A Trial Type of Hybrid Micro Machine Tool

A hybrid micro machine tool is developed. This tabletop size machine tool can be applied for EDM, ECM, mechanical machining, laser processing, and complex machining which is combined each machining method. To study the basic performance of hybrid micro machine tool, a complex machining experiment is carried out with the developed machine tool. The complex machining has 3 steps : machining electrode by milling, hole shaping by EDM, and hole finishing by ECM. These steps are performed in sequence on the same machine tool. In order to evaluate a hybrid micro machine tool from the environmental point of view, machining energy, the volume of machining liquid, and installation space of hybrid micro machine tool are measured. The measured values are compared with estimated values when same complex machining is carried out with conventional machine tools. Machining energy, the volume of machining liquid, and installation space of hybrid micro machine tool areone-hundredth times smaller than that of conventional machine tool.