CN114683083A - Tool magazine assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A tool magazine assembly can drive a plurality of tool sleeves to move through a chain, and the tool sleeves can be prevented from being improperly touched and clamped at the turning positions of the chain, so that the chain can be flexibly designed in a steering mode.

Description

Tool magazine assembly

Technical Field

The invention relates to automatic processing equipment; in particular to a tool magazine assembly which can provide the tool storage and tool changing requirements needed in the automatic processing process.

Background

Common tool magazine systems for storing tools and providing tool changing requirements can be generally divided into disc type tool magazines, bamboo hat type tool magazines and chain type tool magazines according to the capacity, the appearance and the tool taking mode of the tool magazines, and the common characteristics of the systems are that the systems can bear and operate a plurality of tools. Although the development of the existing tool magazine system is well developed, the improvement and refinement of the problem of the influence of the number of tool sleeves for accommodating the tool holders in the tool magazine and the load of the tool sleeves combined with the tool holders (tools are inserted in the tool holders) on the smoothness of the operation of the tool sleeves are still the minds of the related manufacturers.

Taking the chain type tool magazine as an example, no matter whether the tool sheath is designed to be pushed outwards so that the tool changing arm of the automatic tool changing mechanism can buckle the tool bar on the tool catching sleeve, or the tool sheath is designed to be pivoted only in the original place so that the tool changing arm can buckle the tool bar on the tool catching sleeve smoothly, the tool sheath is combined on the outer side of the chain capable of revolving of the chain type tool magazine, namely one side deviating from the revolving center, such as the invention patent of the invention of the tool magazine chain frame guiding device No. I494190 and the utility model of the invention of the tool magazine for the tool machine No. M457602. The knife sleeves disclosed in the patent technology are all located outside the chain, and in order to avoid the situation that the adjacent knife sleeves are improperly clamped against each other in the running process, the running path of the chain cannot be designed to be reversely folded, namely, the chain can only run in a single direction, and the situation limits the number of the knife sleeves capable of being carried by the knife magazine.

In addition, the known chain type tool magazine is provided with supporting plates at both sides of the chain along the running path of the chain for supporting the tool case, thereby improving the stability of the chain during running. However, the cutter sleeve and the supporting plate are in surface contact, and the contact friction force generated when the number of the cutter sleeves is increased, the load capacity of a driving mechanism (such as a motor) is increased, and the cutter sleeve and the supporting plate are in long-term contact to cause abrasion and generate noise.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention is directed to a tool magazine assembly, which can increase the number of tool sleeves carried by a chain and make the chain run smoothly.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a tool magazine assembly including a main body, a track, a chain, a plurality of tool holders, a tool holder retaining structure, and a tool retracting mechanism. Wherein the body has a mounting surface; the track is combined on the mounting surface of the body, the track is a loop consisting of a running section and a cutter taking section, the cutter taking section is provided with a first guide rail and a second guide rail which are arranged at equal intervals, the first guide rail is provided with a first guide groove and a first constraint surface, the second guide rail is provided with a second guide groove and a second constraint surface, the first constraint surface and the second constraint surface are arranged oppositely, and the preset position of the cutter taking section is defined as a cutter reversing position; the chain comprises a plurality of chain link blocks which are connected in series, each chain link block is provided with a first guide wheel and a second guide wheel, and the two sides of the first guide wheel and the second guide wheel are respectively provided with a restraint piece; the cutter sleeves are respectively pivoted on a corresponding chain link block and can perform pivoting swing in a first rotating direction and a second rotating direction between a first position and a second position by taking the pivoting part as a fulcrum, wherein the first rotating direction and the second rotating direction are opposite; the cutter sleeve holding structure comprises a front blocking piece at the cutter taking section corresponding to the track and a rear blocking piece on each link block, wherein the front blocking piece limits the cutter sleeve not to pivot in the first rotation direction, and the rear blocking piece limits the cutter sleeve not to pivot in the second rotation direction; the cutter backing mechanism is combined with the body and comprises a push-pull piece, and the push-pull piece is controlled to drive the cutter sleeve positioned at the cutter backing position to swing between the first position and the second position.

The invention has the advantages that the steering of the chain can be designed in a more flexible mode, the increase of the number of the knife sleeves is facilitated, and the stability of the chain in operation can be improved by the configuration relationship between the guide rail and the guide wheel on the chain.

Drawings

FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of a tool magazine assembly in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a simplified front view of the tool magazine assembly of the above preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the tool magazine assembly according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4, showing the blade sleeve in a first position;

FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the components of the tool magazine assembly in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a side view of a tool holder of the components shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a side view showing the knife pouch in a second position; and

fig. 10 is a sectional view taken in the direction 10-10 of fig. 3.

[ notation ] to show

100 tool magazine assembly

10: main body

10a mounting surface

20: rail

22 guide plate

24 first guide rail

241 rail bar

24a first guide groove

24b first restraining surface

26 second guide rail

261 rail bar

26a second guide groove

26b second restraining surface

28: guide rail

281: rail bar

28a guide groove

30, chain

32 chain link block

32a screw hole

32b pin hole

34 first guide wheel

36: second guide wheel

38, roller wheel

40, knife pouch

40a front end

40b rear end

40c accommodating hole

40d, a pivot hole

42 bump

44, a back cutting plate

44a guide groove

46 front support part

48 rear support part

50-cutter sleeve holding structure

51 front stop

51a L-shaped baffle

52 rear stop

521 mounting plate

521a hole

522 pivot ear

522a hole

53: bolt

54 shaft lever

55 bearing seat

55a concave interface

56: pin

60 reverse cutter mechanism

61: saddle

62: cylinder body

63 push-pull member

64 reverse cutter pulley

65 guiding rod

66 fixed plate

67 wheel seat

70 automatic tool changing mechanism

72 cam box

74 motor

76 tool changing arm

80 drive motor

82 driving wheel

L is a cutter taking section

L1 base line

L2 axial line

G is a gap

P1 first position

P2 second position

T is the cutter arbor

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly illustrate the present invention, a preferred embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to fig. 1 to 3, a tool magazine assembly 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a chain type tool magazine capable of storing a plurality of tools, and the tool magazine assembly 100 includes a main body 10, a rail 20, a chain 30, a plurality of tool pockets 40, a pocket holding structure 50, a tool reversing mechanism 60, and an automatic tool changing mechanism 70. The body 10 is a solid structure and has a mounting surface 10a, and the rail 20 and the back-off mechanism 60 are combined on the mounting surface 10 a. The automatic tool changer 70 is coupled to the other side of the body 10 opposite to the mounting surface 10 a.

The rail 20 is a loop composed of a plurality of long strip structures and comprises a cutter taking section and a running section, and a guide plate 22 is additionally arranged at the turning position. It is defined herein that the portion of the track 20 corresponding to the reverse cutter mechanism 60 is a cutter-taking section L arranged along the horizontal direction, and the portion of the track 20 outside the cutter-taking section L is defined as a running section, please refer to fig. 4, the track 20 is composed of two guide rails arranged at equal intervals at the cutter-taking section L, respectively, a first guide rail 24 and a second guide rail 26, the track 20 is composed of a single guide rail 28 at the running section, in the present embodiment, the guide rails (24,26,28) are all formed by the parallel rails of two long-strip-shaped structures, and as shown in fig. 5 and fig. 6, the first guide rail 24 is formed with the first guide groove 24a between the adjacent rails 241, and the bottom surface of each rail 241 defines a first restraining surface 24b, the second guide rail 26 also has a second guide groove 26a formed between the adjacent rails 261, the top surface of each rail 261 is defined as a second restraining surface 26b, and the first restraining surface 24b is disposed opposite to the second restraining surface 26 b. Referring to fig. 10, the track of the guide rail 28 constituting the running section is connected to the first guide rail 24 and is constituted by two rails 281 having the same constitution as the first guide rail 24, and a guide groove 28a is formed between the adjacent rails 281. In addition, the middle part of the cutting section L is defined as a reverse cutting position.

The chain 30 includes a plurality of chain link blocks 32 connected in series and capable of swinging about the connecting portion as a pivot, as shown in fig. 7, each chain link block 32 is respectively connected with a first guide wheel 34 and a second guide wheel 36 at two opposite sides, and one or more restraining members, such as a roller 38, are respectively disposed at two sides of the first guide wheel 34 and the second guide wheel 36, the guide wheels and the roller can rotate about a central line, and the central line passing through the first guide wheel 34 and the second guide wheel 36 is orthogonal to the central line passing through the roller 38 on a projection plane. A base line L1 is defined to pass through the link block 32 in a parallel manner through the center line of the roller 38, i.e., the first guide wheel 34 and the second guide wheel 36 are symmetrically located on both sides of the base line L1 at equal distances, and the link block 32 has a plurality of screw holes 32a and pin holes 32b around the base line L1.

The cutter sleeves 40 are pivotally connected to a corresponding link block 32 to be capable of swinging, the cutter sleeve 40 has a cylindrical basic body and has a front end 40a and a rear end 40b opposite to each other, the cutter sleeve 40 has a receiving hole 40c recessed from the front end 40a to the rear end 40b, the cutter bar T enters and exits the receiving hole 40c along an axis L2 passing through the receiving hole 40c, and a cutter locking structure (not shown) is hidden at the bottom of the receiving hole 40c for stabilizing the cutter bar T in the receiving hole 40 c. As shown in fig. 7 and 8, a protrusion 42 is integrally formed on an outer wall of each knife sheath 40, a detachable backup plate 44 is locked on the protrusion 42, the backup plate 44 has a guide groove 44a obliquely cut to form an open port at one end, and a cutting direction of the guide groove 44a and the axis L2 keep a predetermined included angle; the outer wall of each knife pouch 40 is further provided with a front abutment 46 located in the radial direction, and the front abutment 46 of the present embodiment is formed by a roller and keeps a gap with the back-up blade 44. The rear end 40b of the knife pouch 40 has a rear abutting element 48, and the rear abutting element 48 of the present embodiment is formed by integrally protruding the rear end 40b of the knife pouch 40, but it may also be formed by locking a protrusion on the rear end 40b of the knife pouch 40.

As shown in fig. 4 to 8, the tool sheath retaining structure 50 includes a front stop 51 disposed on the tool-taking section L corresponding to the track 20, and a rear stop 52 disposed on each link block 32. The front stopper 51 is composed of two L-shaped baffles 51a, the two L-shaped baffles 51a are fixed on the rail 241 of the first guide rail 24 relatively far from the main body 10 at a distance, and the distance forms a gap G corresponding to the position of the middle of the cutting section L. In other embodiments, the front stop may be a single L-shaped stop, and the notch is reserved at the position corresponding to the reverse cutting position. The rear stopper 52 of the tool holder retaining structure 50 is an inverted-U-shaped flap including a mounting plate 521 and two pivot lugs 522 connected to the mounting plate 521, the rear stopper 52 is fixed to the link block 32 by passing through the holes 521a of the mounting plate 521 and the screw holes 32a of the link block 32 and inserting into the pin holes 32b through the bolts 53 and the pins 56, respectively, and the tool holder 40 is pivoted to the link block 32 by passing through the shaft 54 through the holes 522a of the pivot lugs 522 and the pivot holes 40d of the tool holder 40. In the above, the knife sheath 40 is indirectly pivoted to the link block 32 through the rear stopper 52, but in practice, the link block may be integrally formed with a pivot lug structure so that the knife sheath can be directly pivoted to the link block. In addition, the tool sleeve holding structure 50 further includes a seat 55 (see fig. 4), the seat 55 is disposed on the main body 10 and located below the second rail 26 of the track 20, and the seat 55 has a concave interface 55a corresponding to the position of the reverse cutting at the middle portion of the cutting section L.

The reverse cutter mechanism 60 includes a saddle 61, a cylinder 62, a push-pull member 63, a reverse cutter pulley 64, and a guide rod 65. The saddle 61 is combined with the mounting surface 10a of the body 10, the cylinder body 62 and the push-pull member 63 form a cylinder structure capable of driving the push-pull member 63 to move by controlling the pressure change inside the cylinder body 62, wherein the cylinder body 62 is disposed on the saddle 61, the push-pull member 63 is a piston rod, one end of the piston rod is located inside the cylinder body 62, the other end of the piston rod passes through the saddle 61 and is connected with a fixing plate 66, a reverse-U-shaped wheel seat 67 is fixedly connected below the fixing plate 66, the reverse-knife pulley 64 is pivoted to the wheel seat 67, the guiding rod 65 passes through the saddle 61 in a manner parallel to the push-pull member 63, and one end of the guiding rod 66 is connected with the fixing plate 66, when the push-pull member 63 generates linear reciprocating displacement, the guiding rod 65 can be synchronously driven to move, and the guiding rod 65 plays a role in enhancing the stability of the push-pull member 63 during displacement. The above-mentioned knife reversing pulley 64 can enter the guiding groove 44a of the knife plate 44 on the knife sleeve 40 located at the knife reversing position, and push down or pull up the knife sleeve 40 along with the up-and-down movement of the pushing and pulling member 63, so that the knife sleeve 40 located at the knife reversing position can be pivoted between the first position P1 shown in fig. 5 and the second position P2 shown in fig. 9 by using the shaft rod 54 as a fulcrum, wherein when the knife sleeve 40 is located at the first position P1, the axis L2 coincides with the baseline L1, and when the knife sleeve 40 is located at the second position P2, the knife sleeve 40 abuts against the concave interface 55a of the seat 55. It is defined herein that the swinging direction of the knife pouch 40 from the first position P1 of horizontal arrangement to the second position P2 of vertical arrangement is a first rotating direction, and the swinging direction of the knife pouch 40 from the second position P2 of vertical arrangement to the first position P1 of horizontal arrangement is a second rotating direction, i.e. the first rotating direction and the second rotating direction are opposite directions. It should be noted that the mounting position of the knife reversing pulley 64 is preferably located at a side deviating from the up-and-down moving path of the pushing and pulling member 63, and as shown in fig. 5, the guiding groove 44a of the knife reversing plate 44 is disposed obliquely to ensure smooth guiding of the knife pushing sleeve 40.

Referring to fig. 2, the automatic tool changer 70 includes a cam box 72, a motor 74, and a tool changer arm 76. The cam box 72 is combined with the body 10, the motor 74 and the tool changing arm 76 are respectively located at two sides of the cam box 72, the motor 74 provides power for driving the tool changing arm 76 to perform tool changing, and the tool changing arm 76 is used for grabbing the tool bar T in the tool holder 40 which is stopped at the tool reversing position and located at the second position P2 so as to perform tool changing operation. Since the automatic tool changer 70 is a well-known technique, it will not be described in detail herein.

The above description of the structure of the tool magazine assembly 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided below, which is capable of effectively increasing the number of tool pockets for carrying tools and improving the stability of the chain during operation.

As shown in fig. 5 to 7, the knife sheath 40 of the present embodiment is pivotally mounted on one side of the link block 32, and the knife sheath 40 is horizontally disposed when being in the first position P1, and the axis L2 passing through the center of the knife sheath 40 coincides with the base line L1 of the link block 32, so that the knife sheath 40 does not generate an improper mutual engagement at the reverse turning position of the operation path of the chain 30 when changing position along with the movement of the chain 30 due to the above structural relationship, which improves the disadvantage that the chain disclosed in the above-mentioned patents such as taiwan publication No. I494190 "knife magazine chain frame guide device" and publication No. M457602 "chain magazine for tool machine" can only rotate in one direction but cannot reverse turn to change the operation path due to the outer side (i.e. the side deviating from the turning center) of the chain at the turning position. Therefore, under the limited area of the track that can be loaded on the main body 10, the tool magazine assembly of the present invention can be designed in a manner of multiple reverse turns because the track 20 and the chain 30 can change the running direction at will, and thus the length of the chain 30 is increased so that the chain 30 can load a larger number of tool pockets 40.

When the driving motor 80 drives the chain 30 to move along the rail 20 through the driving wheel 82, as shown in fig. 5, the first guide wheel 34 and the second guide wheel 36 of the link block 32 passing through the cutting section L of the rail 20 enter the first guide slot 24a of the first guide rail 24 and the second guide slot 26a of the second guide rail 26 respectively, the rollers 38 (restraining members) on both sides of the first guide wheel 34 contact the first restraining surface 24b on the bottom surface of the rail 241, and the rollers 38 (restraining members) on both sides of the second guide wheel 36 contact the second restraining surface 26b on the top surface of the rail 261, so that the link block 32 can move stably in the cutting section L due to the limitation in the up-down and left-right directions, and even if the link block 32 comes to the cutting position, the link block 32 is also limited in each direction without being stressed on one side. At the same time, the front stopper 46 of the tool sheath 40 abuts against the L-shaped stop 51a constituting the front stopper 51, so that the tool sheath 40 does not swing downward due to its own weight, in other words, the front stopper 51 of the sheath holding structure 50 restricts the tool sheath 40 from swinging in the first direction. It should be noted that the first rotation direction is counterclockwise in the state shown in fig. 5, but the first rotation direction is not necessarily counterclockwise depending on the position of the knife pouch 40, for example, the knife pouch 40 at the upper horizontal section of the track 20 shown in fig. 3 and 10 is clockwise in the state because the front stop 46 is located below the shaft 54.

When one of the chain blocks 32 moves to the cutter backing position, the guide groove 44a of the cutter backing plate 44 of the cutter sleeve 40 pivoted to the chain block 32 corresponds to the cutter backing pulley 64 of the cutter backing mechanism 60, when the pushing and pulling member 63 is controlled to move downward, the cutter backing pulley 64 pushes the cutter sleeve 40 backward along the trend to pivot in the first rotation direction, and the front abutting member 46 on the cutter sleeve 40 just passes through the gap G until the cutter sleeve 40 abuts against the concave interface 55a of the bearing seat 55 and stops at the second position P2, so that the cutter changing arm 76 can smoothly grasp the cutter bar T in the cutter sleeve 40.

In addition, the chain block 32 traveling through the traveling section of the rail 20 is limited by the first guide wheel 34 entering the guide groove 28a of the guide rail 28, and the guide plate 22 is additionally provided at the turning position of the rail 20, so that the chain 30 can stably travel. Since the chain 30 is mainly limited by the guide rail of the long structure, it is not necessary to additionally install a pallet on both sides of the chain 30 along the running path, so that the defect that the tool case of the conventional chain type tool magazine is easily touched with the pallet to generate excessive friction force can be improved, and the generation of noise can be effectively reduced. Although the rail 20 of the embodiment is not provided with a supporting plate, the knife pouch 40 at the upper horizontal section of the rail 20 tends to swing downward due to its own weight, the rear abutting piece 48 of the rear end 40b of the knife pouch 40 abuts against the mounting plate 521 of the rear stopper 52, so that the knife pouch 40 can be prevented from swinging downward improperly and kept in the horizontal direction of the first position P1, in other words, the rear stopper 52 in this state limits the knife pouch 40 from swinging in the second direction.

In conclusion, the tool magazine assembly can be designed in a more flexible mode because the steering of the chain is not limited by the position of the tool case any more, so that the tool magazine assembly is beneficial to the increase of the number of the tool cases; in addition, the rail is mainly configured by the guide rail of the long structure and the guide wheel on the chain, and the stability of the chain during operation can be improved. While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. A tool magazine assembly, comprising:

a body having a mounting surface;

the track is combined with the mounting surface of the body and comprises a loop formed by a running section and a cutter taking section, the cutter taking section of the track is provided with a first guide rail and a second guide rail which are arranged at equal intervals, the first guide rail is provided with a first guide groove and a first constraint surface, the second guide rail is provided with a second guide groove and a second constraint surface, the first constraint surface and the second constraint surface are arranged oppositely, and the preset position of the cutter taking section is defined as a cutter reversing position;

the chain comprises a plurality of chain link blocks which are connected in series, each chain link block is provided with a first guide wheel and a second guide wheel, and the two sides of the first guide wheel and the second guide wheel are respectively provided with a restraint piece;

the cutter sleeves are respectively pivoted on the corresponding chain link blocks and can perform pivoting swing in a first rotating direction and a second rotating direction between a first position and a second position by taking the pivoting parts as fulcrums, wherein the first rotating direction and the second rotating direction are opposite;

a cutter sleeve holding structure, which comprises a front blocking piece at the cutter taking section corresponding to the track and a rear blocking piece on each chain link block, wherein the front blocking piece limits the cutter sleeve not to pivot in the first rotation direction, and the rear blocking piece limits the cutter sleeve not to pivot in the second rotation direction; and

the cutter reversing mechanism is combined with the body and comprises a push-pull piece, and the push-pull piece is controlled to drive the cutter sleeve positioned at the cutter reversing position to swing between the first position and the second position.

2. The tool magazine assembly of claim 1, wherein each link block defines a base line, the first guide wheel and the second guide wheel are located on opposite sides of the base line, and each tool sleeve defines an axis, wherein the axis is coincident with the base line when the tool sleeve is in the first position.

3. The tool magazine assembly of claim 2, wherein a backup plate is attached to an outer wall of each of the tool sleeves, the backup plate has a guide groove, and a backup pulley is attached to an end of the pushing and pulling member of the backup mechanism, the backup pulley engaging with the guide groove of the backup plate on the tool sleeve at the backup position and entering the guide groove when the pushing and pulling member moves.

4. The tool magazine assembly of claim 3, wherein the backknife pulley is located on a side offset from a path of travel of the push-pull member, the guide slot of the backknife being an angled slot forming an angle with the axis.

5. The tool magazine assembly of claim 3, wherein the tool reversing mechanism comprises a saddle, a cylinder and a guiding rod, the saddle is coupled to the mounting surface of the body, the cylinder is disposed on the saddle, one end of the push-pull member is disposed inside the cylinder, the other end of the push-pull member passes through the saddle and is connected to the tool reversing pulley, the push-pull member is driven to linearly reciprocate by controlling the pressure inside the cylinder, and the guiding rod passes through the saddle and moves synchronously with the push-pull member.

6. The tool magazine assembly of claim 1, wherein the front stop of the tool sheath retaining structure is connected to the first guide rail and has at least one stop, the stop having a notch corresponding to the tool reversing position, each rear stop having a mounting plate and two pivot ears connected to the mounting plate, the mounting plate being connected to the corresponding link block; the rear end of each cutter sleeve is pivoted between the two pivoting lugs, the outer wall of each cutter sleeve is provided with a front abutting piece arranged on the radial direction and a rear abutting piece arranged on the rear end, and when the link block passes through the cutter taking section, the front abutting piece abuts against the baffle; when one of the chain link blocks moves to the cutter backing position, the push-pull piece of the cutter backing mechanism can drive the cutter sleeve corresponding to the cutter backing position to pivot, and the front support piece passes through the notch; when the rear propping piece is abutted to the mounting plate, the knife sleeve is kept at the first position.

7. The tool magazine assembly of claim 1, wherein the tool sheath retaining structure comprises a support seat disposed on the body, and the push-pull member of the tool reversing mechanism drives the tool sheath at the tool reversing position to pivot to the second position, so that the tool sheath abuts against the support seat.

8. The tool magazine assembly of claim 7, comprising an automatic tool changer coupled to the other side of the body opposite to the mounting surface, the automatic tool changer comprising a tool changing arm for grasping a tool bar abutting against the tool sleeve of the holder.

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