GB1575725A

GB1575725A - Machine tool carriage arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB1575725A
Application number: GB1803377A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Meyer Roth and Pastor Maschinenfabrik GmbH
Current assignee: Meyer Roth and Pastor Maschinenfabrik GmbH
Priority date: 1976-04-29
Filing date: 1977-04-29
Publication date: 1980-09-24
Also published as: CH617606A5; DE2618846B2; DE2618846A1; IT1089862B; FR2349376B1; FR2349376A1

Abstract

There is at least one slide (6) for the reception of a tool and this slide is connected to a revolving cam element (14) which imparts motion to it. The cam element has two parallel, continuous cam surfaces (15, 16) arranged on a body of revolution (13). Rigidly mounted on the slide are two guide rollers (9, 10), each guide roller resting continuously against the associated contour (15, 16) during the entire sequence of motion, the forward and reverse movement (7) of the slide thus taking place under positive control. The effective contours of the cam surfaces point approximately in the direction of the axis of the body of revolution, the axis, for its part, running approximately parallel to the plane of motion of the slide. It is thereby possible to reduce the number of coupling elements between the cam contour and the tool slide, this being of considerable importance at high work rates. <IMAGE>

Description

(54) A MACHINE TOOL CARRIAGE ARRANGEMENT (71) We, MEYER, ROTH AND PAS TOR MASCHINENFABRIK GmbH., of Raderbergerstrasse 202, 5000 Koln 51, Federal Republic of Germany, a German body corporate, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The invention relates to a machine tool carriage arrangement and more particularly to a machine for manufacturing mould parts from wire or strip material which has at least one carriage for accommodating a tool which is in connection with a rotating curved element for producing the carriage movement, this curved element having two parallel enclosed cams arranged on a rotor.

With machines of the type designated at the outset the tool carriage must be compulsorily guided at a high working cycle frequency, in which all forces of inertia must be accommodated by positive coupling of the carriage to the control contour. Furthermore, the control contour must be constructed so that "jumps" are avoided in the speed and acceleration. This may only be achieved with a rotating continuous contour by which a purely rotary motion may be converted into a corresponding to-and-fro motion or pivot movement of the tool carriage. While, at a low working cycle frequency, the number of coupling elements between the control contour and the tool carriage is only of importance with regard to the question of maximum permitted bearing play, at high working cycle frequencies the number of coupling elements must be kept as small as possible in order to reduce the masses moved.

The invention seeks to create a machine, such as that of the type designated at the outset in which some or all of the above requirements are fulfilled.

According to the invention, there is provided a machine tool carriage arrangement having a plurality of carriage units mounted on a base plate, each carriage unit comprising a carriage for carrying a machine tool, a rotary cam arrangement having two continuous parallel cam surfaces arranged on a rotor the effective cam surfaces facing generally in the direction of the axis of the rotor which axis which runs approximately parallel to the plane of movement of the carriage, two guide rollers each rigidly mounted on the carriage to constantly abut the cam surface assigned to it during the entire movement process, and a common bearing block on which the rotor and the carriage are arranged, the bearing block being detachably connected to the baseplate, the carriage arrangement also having a central drive gear wheel driving the rotors of the carriage units through individual pinions in mesh therewith.

As a result a direct and compulsory transmission of the movement process, predetermined by the cam, to the carriage is achieved. Intermediate elements in the form of jointed levers or the like are omitted and, as a result of the fact that both guide rollers constantly abut the contours facing them but are rigidly connected to the carriage, almost play-free compulsory to-and-fro motion of the carriage may be achieved even at the highest working cycle frequencies.

Besides an improvement in the accuracy when manufacturing the mounting for the rotor and the guide for the carriage, this refinement also offers the possibility of creating an assembly which is self contained, this assembly being utilized as a mechanical unit for the most varied types of machine.

With machines of the type stated at the outset which normally have several tool carriages for manufacturing the mould part in one plane of operation, these may be rapidly exchanged in the case of damage to a single unit and the substitute unit may be readjusted without the remaining units and thus their alignment being released. While machine in accordance with the invention may also be constructed as a so-called "four-shaft machine", with this refinement there is the advantage of a considerable reduction of the drive elements and thus a considerable reduction in the constructional size. As a whole, a substantially more compact constructional shape is obtained.

The reduction in the drive elements results in a reduction of the total bearing play, moreover, so that even at high working cycle frequencies, no time overlap may occur in the individual tools which are in engagement.

In a further advantageous refinement of the invention provision may be made for the bearing block, constructed as a complete construction unit, to be connected to the machine support so as to be displaceable and fixable. With an embodiment of the type stated above having a central drive gear wheel this provides the opportunity of aligning the individual deforming tools of this type of machine at an operating plane, which is common for all tools, at any desired angle to the tool plate.

In further refinement of the invention it may be provided that each roller is mounted on a cotter pin which is connected to the tool carriage in a releasable manner. As a result, it is possible to exchange the individual rollers each as a complete unit after an appropriate running time as the rollers are subject to heavier wear than the remaining parts of the transmission mechanism.

In a further advantageous refinement of the invention provision may be made for the rollers to be connected to the carriage in an adjustable manner with regard to their spacing from each other. As a result of this refinement it is possible to adjust the two rollers almost without play with their related control contour and to readjust the rollers accordingly, after an appropriate operating time with corresponding wear, with regard to their abutment against the control contours. With a control contour constructed as a rib the adjustment means may be constructed so that the clear spacing between the two rollers may be reduced while with a control contour constructed as a groove the spacing between the guide rollers may be enlarged accordingly.

While this type of adjustment means may be constructed basically in the form of displaceable saddles or the like which may be displaced on the tool carriage with the aid of screw or wedge adjusting devices, it is particularly advantageous if a slit is arranged in the carriage between the two rollers and if adjustment means are provided for changing the width of the slit. This has the advantage that adjustment of the spacing between the two guide rollers takes place without moving parts as, by providing a slit, the change in spacing takes place solely via a resilient deformation of the remaining cross-section of the carriage in the region of the slit and additional play in the bearing is avoided. A further advantage of this arrangement lies in the fact that no additional fixing means are necessary for the adjusting device so that both the mass and the construction size of the carriage may be reduced. It is particularly advantageous if the bearing surfaces of the guide rollers are constructed spherically so that even with small errors in alignment caused by the guide of the carriage, by the device for adjusting the spacing between the rollers etc. a pefect mutual contact results both on the contact surfaces of the guide rollers and on the control contours of the cam assigned thereto.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the schematic drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic front view of the baseplate of a machine with a carriage unit set thereon Figure 2 shows a carriage unit in section along the line II-II in Figure 1 Figure 3 shows a plan view on to a carriage unit on an enlarged scale Figure 4 shows a detail of the fixing of a carriage unit in accordance with arrow IV in Figure 3 Figure 5 shows a section in accordance with the line V-V in Figure 2 Figure 6 shows another embodiment for the rotor.

A baseplate 1 of a machine for manufacturing mould parts from wire is shown in the schematic representation for an embodiment according to Figure 1, in which a central drive gear wheel 2 constructed as a bevel gear is mounted. This baseplate 1 has a so-called hammer head groove 3 concentrically of the drive gear wheel 2, in which groove a carriage unit 4, the construction of which will be described in greater detail below, is fixed in known manner by means of screws and slides so as to be releasable and displaceable. The tip of the carriage unit pointing to the middle point of the face plate may be connected to a tool plate 4', which may be exchanged and is indicated only schematically in broken lines.

A particularly preferred embodiment of the carriage unit is described in greater detail together with respect to the sectional view of Figure 2. In a dovetail guide of conventional construction (cf. Figure 5) a carriage 6 for accommodating a tool not shown in greater detail is mounted in a compact bearing block 5 so as to be displaceable in the direction of the double arrow 7. The tool is connected to the carriage 6 in conventional manner by means of screwing or clamping by means of the retaining means 8 shown only schematically here, so that said means may move to and fro in the direction of the tool plate 4'.

At the other end the carriage has two guide rollers 9 and 10 which are held so as to be exchangeable in appropriate fitting boreholes of the carriage by means of cotter pins 11, 12 respectively.

Furthermore, a cylindrical rotor 13 is mounted in the bearing block 5, a rib 14 projecting beyond its peripheral surface, both front sides 15, 16 of which form the two parallel cam surfaces against which abut the guide roller 9 or 10 respectively during the entire movement process so that the forward and rearward movement takes place compulsorily.

The rotor 13 which need not necessarily be constructed as a cylinder is connected to the central drive gear wheel 2 via a shaft 17 the other end of which carries a bevel gear wheel 18. If the central drive gear wheel 2 is set in rotation by a drive motor not shown in greater detail then the carriage 6 is moved according to the law of movement predetermined by the cam surfaces 15, 16. In order to be able to predetermine different movement processes for the carriage according to the tasks for the bending or reforming process to be carried out, these tasks being predetermined by the individual tool, the rotor 13 is preferably connected to the shaft 17 so as to be releasable so that rotors having different cam surfaces may be used without further alteration of the design.

Fixing of the rotor 13 takes place preferably by means of so-called annular spring tensioning elements which are known per se in order to be able to carry out fine adjustment of the time sequence of the engagements of the tool by arranging several tool carriages on the baseplate 1 by means of releasing and slight gradual twisting of the rotor on the shaft 17. Basically, however, all of the connection elements for fixing a rotor on a shaft may be used which permit gradual relative twisting between shaft and rotor in the released state.

With high-speed machines it is particularly important that the abutment of the two guide rollers 9, 10 against the respective related cam surfaces 15, 16 should take place without play during the entire movement process. In order to be able to ensure play-free abutment of the two guide rollers against the related cam surfaces by means of manufacturing tolerances or after a fairly long period of wear caused during operation, the clear spacing between the two guide rollers must be adjustable. It is particularly advantageous if a continuous slit 19 is arranged in the carriage 6 between two guide rollers 9, 10 on the side facing in the rotor, so that the width of the slit and thus the clear spacing between the two guide rollers 9, 10 is alterable by at least one adjustable screw 20 running crosswise to the slit and thus said slit width and clear spacing may be adjusted. The advantage of this refinement for setting the clear spacing between two guide rollers particularly lies in the fact that a rigid connection between the two guide rollers, which is almost unchangeable with respect to its basic spacing, is maintained by the carriage body itself.

Fundamentally however the device for changing the spacing between the two guide rollers may be constructed so that the guide roller 9 with its cotter pin 11 is fixed to its own saddle which is connected to the carriage 6 in the direction of the arrow 7 so as to be displaceable and fixable.

An example for fastening the carriage unit 4 to the baseplate 1 is shown in greater detail in Figures 3, 4 in a plan view and a side view. The bearing block 5 has two extensions 21 of small thickness in this embodiment, having a centring extension 22 in the region of the hammer head groove 3 in the baseplate 1. With a hammer head screw passing through a borehole in the centring extension 22, its head 24 being located in the T-shaped groove 3, the carriage unit may be aligned firmly with the baseplate 1 in any desired angular position to the axis of rotation of the drive gear wheel and may be firmly connected to the baseplate.

From the sectional view according to Figure 5 the guide of the carriage 6 may be seen schematically in the bearing block 5.

The guide is thus preferably constructed as a dovetail guide which may be readjusted in conventional manner so that the guide of the carriage 6 may also be held in the bearing block 5 almost without play.

Figure 6 shows another embodiment for the rotor. In this embodiment two parallel cam surfaces 27, 28 are formed in a rotor 25 by means of the two side walls of groove 26.

In similar manner to the embodiment according to Figure 2 the guide rolles 9', 10' constantly run on the related cam surfaces 27, 28 during the entire movement process.

The adjustment of the play between the guide rollers and the related cam surfaces also takes place in this embodiment preferably by a slit 19' which may be modified in its width by at least one appropriate adjusting screw 20'.

The advantage of bringing together the carriage and the cam element with its drive shaft in one construction unit has the advantage moreover that machines may also be assembled with substantially the same components in which the points of engagement of the individual tools are at different distances from the centre point of the drive gear wheel. Thus deviating from the construction according to Figure 1 a machine is also possible having an approximately rectangular baseplate and a corresponding tool plate without having to give up the advantages of the central wheel drive. In this case the shaft 17 only is to be extended, accordingly all other components of the carriage unit remaining substantially the same.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A machine tool carriage arrangement having a plurality of carriage units mounted on a base plate, each carriage unit comprising a carriage for carrying a machine tool, a rotary cam arrangement having two continuous parallel cam surfaces arranged on a rotor the effective cam surfaces facing generally in the direction of the axis of the rotor which axis runs approximately parallel to the plane of movement of the carriage, two guide rollers each rigidly mounted on the carriage to constantly abut the cam surface assigned to it during the entire movement process, and a common bearing block on which the rotor and the carriage are arranged, the bearing block being detachably connected to the baseplate, the carriage arrangement also having a central drive gear wheel driving the rotors of the carriage units through individual pinions in mesh therewith.

2. A machine according to claim 1, wherein the bearing blocks of the individual carriage units are connected to the baseplate so as to be both displaceable and fixable.

3. A machine according to claims 1 or 2 wherein the rotor is constructed as a cylinder.

4. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein each guide roller is mounted on a cotter pin which is connected detachably to the carriage.

5. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the guide rollers are connected to the carriage so that the spacing relative to each other is adjustable.

6. A machine according to claim 5, wherein a split is arranged in the carriage between the two guide rollers and wherein adjusting means are provided for changing the slit width.

7. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the cam surfaces are provided on a cam constructed as a rib projecting beyond the peripheral surface of the rotor and wherein a guide roller respectively abuts one face of the rib forming the related cam surfaces respectively.

8. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the cam surfaces are formed in a cam constructed as a groove in the peripheral surface of the rotor and that a guide roller respectively abuts one side wall surface respectively of the groove forming the cam surfaces respectively.

9. A machine tool carriage arrangement substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 5 or as modified by Figure 6 of the drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. distances from the centre point of the drive gear wheel. Thus deviating from the construction according to Figure 1 a machine is also possible having an approximately rectangular baseplate and a corresponding tool plate without having to give up the advantages of the central wheel drive. In this case the shaft 17 only is to be extended, accordingly all other components of the carriage unit remaining substantially the same. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A machine tool carriage arrangement having a plurality of carriage units mounted on a base plate, each carriage unit comprising a carriage for carrying a machine tool, a rotary cam arrangement having two continuous parallel cam surfaces arranged on a rotor the effective cam surfaces facing generally in the direction of the axis of the rotor which axis runs approximately parallel to the plane of movement of the carriage, two guide rollers each rigidly mounted on the carriage to constantly abut the cam surface assigned to it during the entire movement process, and a common bearing block on which the rotor and the carriage are arranged, the bearing block being detachably connected to the baseplate, the carriage arrangement also having a central drive gear wheel driving the rotors of the carriage units through individual pinions in mesh therewith.