Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Manufacture of micro-products

Report on the micro-milling machine developed by the ik4 IDEKO technology centre in collaboration with other companies.

The widespread idea is that in the future, micro and nanotechnologies, among others, will be of great importance. Those who want a good industrial future will therefore have to be trained in the use of these new technologies. The consequence of this idea is the micro-milling machine that has been jointly developed by the ik4 machine tool technology centre in Ideko.

The machine is aimed at micro-manufacturing, working with very small parts, and has features adapted to this task. One of them is the structure of the machine, being granite because it withstands temperature fluctuations well; it is therefore stable. The guiding system located on the structure, i.e. the carriage that houses the piece, is a frictionless system, since it moves under wind pressure, as if it were levitated. And this, among other things, offers precision to the machine. Along with all of the above, when you start working, the speed of the tool draws attention: 120,000 revolutions per minute. The machine works quickly, while doing it has been a slower task:

PEIO OLASKOAGA; Ideko ik4: We put it into operation four years ago, and for four years we have been determining first what characteristics the machine should have, and then developing technologies. We finished it a few months ago: we launched the prototype and carried out the first tests.

To build the prototype, a large number of tests have been carried out at the Elgoibar Technology Centre, but few in public. Today, you will have to work in front of the Teknopolis cameras, and we have commissioned you to machine the face of our program on a small piece of steel.

The micro-milling machine starts working as soon as it receives the necessary orders. You hear a little noise, nothing more. If you look carefully, you also notice a little movement, you notice that the strawberry is working on something, but you can’t see what it is doing. You can only see that the tool is rotating.

To get a better idea of the work the machine is doing, they stay and put a small camera on it. The camera displays the work on the computer screen. The work done after working with submicrometric precision is evidenced. What does it mean to work with submicrometric precision? One of the people we're looking at has a hair removed from his head and put it on top of the piece. Now the capacity of the micro-milling machine is obvious: the work done does not reach the thickness of the hair.

Of course, hair testing is unscientific. It can be representative of the ability of the machine to be very clear to anyone looking at it. But technologically it is not acceptable.

For the avoidance of doubt, measurements based on the Idekon laser are performed to verify that the work has been completed successfully. They have a special space for this and use it in many sessions. Many aspects of the part are studied in these measurements: precision in all axes, machining quality, smoothness, etc.

In the tests they have carried out so far with the micro-milling machine, it has been observed that their predictions about the prototype are being fulfilled. They believe that if the necessary adaptations are made, and the expected revolution in the field of micro-manufacturing takes place, it can be a very useful machine for the industry.

PEIO OLASKOAGA; Ideko ik4: We will use it to work with small parts and very small details to achieve high precision parts. Izan daitezke bai optika-sektorearentzat edo medikuntza-sektorearentzat edo beste arlo tradizionalagoetarako; adibidez, erlojuak egiteko edo bitxiak egiteko, eta horrelako gauzak, behar dituztenak oso xehetasun txikiak lortzea bai metaletan edo beste material batzuetan, eta, horretaz gain, zehaztasun handia eta akabera oso onak behar dituztenak.

Very good finishes and in very small pieces. In order to be able to produce parts with these characteristics, it is essential, among other things, that the movements of the tool to be worked on steel are precise and fully controlled. The control and regulation systems for moving the micro-milling machine have been developed in-house at Fagor Automotion in Eskoriatza.

A new type of rule based on optical systems has been created for the micro-milling machine to perform measurements on motion systems. These new rules have the peculiarity that they do not go embedded in the machine itself, they stick to them. They are more accurate than those that were developed so far in Fagor.

IMANOL BARRENCASA-ARANDO; Fagor Automation: About Fagor Automation: Most of the measurements so far have always been used in micrometers, milliliters of millimeters, and at the request of this current technology we have had to move to nanometers, which is a thousand times higher precision.

The numerical control of the machine must also follow the same path, that is, it performs the programming in nanometers.

IMANOL BARRENCASA-ARANDO; Fagor Automation: What we achieve with this is that the final profile of the piece is more precise and smooth... it is machined much better, the machine goes more smoothly and that is the final performance: that piece that our client asks us for is more smooth and sweet.

Small parts, micrometric movements, and precise measurements. The tools, the bits, that have to eat steel or other materials, follow the same idea.

The drill bits have been made in Segura at the cooperative. They are experts in this; however, making drill bits that can be used in micro-fabrication has been a challenge for Ken technicians. New bits for the micro-milling machine have been created on purpose.

JOSÉ MARI GEREÑU; Delete: Many difficulties, for us it was a new product: a new and very special product. For this reason, it has cost us a lot of work to achieve it, but I think we are now satisfied with what we have achieved, because we have tried a lot inside Remove to achieve it.
When we started we didn’t know if we were going to make it or not. In fact, there are not many around the world who have achieved this, and we are the only ones in Spain, right? Great joy on one side, and then on the other side, it has opened many doors for us.

The process for making micro-drills starts from widia bars, i.e. metal bars with a mixture of steel and tungsten. Whether the drill is large or small, the process is essentially the same, but making such small tools presents considerable difficulties. The micro-drills are made by precise and measured movements, using diamond heads to eat hard metal. The result is surprising: tools that are both extremely hard and very fragile. That is, these tools are able to cut steel and other materials, but with a wrong movement or at the wrong time, they break immediately.

Viewed under the microscope, the 0.1 micron thick drill bits are even more impressive. To think that such a labyrinth could exist in such a small mind!

Not all the bits are looked at from the microscope, not all are measured one by one, but from time to time they check that some of the beams from each order are correct. Since most drill bits require special work to increase their hardness and durability, they are sent out for both thermal and coating treatments.

The ultimate goal of the micro-milling machine is the industry, to be used in micro-manufacturing lines, but the project also has other goals.

PEIO OLASKOAGA; Ideko ik4: This project was born because Ideko saw that, strategically, micro-manufacturing can be a very interesting field for the future, both for companies in the area and for us. So we wanted to create, through a project, an opportunity to take ownership of all these technologies, and I think we have achieved that in that sense. In addition to this, the project has given us the opportunity to meet different partners, and also with this prototype of ours, to equip our laboratory, and from now on, we will have the opportunity to carry out various mechanizations through this prototype, very precise, and with very precise demands.

The main consequence of the project led by the machine tool centre at the European level is the prototype of work at the sub-micron level, this and the acquisition of knowledge and skills on these technologies. If at any time the micro-manufacturing explosion occurs, the participants in this project will have already walked part of the way to do it.