Design and Fabrication of Industry Four capable Hybrid Manufacturing CNC Machine with Real time Intelligent and Automated Quality Inspection
All machining processes can be classified as additive or subtractive type manufacturing processes , however additive and subtractive manufacturing with in a single integrated setup has not been deeply explored , therefore the two most common problems faced , first is either the setup for
2025-06-28 16:31:37 - Adil Khan
Design and Fabrication of Industry Four capable Hybrid Manufacturing CNC Machine with Real time Intelligent and Automated Quality Inspection
Project Area of Specialization 3D/4D PrintingProject SummaryAll machining processes can be classified as additive or subtractive type manufacturing processes , however additive and subtractive manufacturing with in a single integrated setup has not been deeply explored , therefore the two most common problems faced , first is either the setup for integrated additive or subtractive manufacturing does not exists , if it exits the setup times of shifting from additive type manufacturing to subtractive manufacturing process are high. The second problem which prevails is the cost of the machines, the machines available in market for desktop CNC additive and subtractive manufacturing ranges in thousands of US Dollars. This project gives a concept of integrating CNC milling and FDM 3-D printing into a single machine, and names it Hybrid Manufacturing, however it can also be said as a Flexible Manufacturing System.
The Aim of this project is to develop low cost , Integrated System of Intelligent CNC Hybrid/ Flexible Manufacturing in Pakistan , by virtue of performing end milling and 3-D printing into a single machine , this leads towards performing 3-D printing and milling with One Touch Setup. Surface Roughness of the 3-D printed part can be improved by milling the part after printing . Real time inspection of the manufacturing process can lead towards defect reduction and TQM, moreover with implementation of Machine Learning techniques an intelligent machining system can be developed for automated quality inspection of surfaces.
Computerized Numeric Control Machines (CNC), are very common high accuracy automated machine tools found in many industries. They are characterized by their high accuracy and precision, meeting very close tolerances and producing surface finishes unmatched with manual machining. CNC machines can produce complex parts while machining complex part geometries by virtue of automated axis movements ranging from 3 to 5 axis. 3-D printing, or three dimensional printing has become very popular in the last decade, it’s a technique of additive manufacturing where a material mostly plastics (PLA and ABS) are melted in an extrusion head and printed over a heated table layer by layer. Researchers recently have developed a 3-D metal printing machine as well. LSEV an electric car being produced by an Italian Company XEV, is 3-D printed which reduced the number of components from 2000 to 57 , which resulted in weight reduction and ultimately less power consumption [2]
This project titled Design and Fabrication of Industry 4.0 equipped Hybrid Manufacturing Machine, deals following
- Hybrid or Flexible Manufacturing Setup
- Intelligent Manufacturing using industry 4.0 Philosophy
- Computer Vision for Inspection of finished product and process
- Design and Fabrication of Intelligent Hybrid Manufacturing Machine in Pakistan
- Building Machine Structure
- Automating the 3 axis for CNC
- Building an integrated setup capable of additive and subtractive manufacturing
- Using Jigs and Fixtures or automation for Single Minute Exchange of Dies
- Data collection for defects after machining using design of experiments
- Using Python programming for ANN
- Collecting Data for inspection using cameras
- Digital Image Processing using Python and Open CV
- Utilizing the results of DIP by incorporating ANN for Product and Process Inspection
A systematic methodology with several project phases is proposed for achieving the goals of the project, a conceptual model is developed with iterations leading towards improvements in the final design , a cross slide needs to be purchased ,the design can be revised based on the cross slide dimensions , X and Y- axis of the slide should be automated using actuators, drivers and CNC controller board. A SMED setup is required to be built for shifting from milling to 3-D printing on a single machine. Computer Vison and AI will be implemented to train Artificial Neural Networks to predict the responses like surface roughness and defects.
The systematic proposed methodology of the project is as under
Phase 1:
Development of the Structure of the Machine
In this phase we will assemble the cross slides as the 3 axis of the movements of the normal conventional milling machine , the structure of the machine will be fabricated to as much close tolerances as possible , joining processes will be used to make the structure of the machine
Phase 2:
Automating the Milling Process
In this phase the CNC Controller Mach 3 along with the actuators in the form of stepper motors will be used to automate the machine previously built , the integration of software and hard ware will be done to ensure CNC operations
Phase 3:
Integration of 3-D printer
In this step heat bed and extruder assemble will be mounted on the machine in this phase the challenge is to make SMED type 3-D printer bed for added flexibility of 3-D printing on a milling machine
Phase 4:
Data collection for Computer Vision and Machine learning
In this phase design of experiments will be used to first determine the machine capability indexes , than data will be collected for defects types , the same data will be used to build models for Computer and Machine Vison
Phase 5
In this phase the Artificial Neural Network and Convolutional Neural Networks will be used to train the machine for inspection and figure out surface defects
Benefits of the Project Advantages- Highly automated process, less chance of errors
- Almost anything of PLA of any geometry can be printed with close tolerances
- By use of AI and ANN scrap costs can be reduced
- Inspection, being non- value-added activity can be performed with almost zero running costs, for inspection using CV, only price is for setup
- Total Quality Management can be applied
- Preventive and Productive Actions can be taken as a result of output by ANN
- Quality delivered to customer is increased and costs are decreased
- Rapid and efficient prototyping can be performed with minimal setup times
- Manufacturing Process or Machining can be made robust
- Flexibility in manufacturing options
- Better machine utilization
- With future advancements the need of human operator can be eliminated, human operator can be used to do less difficult work of data collection and data labelling for training the machine
With a manufacturing facility receiving an order to manufacture certain parts in certain tolerances , they will require to calculate the Process Capability Indexes and make decisions after wards the parameters will be selected based on long calculations, with Intelligent HMM, the data for previous runs will be utilized to model the ANN models for future use whenever the order comes the tolerances will be given to the program which will give an indication of whether machine is capable of manufacturing to the required precision and if its capable the values of the parameters will be provided , this will save most of the time of decision making
Inspection is a non -value added activity in many industries resources are devoted to inspection and quality control without adding value to the customer’s final product this leads towards cost increments that are not justified, with an automated system for inspection the HMM will achieve 100 inspection and will also lead towards real time process and product inspection using computer vision
Desktop manufacturing is becoming new industrial revolution , with desktop sized CNC machines capable of full functionality of a commercial CNC the cost of manufacturing can be considerable reduced along with energy and over head costs, desktop manufacturing also gives flexibility in order fulfillment and reduces bottlenecks on big CNC machines if are properly planned for scheduled work orders, desktop manufacturing also gives flexibility with distant manufacturing.
Some people buy vehicles that are imported from countries like Japan, America , Germany and other auto- manufacturing companies in other parts of the world , the problem they face is the availability of the spare parts , if some minor spare part of interior is broken they will have 1 option of importing the part , with HMM, they can 3-D print the part of their need
Technical Details of Final DeliverableFollowing are the technical description of the final deliverable
- A CNC Flexible Milling and 3D printing Machine
- Automated inspection system embedded in the machine
| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 69380 | |||
| Cross Slide | Equipment | 2 | 9500 | 19000 |
| Mach 3 CNC Controller | Equipment | 1 | 850 | 850 |
| Stepper Motors Used Nema 23 | Equipment | 3 | 1200 | 3600 |
| Stepper Motor Driver Tb 6600 | Equipment | 3 | 1500 | 4500 |
| 500 watt DC Spindle Motor with ER 11 Collet | Equipment | 1 | 19000 | 19000 |
| DC Motor Driver 550 Watts | Equipment | 1 | 2500 | 2500 |
| Mk8 3-D printer extruder | Equipment | 1 | 3250 | 3250 |
| Silicon Head Bed | Equipment | 1 | 1200 | 1200 |
| Stainless Steel Sheets for Heat Bed | Equipment | 2 | 1500 | 3000 |
| RX C 100 Temperature Controller | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| W 1209 Temperature Controller | Equipment | 1 | 280 | 280 |
| Solid State Relay | Equipment | 1 | 450 | 450 |
| Milling Bits | Equipment | 10 | 100 | 1000 |
| Structure of Machine | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| 48 Volt DC power Supply | Equipment | 1 | 3750 | 3750 |