Design and principles of an innovative compliant fast tool servo for precision engineering

The paper presents an innovative design of fast tool servo (FTS) by combining compliant mechanism (CM) and precision engineering (PE) so as to meet the stringent requirements of a one degree of freedom (1DOF) compact FTS. The design requirements of the FTS include: (a) 1 nm resolution, (b) 10–20 μm of range, (c) first natural frequency of over 1400 Hz, (d) compatibility with holding different diamond cutting tools, and (e) without fatigue of the compliant mechanism. Then FEA is used to evaluate the static and dynamic performance of the FTS. The preliminary results show that both the static and dynamic performances are matched to the design objectives.