substances rub against each other, they frequently stick and slip or
result of a spontaneous jerking-motion that occur while two objects are in close
contact and sliding over each other.
 Hand scraping – The Essential Objectives
Hand scraping set the foundation/datum surface for productive CNC machine tools, which is
accomplished with the following intentions; that is to achieve:
• Accuracy – scraping is undertaken to align critical components within, in some cases,
nanometric levels of accuracy/precision – permitting both consistently held and exceedingly
tight tolerances to be practically attained:
• Flatness – 8 and 10 contact point per in. are created to prevent any surface rocking: moreover,
adding balance when tightening down two mating machine element surfaces-this allows for a
true flatness register between these mating parts.
• Oil pockets – certain machine surface will have oil injected onto them – as the two surface
intimately slide together. Accordingly by this previous scraping operation, it permits the certain
of oil pockets-retaining residual oil on these bearing surface and allowing for a sliding/gliding
motion. Deprived of these oil pockets, two flat surface will potentially stick together-creating an
undesirable stick-slip condition.
• Appearance – often the finishing touch of the scraping process is purely aesthetic. So once the
accuracy, flatness, and oil pockets have been produced, than these mating parts are design
Mechanical Fault
2. Motion Driving Technology

a. Spindle
Machines spindle unit is drive using an AC or DC
powered motor. The motor is designed to have the
function of adjustable speed and rapid acceleration
and deceleration. The transmission method can be
divided to 3 types.

• Gear transmission
Changing of spindle speed is done by changing
of gear ratio. Activation of selected gear can be
automatic trigger by the controller or by manual
Mechanical Fault
• Belt driven
Spindle unit is coupled with pulleys. Motor shaft
rotation will be transmitting to the spindle via a
timing belt or V-belt. Speed will be fully controlled
by the motor itself.
Mechanical Fault
•Direct motor transmission
Motor is direct coupled to the back of the spindle shaft. This kind of design gives the most rigid
movement of spindle and provide the highest performance.
Possible Failure??
• Gears
Some machines require gears for their operation, and these
gears must be inspected like any other wear item in the
machine. Since gears do move constantly, the teeth, bores,
and keyways can become worm. Some of the most critical
gears within gear machinery are those that control the
worktable rotation and the cutter rotation. Any errors in these
gears will very likely show up as problems in the gears the
machine produces. Inspection of the gear spacing and
tolerances within the cutter spindle assembly
Mechanical Fault
b. Feed
• Ballscrew
o It consists of a screw spindle, a nut, balls and integrated ball return mechanism a shown in Figure .
o The flanged nut is attached to the moving part of CNC machine tool. As the screw rotates, the nut
translates the moving part along the guide ways.
 Ball screw / ball bearing screw /
Motion Driving Technology

recirculating ballscrew Mechanism

- Feed - Ballscrew

• However, since the groove in the ball screw is helical,

its steel balls roll along the helical groove, and, then,
they may go out of the ball nut unless they are
arrested at a certain spot.
• Thus, it is necessary to change their path after they
have reached a certain spot by guiding them, one
after another, back to their “starting point”
(formation of a recirculation path). The recirculation
parts play that role.
• When the screw shaft is rotating, as shown in Figure, a steel ball at point (A) travels 3 turns
of screw groove, rolling along the grooves of the screw shaft and the ball nut, and
eventually reaches point (B).
• Then, the ball is forced to change its pathway at the tip of the tube, passing back through
the tube, until it finally returns to point (A).
• Whenever the nut strokes on the screw shaft, the balls repeat the same recirculation inside
the return tube.
• When debris or foreign matter enter the inside of the nut, it could affect smoothness in
operation or cause premature wearing, either of which could adversely affect the ball
screw's functions.
• To prevent such things from occurring, seals are provided to keep contaminants out. There
are various types of seals viz. plastic seal or brush type of seal used in ball-screw drives.
Characteristics of ball screws
• High mechanical efficiency
In ball screws, about 90% or more of the force used to rotate the screw shaft can be
converted to the force to move the ball nut. Since friction loss is extremely low, the
amount of force used to rotate the screw shaft is as low as one third of that needed for
the acme thread lead screw.
• Low in wear
Because of rolling contact, wear is less than that of sliding contact. Thus, the accuracy is
high. Ball screws move smoothly enough under very slow speed. They run smoothly even
under a load.
• Thread Form
The thread form used in these screws can either be gothic arc type (fig.a) or circular arc type
(fig.b). The friction in this kind of arrangement is of rolling type. This reduces its wear as
comparison with conventional sliding friction screws drives.

Recirculating ball screws are of two types. In one arrangement the balls are returned using an
external tube. In the other arrangement the balls are returned to the start of the thread in the
nut through a channel inside the nut.
• Preloading
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.

Figure shows double nut preloading system. 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
Effects of preload
• Zero backlash: It eliminates axial play between a screw shaft and a ball nut.
• It minimizes elastic deformation caused by external force, thus the rigidity
enhances.
• In case mounting errors, misalignment between the screw shaft and the nut may
occur this further generates distortion forces.
• This could lead to the problems such as,
o Shortened service life
o Adverse effect on smooth operation
o Reduced positioning accuracy
o Generation of noise or vibration
o Breakage of screw shaft
Advantages of ball screws
• Highly efficient and reliable.
• Less starting torque.
• Lower co efficient of friction compared to sliding type screws and run at cooler temperatures
• Power transmission efficiency is very high and is of the order of 95 %.
• Could be easily preloaded to eliminate backlash.
• The friction force is virtually independent of the travel velocity and the friction at rest is very
small; consequently, the stick-slip phenomenon is practically absent, ensuring uniformity of
motion.
• Has longer thread life hence need to be replaced less frequently.
• Ball screws are well -suited to high through output, high speed applications or those with
continuous or long cycle times.
• Smooth movement over full range of travel.
Disadvantages of ball screws
• Tend to vibrate.
• Require periodic overhauling to maintain their efficiency.
• Inclusion of dirt or foreign particles reduces the life of the screws.
• Not as stiff as other power screws, thus deflection and critical speed can cause
difficulties.
• They are not self-locking screws hence cannot be used in holding devices such as
vices.
• Require high levels of lubrication.
Mechanical Fault
b. Feed
• Ballscrew
• Slide
• Dovetail Design
• Hardened Way Design / Box Way Design
• Linear Bearing Design
 Slideways
Motion Driving Technology

• Axis table move on slide on machine body. Depends on the machine design and cost, here are 3
kinds of slideway design available, Dovetail, Box Way and Linear Bearing. Dovetail and Box
Way design is simple, low cost and chemical resistant but with higher wear and tear. Linear
- Feed - Slide

Bearing is more precise and provides better performance at low and high speed, but has less
vibration resistance, complex in design and has a higher cost.
• Requirements of guideways are :
(a) Guideway should have high rigidity.
(b) The surface of guideways must have greater accuracy and surface finish.
(c) Guideways should have high accuracy of travel. It is possible only when the deviation of
the actual path of travel of the operative element from the predetermined normal path is
minimum.
(d) Guideways should be durable. The durability depends upon the ability of guideways to
retain the initial accuracy of manufacturing and travel.
(e) The frictional forces acting on the guideway surface must be low to avoid wear.
(f) There should be minimum possible variation of coefficient of friction.
(g) Guideways should have good damping properties.