JP2006206261A - Aligned stacking device for rod-shaped cutting tool - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an aligned stacking device for works capable of reducing the works from being damaged and reducing the labor of operator. <P>SOLUTION: The aligned stacking device for works has a stacking region 41 of works 2, in which a slide 1 is provided to close the bottom part of the region 41. The slide is furnished with a groove 13 to receive works 2 to be laid horizontally, and the groove depth is arranged changeable. The slide 1 is moved, and the works 2 delivered outside the stacking region 41 are received in the groove 13 and moved to the region 41. Then the groove 13 is made shallow so as to push the works 2 up in the groove from below the region 41, and they are laid horizontally in line with the already existing works in the region. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning and accumulating discharged bar-shaped cutting tools in a production process such as blade groove processing of a bar-shaped cutting tool such as a drill or engraving of a handle.

2. Description of the Related Art When stacking and aligning workpieces, a stacking and aligning apparatus is known in which a workpiece is dropped into a magazine by its own weight from above (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In addition, an automatic alignment device that vibrates with a vibrator to align round bar-like materials is also known (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-10-310253 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-116738

Although the above-described apparatus for dropping by its own weight is configured to drop the workpiece guided by the inclined chute, the posture of the workpiece is influenced by the influence such as how to hit the guide member, and may be clogged in the middle. Therefore, as discussed in the above publication, clogging prevention means must be applied.
Further, the method of vibrating and aligning with a vibrator is difficult to apply in the case of a cutting tool having a blade portion because the blades of the overlapping cutting tools rub against each other to cause chipping.

  In production processes such as cutting of a groove of a rod-like cutting tool (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece) such as a drill or engraving of a handle portion, in general, when collecting discharged workpieces, as shown in FIG. Either free fall from the guide path 60, or once received on the conveyor 62 and transported to the other end of the conveyor, as shown in FIG. It is done.

  In the method of FIG. 5, the dropped work 2 is gradually piled up in the accumulation box 61, but due to the difference in work discharge speed (momentum) and the instability when the work rolls down the pile pile, The posture of the whole work gradually collapses. In this case, since the cutting tool has different rolling resistance between the handle portion and the blade portion, the workpiece 2 faces in various directions within the stacking box 61. Therefore, for example, after stacking several hundred units of work, it takes a considerable amount of time for the operator to align and bundle the workpieces by hand and transfer them to another processing box.

In order to improve this, there is also a method in which a divided partition area is formed in the stacking box, and the work is paid out to each area while shifting the position of the stacking box. According to this method, although the amount of one pile is reduced and the labor of the operator is reduced, the disturbance of the posture of the workpiece is not eliminated, and the fundamental problem cannot be solved.
In particular, since a small-diameter workpiece is complicated in arrangement, it may interfere with the alignment work and rarely miss a workpiece attached to the corner of the box. In addition to such inconvenience, when the workpiece is freely dropped, the next workpiece falls on the previous workpiece, so that the blade portion may cause chipping and cause a product loss.

  On the other hand, in the method using the conveyor 62 shown in FIG. 6, collision between workpieces can be avoided, and therefore the possibility of chipping at the blade portion is considerably reduced. However, the workpieces 2 collected at the other end of the conveyor are not stacked, but are arranged in a plane and gradually protrude toward the payout position. If this is left unattended, the collected work group reaches the work drop position, resulting in a malfunction of the stacking apparatus. In order to prevent this, the conveyor must be lengthened, and the apparatus becomes large.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for aligning and accumulating workpieces, which can reduce the damage of the workpieces and the labor of an operator.

For this reason, an apparatus for aligning and accumulating workpieces according to the present invention includes a horizontally movable slide and a stacked area surrounded so as to accumulate and hold a plurality of workpieces. The slide is provided with a groove for receiving and placing each discharged work, and the groove pushes up the received work by changing the depth. The stacked area is arranged adjacent to the slide, and the lower surface is closed by the slide. The apparatus further includes a drive mechanism that drives the slide to move the groove in which the workpiece is placed horizontally to the lower surface of the stacking area and shallows the groove to lift the work into the stacking area.
This apparatus places the discharged workpieces one by one on the slide groove, moves the entire slide, and moves the groove to the stacking area. Then, the work is inevitably left in the stacking area by raising the work into the stacking area by making the groove shallow, and then closing the stacking area by returning the slide to the original position. By repeating this process in sequence, the workpieces can be gradually and orderly stacked from below.

The slide includes a pair of slide members each having a slope at the end, and these slide members are arranged to face each other to form a V-groove by the slopes of both slide members, and the V-groove depth approaches or moves away from each other. It is preferable to be provided so as to change the height.
According to this configuration, it is possible to obtain a groove having a variable depth with a simple structure that can be reliably operated.

  The drive mechanism may use a ball screw for driving the slide member. It is preferable that this ball screw has reversely wound screws on both sides, and these screws are engaged with corresponding screws formed on each of the pair of slide members. By this rotation of the ball screw, the slide members can be driven to approach or move away from each other without changing the center position of the V groove.

As described above, according to the present invention, the discharged workpieces can be carried to the stacking region while being placed sideways, and pushed up into the region from below to be stacked in an orderly manner. Therefore, it is not necessary for the operator to align the workpieces after accumulating, saving labor. Further, there is no collision between the workpieces, and it is possible to suppress the loss of the workpiece due to the chipping of the blade portion which has been conventionally generated.
Further, the apparatus only needs a space for reciprocating the slide, and can be configured relatively small.
Therefore, there is an effect of reducing the production cost of the workpiece with low equipment cost, increasing the yield, and improving the productivity.

  Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. In the following description, components that may be the same as those in the conventional example described above with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 1 shows the whole work aligning and accumulating apparatus according to this embodiment. The apparatus includes a slide 1 for receiving and carrying a workpiece 2 (in this embodiment, a drill), a drive mechanism 3 for the slide, and a stacked area 41 for supporting the drive mechanism 3 and accumulating a plurality of drills. And a basic stage 4 provided. The alignment / stacking device further includes a controller (not shown) for controlling the operation of the drive mechanism 3.

The slide 1 includes a pair of a left slide member 11 and a right slide member 12. Each of the left and right slide members 11 and 12 has a substantially thick plate shape having a flat upper surface, and is provided with slopes 11a and 12a at one end.
The ends of the left and right slide members having the inclined surfaces 11a and 12a are formed in complementary comb-tooth shapes as shown in FIG. The left and right slide members 11, 12 are opposed to each other with their end portions engaged, and a V groove 13 is formed between the slide members by the inclined surfaces 11a, 12a.

Referring to FIG. 1 again, the drive mechanism 3 is disposed below the slide 1 and includes left and right ball screws 31 and 32 for moving the slide. The left ball screw 31 is formed at a constant pitch in the left screw direction, and the right ball screw 32 is formed at an equal pitch in the right screw direction. The left and right ball screws 31 and 32 are rotatably supported on the cylinder stage 33 and mesh with screw portions 11b and 12b provided at the lower portions of the left and right slide members 11 and 12, respectively.
The left ball screw 31 and the right ball screw 32 are connected using a coupling 34, and a stepping motor 35 is connected to the right ball screw 32 in a driving manner.

Therefore, when the stepping motor 35 is operated, the left ball screw 31 and the right ball screw 32 are rotationally driven. In accordance with this rotation, the left and right slide members 11 and 12 are moved symmetrically about the coupling 34 to approach or move away from each other. Along with this movement, the depth and width of the V groove 13 between the left and right slide members are reduced or increased.
The cylinder stage 33 is attached to a piston of a cylinder 36 fixed to the basic stage 4, and moves in the left-right direction of FIG. 1 together with the left and right ball screws 31 and 32 and the slide 1 by driving the cylinder 36.

  The stacked area 41 is disposed above the slide 1 and is surrounded by a partition plate 42. The stacked region 41 is open at the bottom, and the flat upper surface of the right slide member 12 is closed by overlapping the open bottom.

  In relation to this, the V groove 13 of the slide is set to a size that ensures an appropriate partition gap G between the top of the accommodated drill 2 and the stacked region 41 as shown in FIG. . For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, in the case of a small-diameter drill 21, the V-groove 13 is made small to optimize the partition gap G. Thus, while preventing the contact between the drill 2 and the stacking area 41 during the slide movement, when the V-groove 13 enters the stacking area 41, the accumulated drill greatly falls into the V-groove, and the stacking collapses, This prevents the drills from rubbing against each other.

Subsequently, the alignment and accumulation of the drill 2 by the operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3A to 3E.
This operation is automatically performed under the control of the controller described above. This controller may be a general controller constituted by a limit switch, a position sensor, and an electric circuit provided in each component of the apparatus, and a detailed description thereof is omitted in the text to simplify the description.

As shown in FIG. 2, at the start of the aligning and accumulating apparatus, the left and right slide members 11 and 12 are separated and the V-groove 13 is opened. It is in a position to receive the drill 2 to be paid out.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the paid-out drill 2 is placed in the V-groove 13 and placed sideways. In this state, the cylinder 36 (FIG. 1) is operated, and the cylinder stage 33 and the slide 1 are moved to the right in FIG. 3A to move the V-groove 13 toward the stacked region 41.
At this time, the drills accumulated in the stacked area 41 roll with the movement of the slide 1, but the drills do not hit each other strongly, and there is little possibility that the blade part receives chipping.

When the cylinder 36 reaches the right end of the operating stroke and the V-groove 13 enters the stacked area 41 as shown in FIG. 3B, the stepping motor 35 is operated. By driving the motor, the left and right ball screws 31 and 32 are rotated to bring the left and right slide members 11 and 12 closer to each other. Along with this, the V-groove 13 is gradually narrowed and the housed drill 2 is gradually pushed up.
As shown in FIG. 3C, when the V-groove 13 is closed, the stepping motor 35 stops and stops the movement of the left and right slide members 11 and 12. At this time, the drill 2 rises on the upper surfaces of the left and right slide members 11 and 12 and is placed side by side with other drills accumulated in the stacked region 41.

Thereafter, the cylinder 36 is operated again, and the cylinder stage 33 and the slide 1 are returned to the left in FIG. 3C while the V groove 13 is closed. When the cylinder 36 reaches the left end of the operating stroke, the cylinder 36 stops operating and stops the movement of the slide 1 (FIG. 3D). Next, the stepping motor 35 is actuated, and the left and right slide members 11 and 12 are moved and released as shown in FIG. 3E to open the V-shaped groove 13 so that the next drill can be received.
By repeating this process one after another, the drill 2 can be aligned and accumulated in the stacked region 41.

  In this embodiment, a groove for accommodating a drill is formed by using a pair of slide members, and the width of the V groove can be changed without moving the center by driving these slide members with a reversely wound ball screw. There is an advantage that the position control of the drill delivery is easy.

Although the present invention has been described based on the illustrated embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this specific form, and various modifications can be made to the form described within the definition of the appended claims. It can be added, or the invention can take other forms.
For example, the apparatus according to the embodiment is automatically operated under the control of the controller, but may be manually operated by an operator.
In addition, the apparatus of the embodiment employs a pair of slide members to form a V-shaped groove, but instead of this, a rectangular cross-section groove is provided on a monolithic slide, and the bottom of the groove is formed. Even if it can be moved up and down, the same operation can be obtained.

1 is a side view showing an overall configuration of a work aligning and accumulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which expands and shows the workpiece | work receiving V groove of the apparatus of FIG. (A)-(e) is a figure for demonstrating the action | operation of the apparatus of FIG. (A) And (b) is a figure for demonstrating the magnitude | size of the V-groove of FIG. It is the schematic which shows the conventional workpiece | work collection method. It is the schematic which shows another conventional workpiece integration method.

Explanation of symbols

1 slide 2 drill (work)
3 Drive mechanism 11, 12 Slide member 11a, 12a Slope 13 V groove 31, 32 Ball screw 41 Stacking area

Claims (3)

In an apparatus for aligning and accumulating rod-shaped cutting tools,
A slide that is horizontally movable and has a groove for receiving and horizontally disposing each discharged bar-shaped cutting tool, and the groove is configured to push up the received bar-shaped cutting tool by changing the depth;
A stacked region surrounded by a plurality of bar-shaped cutting tools so as to be accumulated and held, the stacked region disposed adjacent to the slide, and the bottom surface being blocked by the slide;
It has a drive mechanism that drives a slide and moves a groove in which a bar-shaped cutting tool is placed horizontally to the lower surface of the stacked area, and has a drive mechanism that shallows the groove and lifts the bar-shaped cutting tool into the stacked area. Cutting tool alignment and accumulation device.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the slides includes a pair of slide members each having an inclined surface at an end thereof, and these slide members are arranged so as to face each other to form a V-groove by the inclined surfaces of both slide members. An apparatus for aligning and accumulating rod-shaped cutting tools, which is movably provided to change the depth of the V-groove by approaching or moving away.   3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the drive mechanism includes a ball screw, the ball screw includes reversely wound screws on both sides, and the screws are engaged with corresponding screws formed on the pair of slide members, respectively. An apparatus for aligning and accumulating rod-shaped cutting tools that drives the slide members so as to approach or move away from each other without changing the center position of the V-groove by rotation of.

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