FI80223B - FOERFARANDE FOER BEARBETNING AV PLAOTDELAR MED EN MEKATRONISK VERKTYGSMASKIN. - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for substantially continuous machining or shaping of sheet pieces from sheet material, wherein only part of the sheet material at a time is under machining. In the method the sheet material is fed in steps longitudinally forwards; on the surface of the sheet, in the direction perpendicular to its travel direction, there have been positioned in parallel typically several workpieces; and the machining is carried out by machining methods appropriate in each particular case and by using corresponding tools. The tool holders designed for the purpose of attaching various machine tools, and situated at least on one side of the sheet, can be moved and guided at least as one entity in a direction perpendicular to the travel direction of the sheet, starting from the first longitudinal edge of the sheet and ending at the other longitudinal edge of the sheet, the machine tools in use carrying out their machining step during this transfer, synchronically in accordance with predetermined sequencing. When the transfer is repeated from the first edge of the sheet to the other edge of the sheet the workpieces have been fitted to adjoin one another without steps in the travel direction of the sheet.

Description

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Method for machining plate parts with a mechatronic machine tool - Förfarande för bearbetning av plätdelar med en mekatronisk verktygsmaskin

The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of claim 1 for machining sheet metal parts from a continuous strip-like sheet material, such as a rolled metal sheet or a sheet material in sheets, by means of a mechatronic machine tool.

Sheet metal parts can be machined from sheet material by a number of different methods. If we consider the entire work chain from, for example, a sheet material on a roll to a finished sheet product, in the processing of which several machining methods have been applied, the method combinations can be divided at the roughest level into small series production and large series production.

In small series, the plate parts are usually machined by first cutting the plate into strips, after which the strips are cut into pieces of suitable length. After this, the machining of the pieces is continued as needed by punching, drilling, notching, etc. With this method, the tool costs are reasonably low and the delivery time is short. Manufacturing costs are high due to multiple work steps and multiple transfers between workstations. Dimensional accuracy is poor.

The latest equipment for small series production is the so-called sheet metal work centers, where machining takes place by punching, nibbling and laser cutting. The characteristics of sheet metal work centers are generally as follows: - good dimensional accuracy, - standard tools can be used, - standard sheet sizes can be used, - short delivery time, - very expensive equipment, 2 80223 - high capital cost in manufacturing costs, - difficult and expensive organization of unmanned production, competitive.

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One way to process sheet material in these sheet metal work centers is to first cut the sheet material from the roll into sheets, which are automatically transferred to the machining center itself. In the machining center, the sheet is machined by one or more of the above methods, in which case the tools themselves are fixed and the machining point is guided into place by moving the sheet. Such equipment is large in size and also very expensive.

The strip-like sheet material in small series has been treated by incineration methods and, in a completely analogous manner, also by a laser cutter. Here, the paucity of machining method options, i.e., only one working method, limits the applications due to either lack of dimensional accuracy or low speed 20. A low speed is required if the part has a large cutting length in relation to its size and the shapes to be cut are such that they can be more easily made by other machining methods.

25 Punching has also been applied to the processing of strip-like sheet material. In this method, the strip is fed forward at transfer intervals at least equal to the size of the final product, whereby the cutting and detachment of the product from the strip is synchronous with this transfer. The method further comprises a beam containing punching tools displaceable transverse to the direction of movement 30 of the plate. With these tools, the punching takes place after, by moving the plate by a suitable step in the longitudinal direction forward and the tool bar in the transverse direction of a suitable dimension, the tool or tools are at the intended position.

35 The problem with this method is also the following: (1)

Longitudinal movement occurs only in incremental steps and by moving the plate, resulting in inaccuracy 3 80223 and detrimental limitations on the shape of the part; (2) the working method is limited to one, i.e., piercing; (3) the pieces are cut from the entire width of the plate at one time, in which case either a) only one piece is cut across the entire width, which in turn limits the size of the piece or requires the plate to be cut to the correct width in advance, or b) if several pieces are in parallel, several similar cutting tools parallel to each other and aligned to the above punch, resulting in complex and expensive tools; (4) Interleaving the shapes of the final product so that the surface area of the sheet is utilized efficiently is only possible in special cases.

Large series production takes place with presses and feeders 15 from a reel of strip pre-cut to the correct width. Machining is done with a series tool, in which case the workpiece is completed in one press. The advantages of this method are good dimensional accuracy and low manufacturing costs if the manufacturing batch is large enough. The disadvantages are: 20 - long delivery time (tool making, pre-cutting of the reel), - expensive tool (usually only suitable for the production of one product), 25 - pre-cutting of the reel, some of the raw material goes to waste, - the right amount of pre-cut tape there are too few products left over or the tape is left over, - production cannot be carried out unmanned until the end of the tape-30 lan, - in small series production, production costs are high.

The main disadvantages of current machining methods are either the fact that the production of the final product has to be divided into many 35 sub-work steps for different machines or the need to invest in an unreasonably complex and expensive machine. In both cases, the costs become too high.

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A further difficulty is compounded by the fact that, whichever solution is chosen in the above case, it is still necessary to decide whether the end result is a set of devices suitable for small-scale production or large-scale production, in which case the second alternative suffers accordingly. A common drawback in all other methods and method combinations, except for incineration / laser cutting, is the significant loss of material between the cut patterns or between the cut pattern and the edge of the strip. The disadvantage of the Polt-10 to / laser cut, on the other hand, was the use of only one working method, which is not suitable for all parts.

The following requirements are now set for the method of processing: 15 1) It must be possible to use standard stock as raw material, either straight or rolled, so that it is not cut into sheets or strips corresponding to the width of the product throughout manufacture. This must be done in order to substantially reduce the work steps, substantially reduce the number of material options and substantially reduce the wasted material.

2) The method must be such that, when used, it must be possible to utilize at least almost all known methods of working, such as piercing, gnawing, drilling, laser cutting, etc., in freely selectable combinations.

3) The method must be such that, when used, the type of tool can be selected individually to match the size of each of the 30 batches. For example, a small series is made by laser cutting and drilling, a larger series by multi-stage punching and cutting, and a very large series by a conventional press serial tool.

4) The product must be replaceable at any time without additional loss of material 35.

5) The method must be easily automated so that no continuous manning is required.

6) The achievable dimensional accuracy must be good.

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None of the above-described known methods or combinations thereof achieve all of the above objects.

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By means of the method according to the invention, a decisive improvement is obtained in all the above-mentioned drawbacks. To achieve this, the method according to the invention is characterized by what is set forth in the characterizing part of claim 1.

The most important advantages of the invention are the following: 15 - Standard plates and a standard strip reel can be used as a raw material, and - many different parts can be produced by combining standard tools, - high dimensional accuracy, 20 - low manufacturing costs even in small series, - the cheapest possible raw material , - less raw material loss than other methods, - full tape reels, eg 10,000 kg / reel, can be used, allowing production to continue unmanned for the entire reel 25, eg 400 hours, - production can be controlled by computer; in which case all the functions of the undertaking can be carried out by computer, 11 - the further processing of the workpiece can be easily carried out by manipulators or robots, 30 - can be directly integrated into an automatic production line, - tool changes and settings can be automated, drilling, punching, cutting, drawing, milling, gnawing, plasma cutting, laser cutting, - workpiece quality assurance can be performed immediately by computer 100%, - most raw materials can be processed, 6 80223 - exactly the required amount can be produced products. Residual material can be used for other production as standard sizes are used.

In the following, the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic axonometric view of an embodiment according to an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 shows a schematic side view of an embodiment according to the embodiment of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 shows schematically a product interleaving method on the plate, Fig. 4 Fig. 5 schematically shows another way of interleaving products on a plate made possible by the invention, Fig. 6 shows a product form that can be easily made by the method according to the invention.

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Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the invention in an overview. In that application, the machining method is perforation, but the use of another machining method only changes a single tool, not the method according to the invention or the method of using them together or separately.

In Figures 1 and 2, the sheet raw material 15 comes from a sheet roll 5, which is standard stock. The feeding of the plate is carried out here by means of a power machine 13 and rollers 10, between which the plate 15 and, between them, the plate 15 are moved the required distance forward. Other types of transfer devices can be used. In this case, three hydraulic presses 8 are attached to the tool holder body 9, with two punching points 2 and one upper blade 1 of the cutter 35 as tools. Opposite these are punch pads 4 and a lower cutter blade 3 attached to the same frame 9. This is possible in the form of which the upper and lower tools are fastened to the branches at corresponding points, for example by means of mounting plates, which are not shown in this figure. The body 9 of the tool holder is arranged, for example, on guides 11, which may be several and / or arranged differently. The body 9 is moved transversely to the direction of movement 16 of the plate 15 in the direction 17 by a transfer device 12, for example in the form of a ball screw, by means of a power machine 14.

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The workpieces are machined and detached from the plate 15 here transversely to the direction of movement 16 of the plate, starting from the first edge 18 of the plate 15. In the first machining step, the front perforator 2 makes a hole In the next step, the front punches 2 make the first hole of the second workpiece at this workpiece b and the latter punches 2 make the second hole at the same 20 first pieces a removing the two pieces of debris 7. In the third step the punches operate at the workpieces c and b as above, 4 removes the first finished workpiece 6 from point a. The punches then move to point d and c and the cutter to point b, where the above.

work steps are repeated. When the cutter 3, 4 has removed the last finished workpiece in this row at point m, the inserts being outside the second edge 19 of the plate, the whole frame 9 with its tools moves back to the first edge 18 and starts repeating the above-described work chain towards the second edge 19 of the plate. until the plate 15 has been used or the ordered set of workpieces has been made, in which case either the plate roll is replaced or in the latter case the tools are replaced and the machining of a new part is started, for example from the same plate onwards, if the material remains the same.

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When operating with the method described above, only one tool corresponding to one piece is required, which only needs to be aligned with respect to each other, whereby tool costs remain low and accuracy is obtained. The wasted material is made as small as it is theoretically. the machining method in general can be, because pre-cutting into strips is not required. The material change interval is made long, because the roll has considerably more raw material than, for example, in the front streets, in rolls corresponding to the width of one product. Material savings are further enhanced by the fact that when starting from the plate edge 18 working up to the edge 19, the products 20 can be interleaved in different ways in the direction 16 of the plate 15, as in Fig. 3, or in the direction 17 of the tool holder body 9. or in both directions simultaneously on the entire surface of the plate 15. In Figure 3, where the length of the workpiece is A, a saving of B is thus obtained (this is only to illustrate the principle that a more efficient layout can be found for the workpieces in question). The workpiece 20 can be exchanged in the middle of the plate for the workpiece 21, the only boundary condition being that the plate material is the same. Such bidirectional interleaving and switching is not possible in other machining method compounds.

Perhaps one of the most preferred embodiments of the invention has been described above. However, the method is suitable for use with much more versatile equipment. There can be considerably more tools 2, 4 and 1,3, they can be easily changed, for example by means of bolts or automatically, and their positions can therefore be easily changed. When adding control logic, such as numerical control, to the method, a gnawing function is provided, for example. In this case, the punch can be adapted to make, for example, 50 stitches, while the body 9 moves at a constant small step 1a speed, after which the other tools make one stitch. This gnawing can be diversified by making one or more tool holders 23 in the tool holder body 9 which can be guided in different directions.

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Fig. 4 shows such an arrangement, in which the tool holder 23 is arranged to move by means of a transfer device 37 in a direction 22 which is transverse or perpendicular to the directions of movement 17 of the body. In this case, the gnawing, milling or laser cutting can be guided simultaneously in two mutually perpendicular directions 17 and 22, which are at the same time independent of one another. This arrangement also avoids moving the plate 15 during machining of one row of workpieces, which would easily cause errors in the workpiece. From the control point of view, the most advantageous way to move the tool holder body 9 and to move the tool holders relative to the body is to use a machine member which provides a linear transfer, of which there are several types.

The tool holder body 9 may have a plurality of tool holders 23, 25 and 27, all of which may be controllable during work, such as a holder 23 or adjustable only during a tool change, and to which one or more tool sets 24, 26 and 27 may be attached. the tool, on the other hand, may have several tools, for example a hydraulic press with several pliers. Each of these tool sets can be of any type of machining method with control means and power sources. Of course, a common power source can also be used if necessary. The tool holders or part thereof may be located above the plate 15, e.g. the upper arm of the body 9, or the tool holders or part thereof may be located below the plate 15, e.g. the lower branch of the body 9, or the tool holders may be on both sides of the plate 15 and used simultaneously. In this case, the asymmetry of the machining mark in the thickness direction of the plate and its effect on the finished workpiece can be taken into account. For example, different holes in the same workpiece can be punched or cut from different directions. The tools attached to the tool holders can perform any of the machining methods permitted by the boundary conditions of a single machine structure, such as drilling, punching, shearing, gnawing, plasma cutting, milling, etc., as well as forming methods such as edging, edging, etc. In this application, a patent with its claims is considered to also mean shaping.

A tool holder body 9, or an assembly of tool holders generally movable and controllable transverse to the direction of movement 16 of the plate 15; with respect to this, movable and controllable tool holders 23, 25, 27, etc., which can be moved by linear motion or by eccentrics or the like relative to the body; the independently used tools attached to each tool holder form a hierarchical entity (cf. decision trees, etc.). Such an entity is capable of being controlled by microprocessors or complete computers, and in particular microcomputers, in which case their programming can be done simply by following the above-mentioned machining hierarchy, the main program subroutine hierarchy 1a. Although the body, the tool holders and the tools with their devices 1 are in themselves independent of each other, their operation must, of course, be correctly sequenced relative to each other, i.e. they must be synchronous with each other.

By using sufficiently versatile adjustable or controllable tool holders 23, 25, 27, etc., and by using a sufficiently versatile and flexible logical control device, such as a microcomputer, e.g. the workpieces are placed very sparingly on the plate 15. In Fig. 5, for example, every other row of workpieces is a mirror image of the adjacent rows. In reality, the workpieces can be placed on the plate in arbitrary positions, for example each individual workpiece 29-36 in a different position, as long as the surface coverage of the plate 15 is effective and the machining itself takes place across the plate 15.

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Efficient control and the versatile possibility of moving the tools according to the invention also make it possible to standardize the tools. This means that each hole, combination of holes and contour of the part does not require a separate tool made just for that purpose. For example, paragraph a) of Fig. 6, if done in series with an echo squeezer in a press, requires a tool with 32 inserts and 1 notching tool, which is expensive; (b) if it is made without 1aser-1, processing is slow; (c) if it is performed in several stages using traditional engineering techniques, the machining is both slow and expensive. Using the method according to the invention, machining methods and tools suitable for the ordered series size and delivery time can be selected, for example: holes 37 with punch 1, holes 38 with punch 2, all small holes 39 (due to large plate thickness) with drill 3, holes 40 and contour 1 a. In this case, the bores are x-y-guided numerically as well as the laser cut. As the series size increases, piercing and cutting will proceed as appropriate.

With regard to the tool holder body 9 and the details of the machining technique, it should be noted that if the body is similar to the U-shape shown, the last tool in each row in the direction of movement 17 has a cutting step 1 to obtain the removed plate area corresponding to the removed workpiece. for the center of the shape. If the upper tool holders are guided without a U-shaped body, for example numerically, at the lower abutments in question, or if the machining methods are such that no lower abutments are required, the waste material can be allowed to remain in web form, since its discharge path is always free. In most cases, however, it is most advantageous to cut out the waste material, because then the leading edge of the plate 15 in its direction of movement 16 remains clean, which makes it easy to continue the work. Also transferring the final spool of the disc to storage and handling, if the work is terminated at such a stage, it is possible without a step of working.

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The invention is not limited to the examples described above, but the method can be modified and various machining methods and machine elements as well as information technology, not mentioned here, can be used in its application.

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Claims (8)

A method for periodically continuously machining or forming sheet pieces from a non-volatile sheet material, wherein only a portion of the sheet material is to be machined at a time, the sheet material is fed stepwise and only in one longitudinal direction (16) forward to the machining area and the plate surface the machining unit comprising one or more workpieces (20), tool holders and tools (1, 2, 3, 4, 24, 26, 28) is moved only together in a direction substantially substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the plate (17) from one longitudinal edge of the plate to to the second longitudinal edge, while the sheet material (15) remains in place and when repeating this one-way direct transfer of the sheet material after the longitudinal transfer of the sheet material, the workpieces of this machining strip (I) are arranged to interleave or join the steps to other workpieces of adjacent machining strips (II) in the direction of movement of the plate, characterized in that according to the simultaneously or separately machining method or combination of machining methods, one or more machining tools are attached to tool holders (8, 23, 25, 27) on at least one side of the plate (15). that the machining tools (1, 2, 3, 4, 24, 26, 28) attached to one tool holder and their actuators can be controlled to operate with different machining tools attached to the same tool holder with their actuators but in synchronism with them with a pre-planned machining operation and that the machining unit during said one-way direct transfer (17) according to a predetermined control based on a smooth small-step step. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the tool holders can be moved and guided inside the machining unit in a direction (22) transverse to the direction of movement (17) between the machining unit and the longitudinal edges of the plate. i4 80223 Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tool holders (8, 23, 25, 27) which are displaceable relative to the machining unit formed by the tool holders (8, 23, 25, 27) are controlled to operate with different but mutually synchronous movements. . Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tool holders are arranged above and below the plate to be machined for use in attaching and using the respective tools and for machining the workpiece simultaneously or differently on both sides thereof. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the respective upper tool (1, 2) required by the machining method is aligned with the corresponding required lower tool (3, 4) or, conversely, forms a fixed connection between them in mechanical use. Method according to one of Claims 2 to 5, characterized in that a linear displacement device (12) is used for moving the machining unit and for moving the tool holders relative to the machining unit. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control of the tool drives and the tool holders is implemented electrically by microprocessors or microcomputers, so that each machining function is hierarchically corresponding to a corresponding function performed by the software. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that during the one-way direct transfer (17) of the machining unit the last machining unit carries out the cutting step of the sheet material such that the next leading edge of the sheet material (15) in the direction of movement (16) from the first longitudinal edge to the next machining strip on its second longitudinal edge. 5