Abstract
Highly functional mill turrets have been developed and continuously improved to shorten the manufacturing time and enable multiple uses. Among these, a mill turret with B-axis rotary table was developed. The B-axis rotary table should be evaluated for structural integrity. Moreover, its worm and worm gear for transmitting power should be able to endure fatigue damage. Therefore, this article presents a structural analysis of this type of B-axis rotary table and confirms its static stability by comparing the stress results to the allowable stress levels. Next, the dynamic stability of the rotary table was investigated via a mode analysis and a harmonic analysis in a range determined by the results of a modal analysis. Finally, a worm gear set, the main part that drives the rotary table, is analyzed for fatigue and to estimate its lifetime. The results of the fatigue analysis allowed a prediction of the life of the worm gear set. The analytical results show that the B-axis rotary table has good structural integrity.