Key Factors to Assess and Reduce Error in Multi-Axis Motion Systems

Modern manufacturing processes are generating increasingly complex part geometries and continually shrinking tolerances. Semiconductor chips, jet turbine blades and live-saving medical devices such as stents and heart valves require extremely high levels of process and inspection tool performance to produce. Machine builders must have a deep and thorough understanding of component-level errors to build highly accurate manufacturing and test systems. This article provides a framework to estimate and analyze work point errors in multi-axis motion systems.