The increasing demand for miniaturized components from industries such as automotive, aerospace, and biomedical have caused an increasing interest in the fabrication of micro components. Whether the component is micro in size, or if it simply contains micro features such as micro channels, non-conventional techniques must be used. One such promising technique is micro machining, specifically micro-end milling. This is a scaled down version of conventional machining which offers relatively high material removal rate, is capable of complex geometries, and can utilize a broad range of materials.

However, micro milling is not simply conventional milling scaled down;​ a new set of problems arise such as tolerances and surface finish. Although current precision CNC machines are capable of table movements accurate to the micron, spindle and tool runout often exceed five microns. The result is that extremely fine details are not possible, such as trying to create a wall of five micrometer thickness. Another result is that surface finish, while still considered excellent by conventional means, is reduced f rom what micro-end

milling has the potential to deliver. Another important problem for the micro-end milling process is tool breakage. Tool breakage occurs frequently owing to the fragility of the slender tools.

The key to relating tool breakage, tolerances, and surface finish are milling instability (chatter) and runout;​ both of which increase cutting forces causing breakage and result in poor machining quality. This thesis investigates the use of receptance coupling (RC) for the prediction of micro tool tip dynamics so that chatter conditions can be predicted. This thesis also investigates the use of a magnetic bearing system that increases tool mode damping to suppress chatter while also reducing runout.

It was found that RC could be successfully implemented on micro tools and chatter conditions were successfully predicted and verified through milling experiments. The magnetic bearing system was found to be capable of doubling tool mode damping and reduced runout by 50%. The magnetic bearing system was also found able to correct for effects of eccentricity as well as runout, and provided a useful bandwidth up to 2,500 Hz.