Table Of ContentUCRL-LR-133066
Principles and Techniques
for
Designing Precision Machines
Layton Carter Hale
(Ph.D. Thesis)
February 1999
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UCRL-LR-133066
Distribution Category UC-42
Principles and Techniques
for
Designing Precision Machines
Layton Carter Hale
(Ph.D. Thesis)
February 1999
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
University of California • Livermore, California • 94551
Principles and Techniques
for
Designing Precision Machines
by
Layton Carter Hale
Case Western Reserve University, B.S.M.E., 1982
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M.S.M.E., 1990
Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
February 1999
' Layton C. Hale 1999
All rights reserved
The author hereby grants to MIT and LLNL permission to reproduce and to distribute
publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part.
Principles and Techniques for Designing Precision Machines
by
Layton Carter Hale
Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering
on January 8, 1999
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This thesis is written to advance the reader(cid:213)s knowledge of precision-engineering principles
and their application to designing machines that achieve both sufficient precision and
minimum cost. It provides the concepts and tools necessary for the engineer to create new
precision machine designs. Four case studies demonstrate the principles and showcase
approaches and solutions to specific problems that generally have wider applications. These
come from projects at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in which the author
participated: the Large Optics Diamond Turning Machine, Accuracy Enhancement of High-
Productivity Machine Tools, the National Ignition Facility, and Extreme Ultraviolet
Lithography. Although broad in scope, the topics go into sufficient depth to be useful to
practicing precision engineers and often fulfill more academic ambitions.
The thesis begins with a chapter that presents significant principles and fundamental
knowledge from the Precision Engineering literature. Following this is a chapter that
presents engineering design techniques that are general and not specific to precision
machines. All subsequent chapters cover specific aspects of precision machine design. The
first of these is Structural Design, guidelines and analysis techniques for achieving
independently stiff machine structures. The next chapter addresses dynamic stiffness by
presenting several techniques for Deterministic Damping, damping designs that can be
analyzed and optimized with predictive results. Several chapters present a main thrust of the
thesis, Exact-Constraint Design. A main contribution is a generalized modeling approach
developed through the course of creating several unique designs. The final chapter is the
primary case study of the thesis, the Conceptual Design of a Horizontal Machining Center.
Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Slocum, MIT
Thesis Committee: Prof. Carl Peterson, MIT
Prof. John Lienhard V, MIT
Dr. Robert Donaldson, LLNL
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Acknowledgments
Many people contributed to this thesis in a variety of different ways, and I would like to
thank and acknowledge these people for their knowledge, their ideas and their efforts. The
thesis committee consisted of Professors Alexander Slocum, Carl Peterson and John
Lienhard V all of MIT and Dr. Robert Donaldson who was my supervisor at the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) from 1990 to 1993. If I please only one person
with this thesis, I hope Bob Donaldson is that person. I thank Alex Slocum for motivating
me to begin a doctoral program and for being a role model for professional achievement.
My thesis committee has been unduly patient and tolerant of probably too few interactions
drawn out over too long of a time. Their suggestions helped make this thesis better for you,
the reader, for which I am very grateful. Leslie Regan and the staff at the ME Graduate
Office helped me many times during my enrollment at MIT; thank you for being so good.
My thanks go to two well-known figures in Precision Engineering, Tyler Estler
from NIST and James Bryan formally from LLNL, who provided many valuable
comments on an early draft. They did so out of dedication to the field.
A number of my colleagues reviewed specific sections and/or collaborated on the
projects used as case studies in the thesis. Debra Krulewich reviewed sections on error
budgets, separation techniques, transformation matrices and least-squares fitting. Todd
Decker reviewed the introduction to exact-constraint design. Eric Marsh reviewed the
chapter on damping. Rick Montesanti reviewed the chapter on practical exact-constraint
design. Terry Malsbury reviewed the EUVL examples of exact-constraint design. Jeff
Klingmann reviewed the chapter on the conceptual design of a horizontal machining center.
These colleagues contributed in various ways: Jeff Cardinal, Steve Jensen, Maggie Jong,
Karen Lindsay, Stan Locke, John Parker, Hooman Tajbakhsh, Rick Thigpen, Don Yordy.
In addition, I would like to thank and acknowledge those who were influential in
my career development as a design engineer. My father(cid:213)s interest in mechanical projects
and machinery infused me and ultimately set my course. I learned volumes of practical
design know-how from Bob Edwards and Dave Wood who were my first engineering
supervisors. My thanks go to many unknown designers of machines that I have observed
and studied. Special thanks go to Bob Donaldson, Steve Patterson and many others for
creating and documenting the best model for precision machine design that I know, the
Large Optics Diamond Turning Machine. It would be a national shame if that machine is
not maintained to state-of-the-art condition.
Lastly, I would like to recognize the wonderful educational policy at LLNL and to
thank Dennis Atkinson, Bill Ruvalcaba, Wendy Morris, Bob Donaldson and Bob Langland
who created the opportunity for me to attend MIT full time for two semesters.
This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.
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Biography
Layton Hale demonstrated mechanical aptitude at an early age while assisting his father, an
industrial arts teacher, with repairs on aging farm machinery and other mechanical projects
such as a unique motor home. His father and mother instilled craftsmanship and creativity
through everyday life. Natural ability in math and science lead to a career in mechanical
engineering that began in 1978 as an undergraduate at Case Western Reserve University.
Eager to apply the wonderful tools learned at Case, he joined Cincinnati Milacron in 1982
shortly after graduating with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Milacron was a great place
to develop a foundation in machine design and Mr. Bob Edwards and Mr. David Woods
were particularly influential. Layton has been a registered professional engineer in Ohio
since 1987.
Layton began graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1988. His master(cid:213)s thesis, Differential Feed Control of Flexible Materials, was conducted
at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory with guidance provided by Prof. Harry West of
MIT and Mr. Edward Bernardon of Draper Labs. The MIT experience was very rewarding
and two people were very influential. Prof. Alex Slocum inspired a specialty of sorts in
Precision Machine Design, and later encouraged Layton to undertake a doctorate program.
Prof. Carl Peterson hired Layton as a teaching assistant and recommended him for
employment at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
Layton joined LLNL in 1990 and worked at the Large Optics Diamond Turning
Facility directed by Dr. Robert Donaldson. LLNL is a well-known center of excellence in
the field of Precision Engineering due in large part by the contributions of Dr. Donaldson
toward the Large Optics Diamond Turning Machine. Under the continuing education
program at LLNL, Layton began his doctorate program in 1992 by attending MIT for two
semesters to complete the course work. Much of the research for this dissertation was
conducted on various precision engineering projects at LLNL.
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