Research on Tool Presetting and Tool Deviation in CNC Lead Screw Grinding Process

In the process of tool presetting for an CNC lead screw grinding, when A-axis rotating and Z-axis shifting synchronously according to the screw pitch length, L, of the lead screw workpiece, the handwheel corresponding to X-axis and Z-axis, respectively, is operated to align the grinding wheel with the middle of the screw groove. Then, the coordinates of Z-axis, A-axis and X-axis of the current position are recorded, and the coordinates of the grinding start position and grinding end position of the lead screw workpiece are calculated accordingly.However, due to the mutual following error of Z-axis and A-axis in the synchronous movement process, tool deviation typically occurs when the grinding wheel moves from the grinding start position to the grinding end position to grind the lead screw workpiece. More specifically, the grinding wheel slightly deviates from the middle of the screw groove to the left or right of the screw groove.To offset this deviation, the root cause for creating the deviation is analyzed, and a method to correct the tool deviation is proposed: First, the CNC system sends out grinding instructions, according to the requirements of grinding process, to make the A-axis and the Z-axis move synchronously. In the meantime, the CNC system measures and records the current coordinates of A-axis and Z-axis, and calculates the tool deviation caused by the mutual following error between Z-axis and A-axis. As a result the grinding start position and the grinding end position are adjusted in light of the value of tool deviation in the subsequent grinding process, so as to address the tool deviation issue.