Buffing technology, which is mainly a hand skill, has been developed by imitating the operation of experts. “To improve the efficiency and to shorten the time of this technology transfer, we digitized and visualized buffing technology, and investigated the characteristics of the polishing technology of an expert master craftsman in Shinshu, an experienced worker with 3 years of experience, and other inexperienced workers. We developed a compact polishing force-measuring device to measure the three-component force of polishing holding the device directly in the hand. The polishing forces of the expert and the experienced worker were of a trapezoidal wave type, while the inexperienced worker had a disordered waveform. Frequency analysis of the waveform clarified that the expert moved the material to be polished parallel and smoothly with respect to the buff. In addition, the expert polished with greater force and with a larger amount of abrasive than the experienced worker, resulting in better surface roughness. Inexperienced workers who learned from the digital data of the expert showed good polishing force waveforms within a relatively short time. The digitization and visualization of buffing technology led to improvement of efficiency of technology transfer.

In recent years, products have become smaller and more multifunctional. Therefore, the importance of process consolidation of various processes is increasing. Here, we propose process consolidation by laser quenching forming, involving a combination of laser quenching and laser forming on a compact machine tool, for thin steel sheets. This study was performed to seek a means of improving surface melting, which is a problem in the proposed method. Defocusing was incorporated to change the energy density. Furthermore, it was integrated with origami engineering as an application of laser quenching forming. The results indicated that it is possible to prevent the surface from melting and that various material properties can be imparted by heat treatment by final laser scanning. We also demonstrated the possibility of integrating laser quenching forming and origami engineering by creating a leaf spring shape.