VCS – Volumetric Compensation System increases production precision

VCS (Volumetric Compensation System) is the latest component in the SINUMERIK 840D sl, offered by CNC Design, for reinforcing the position of technology leader held by Siemens. It is especially suited to heavy machining in the aerospace industry.

Volumetric Compensation enables geometric residual errors from three- and five-axis Cartesian machine tools to be compensated for using CNC methods (no external additional hardware is required). Errors in position, straightness, roll, pitch and yaw of machine elements can greatly influence the accuracy of large machine tools. VCS compensates for these errors with 23 compensation values per point. 

Such errors can only be reduced at great cost when using machine manufacturing methods. The volumetric compensation is of special importance for large machines. Commissioning volumetric compensation (calibration) requires the technical measurements of individual error curves for positioning, straightness, rolls, pitch, yaw and perpendicularity of the feed axes of the machine in question. This will be done using a 3D laser scanner by the machinery construction OEM itself or by an appropriate service provider.