FR2551684A1 - TOOL STATION ASSEMBLY FOR MACHINE TOOLS - Google Patents

Abstract

THE ASSEMBLY INCLUDES TWO BORES4, 6 MUTUALLY TRANSVERSAL IN WHICH ARE PLACED TOOL SUPPORTS14, 16 EACH CARRYING A CUTTING TOOL AT THEIR FRONT END, FREELY. THE FRONT ENDS OF THE BORES HAVE POSITIONING AND SUPPORT FACES8A, 10, 32, 34, 36A, 38A FOR THE CUTTING TOOLS, THESE CAN BE DRAWN IN ORDER TO COOPERATE FIRMLY WITH THEM BY MOVING THE SUPPORT FROM TOOL ASSOCIATED BACKWARD IN ITS BORE. THE BALEAGE4 IS LOCATED NEAR THE AXIAL10 SIDE FACE FOR THE USE OF SURFACING AND CUTTING TOOLS WITH A MINIMUM OF OBSTACLES; FOR THIS, THE POSITIONING FACES34, 38A, IN FRONT OF THE OTHER BORE6, ARE RECESSED IN RELATION TO THE ASSOCIATED LATERAL FACE, THIS OTHER BORE CAN BE USED FOR THE MOUNTING OF TOOLS, IN PARTICULAR A BAR OF BORE.

Description

1. The invention relates to a set of substation

  tools for machine tools, especially for lathe.

  A tool station for a lathe carries a certain cutting tool tree which is sequentially put into service by rotation of the station Typically, the station comprises a platform which has a certain number of collets which can be tightened on the cutting tools mounted along the edges of the platform to protrude from the corners of the platform, for their attachment to the pos10 te of tools The rotation of the station can then successively bring the tools to the active position Such an arrangement is relatively bulky and has the disadvantage

  which resides in that, each time the cutting tool is replaced, it is necessary to carry out an adjustment operation to ensure that the tool is placed in the correct position in the tool station.

  More recently, cutting tools have been proposed comprising a tool support which makes it possible to dispense with the adjustment operation when a tool is replaced. Such cutting tools are described in European patents 0 010 074 and O 055 998 A single tool of this type can be clamped by its support body on a stationary tool station, since the cutting elements can be easily replaced while the support body remains stationary on the tool station, instead of having to have a certain number of tools on a conventional indexing tool station However, in practice, it can be difficult to implement this simplification, for example when it comes to performing certain sequences of operations , in particular a shaping or drilling According to a first aspect of the invention, there is proposed a tool station body which has two mutually transverse bores, one of said bores being disposed in the vicinity of a first lateral face of the body 35 and being substantially parallel thereto to lead to a second lateral face of the body transverse to the first lateral face, in the vicinity of the junction between said lateral faces, the bores being arranged to receive respective tool supports for holding 2. cutting tools, the body comprising positioning means for supporting the tools, held by the tool supports, in a fixed position for which they protrude from the faces

respective sides.

  According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a set of tool stations which comprises, as before, a body and tool supports which are arranged in said mutually transverse bores of the body, said tool supports comprising each of the means for retaining the cutting tool in a fixed position on the tool station, the tool support in said bore in the vicinity of the first lateral face of the body and the location of the associated tool being arranged for support tool

  section so that it projects from the plane 15 of said first side face.

  Each of the bores preferably opens onto an extreme front face, lateral parts projecting forward, from opposite sides of said end face, to allow cooperation by clamping the tool firmly in position, laterally with respect to the bore. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the transverse bores are intersecting, and at least one of the tool supports has a recessed part to allow the mutually transverse tool supports to be able to be moved independently one on the other in their bores for tightening and loosening their

respective cutting tool.

  The invention will be clearly understood using the description which follows and with reference to the appended drawing in which: Fig 1 is an isometric perspective of a set of tool stations according to the present invention, this figure also showing , exploded, two tool supports 35 and two tools, Fig 2 and 3 are plan and side views respectively of the tool station assembly of Fig 1 and, Fig 4 and 5 schematically show details of the 3. two tool supports of the assembly of FIGS. 1 and 2 in

their crossing area.

  The assembly shown in the drawings comprises a body 2 of a square-shaped tool post, seen in plan, arranged to be fixedly carried by a slide or carriage in one turn. Two main bores or channels 4, 6 pass through the body 2 being parallel respectively to two mutually transverse faces 8, 10 of the body, these faces constituting the radial front face and axial 10 during the cutting operations on the work piece The bore 4 which opens on the radial front face 8 is located very close to the junction of the two faces 8, 10 The bore 6 which opens on the face parallel

  before 10 is offset / at this junction edge but it is 15 further from it than bore 4.

  Tool supports 14, 16 are provided respectively in the bores 4, 6, each support comprising a drawbar 18 which ends at its front part by an enlarged head 20 intended to be received in a cavity 20 complementary to the cutting tool Each drawbar can be moved axially in its associated bore, against the action of a compression spring 22, this displacement being made by turning a handle 24 which cooperates with the threaded rear end of the drawbar 18 to pull the rear face of the cutting tool and bring it into firm cooperative contact with an associated reference surface, transverse to the bore of the tool holder, which defines the axial positioning of the tool, which has known dimensions between its cutting edge 30 and its rear face 48 abutting against the reference face In the example shown, the reference faces are constituted by the lateral face 10 and by the

  front faces 8 has projections 40 described below.

  In each case, the front part of the bore 4, 6 opens onto an extreme front face 26, 28 of a cavity 30 which has two parallel lateral walls 32, 34 for lateral locking and in rotation extending forward Respective support platforms 36, 38 for the cutting tools 4., having bearing surfaces 36 a, 38 a for these, are provided in part at the bottom of the cavities, in the form of parts which are are an integral part of the tool station body, or are separated from it and are adjustable in height; at the upper end of each cavity, the side walls 32, 34 are extended by facets 32 a, 34 a which diverge outwards to facilitate the insertion of the corresponding cutting tool into the cavity In the case of the front face 10 radial 8, shoulders 40 protrude therefrom to define the lateral faces 32 of the cavity and the front reference faces 8 a, while the cavity associated with the axial front face 10 is formed internally from this Thanks to the use of the shorter support platform 38, it is obtained that the means for mounting and clamping the cutting tool on the axial front face 10 have a very slight projection

with respect to this face.

  The axes of the two tool supports 14, 16 are situated at different heights, but their bores 4, 6 intersect on the upper face of the lower tool support 14 and on the lower face of the tool support 16 are formed in the recesses 44, 46 in the intersection zone of the tool supports In each case, the axial length of the corresponding recess 44, 46 is somewhat greater than the width of the opposite face belonging to the other support tool, so as to allow a free axial movement when a cutting tool must be tightened or loosened The recess 44 formed in the support 30 of the lower tool 14 is provided entirely on the main cylindrical part of said support which fits in its bore 4 However, this bore 4 also cuts the cavity 30 formed in the axial front face 10; another recess 54 is therefore formed in the lower tool holder on the face of the latter which is directed towards the face, so as to eliminate any obstacle to the rear movement of the cutting tool carried by the tool holder 16 when it is pulled back so that this tool comes 5.

  in contact with its reference face 10.

  In operation, when the body of the tool station is fixedly mounted on a lathe carriage, a cutting tool, the rear part of which is fork complementary to the enlarged part 20 of the drawbar 18, is slid over this part 20 of the appropriate tool holder 14, 16, and the clamping lever 24 is rotated to pull the bar

  tension 18 against the action of the return spring 22.

  The cutting tool is therefore brought into force in cooperation with the associated reference face by the lateral shoulders 48, and with the lateral faces 32, 34 of the associated cavity 30 by the external faces 50 of the forked rear part. , so that it is firmly held

  and that its cutting edge is at a known distance from the tool station. For a more detailed description of the releasable cooperation between the cutting tool and its support, and

  for possible variants of this cooperation, reference may be made to the above European patents O 010 074

and O 055 998.

  FIG. 1 shows a cutting tool 62 which comprises a cutting insert 64 made of hard metal and which must be mounted on the tool support associated with the radial front face to overhang the axial front face. This position of the tool can be typically chosen for extreme surfacing operations or for external turning operations It should be noted that, thanks to the very small projection of the tool support 16 and of the support platform 38 relative to the face axial front 10, the tool station can be brought very close to the work piece (or the lathe chuck), which makes it possible to obtain a very rigid assembly, in addition to the proximity of the bore 4 by relative to the axial front face For internal turning operations, the tool holder of the axial front face 10 is used for mounting a boring bar 66 shown with a removable cutting insert 68 In each case, it tool can be replaced easily and quickly e cut by freeing it from its drawbar Replacement of a tool, in 6. for mounting on the same tool holder or on the other

  tool support, if any, is carried out by bringing the tool to a known position by clamping it against its associated reference face, so that a series of different cutting operations can be carried out with a low loss of time for replacing and adjusting the tool.

  It will be understood that the passage from one tool holder to another to machine the same workpiece requires that the cutting tools have a common axis height (height of the cutting edge), as motie in C in Fig 3, and that the shape of each cutting tool will be chosen so that this result is obtained by compensation for

  different heights of the two tool holders.

7.

Claims (6)

R E V E N D I C A T I O N S   1 set of tool stations for machine tools, characterized in that it comprises two mutually transverse bores (4, 6), the first (4) of said bores being disposed in the vicinity of a first lateral face (10) of the body (2) and substantially parallel thereto to open into a second lateral face (8) transverse to said first lateral face (10), in the vicinity of the junction of said lateral faces, the bores being arranged to receive supports respective tool (14, 16) for supporting cutting tools, and the body (2) defining positioning means (8a, 10, 32, 34, 36a, 38a) for supporting the tools, mounted on the tool supports,   in fixed positions projecting beyond the respective 15 side faces.   2 assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that each bore (4, 6) opens onto an extreme front face (26, 2 a), lateral parts projecting forward from the opposite sides of said face 20 extreme to define cooperation means (32, 34) for supporting the cutting tool in the lateral position and   not rotatable with respect to the bore.   3 An assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that the lateral parts (40) associated with said second lateral face (8) of the body (2) protrude forward beyond said second face, the front faces (8 a) projections (40) constituting the reference faces for the tool carried by the tool support (14) placed in the first bore (4).   4 Assembly according to one of claims 2 and 3,   characterized by the fact that the lateral parts associated with said first lateral face (10) of the body (2) are mé7 ^ e '-' ^ - '3 x by means of said first lateral face, the first lateral face (10) constituting the reference face for the tool carried by the tool support (16) placed in the second bore (6),   Assembly according to one of claims 1 to 4,   8. characterized in that the tool support (14) which is placed in the first bore (4) adjacent to said first face (10) of the body (2) and the position of the associated tool are arranged so the cutting tool protrudes beyond the plane of said first lateral face (10).   6 assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that the transverse bores (4, 6) intersect and that at least one of the tool supports (14, 16) 10 has a recessed portion (44, 46) for allow the transversely arranged tool supports to be independently movable in their bores for clamping   and loosening the respective cutting tools.   7 assembly according to claim 6, characterized in that on said first lateral face (10) of the body (2) is formed a cavity (30) into which opens the second bore (6) leading to said first face (10), said cavity (30) being intersecting with said first bore (4) opening into the second lateral face (8) and the tool holder sup20 (14) placed in said first bore (4) having a recessed part (54) providing a space for   said end face (28) of said cavity.