A novel hardware configuration method of contact R-test based on performance-constrained model

R-test is widely used to measure the rotary axis errors of five-axis machine tools due to its accuracy and convenience. There are some deficiencies in the research on the customized design of contact R-test under certain requirements of measuring range and accuracy. A novel hardware configuration method of contact R-test is proposed in this paper to realize customized configuration of hardware parameters of R-test. Firstly, a theoretical measurement model is established according to the structural characteristics of the contact R-test and is used as the evaluation model for measuring accuracy. Secondly, the influence of hardware parameters on the performance indexes is analyzed and the corresponding performance-constrained model is established. Thirdly, the configuration method of hardware parameters based on constraint models is proposed using the exhaustive search method and variable parameter method respectively. Finally, a prototype based on the configuration method is developed and calibrated on the Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), then the measuring performance evaluation and on-machine error measuring experiment are performed. The results show that the configuration method satisfies certain measuring requirements without range and precision waste. The proposed methods can guide the customized design of contact R-test.