JP2700524B2 - Pallet magazine for machining centers - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pallet magazine mounted on a machining center, and more particularly to a rotary two-sided pallet magazine for a horizontal machining center in which pallets are exchanged with a work mounting surface being vertical.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a horizontal machining center, pallets are usually replaced in a vertical state, and works are replaced in a horizontal state of the pallets. For this reason, in the case of a multi-sided pallet magazine capable of holding a plurality of pallets, it is necessary to separate the pallets into a vertical position and a horizontal position by a separate operation, which requires a long replacement time.

Therefore, a four-sided pallet magazine as shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-52139. This pallet magazine 31 is provided rotatably around an axis parallel to the main shaft 2 on the side of the horizontal machining center 1, supports four pallets P on the outer periphery, and sequentially indexes these at every 90 ° to work. The pallet P1 having the vertical mounting surface Pa is replaced with the pallet P on the machining center 1 side, and at the same time, the work can be replaced on the pallet P2 having the horizontal mounting surface Pa.

[0004]

However, according to the conventional pallet magazine, a mechanism for guiding the loading and unloading of the pallet and a mechanism for rotatably supporting the pallet are required on the four surfaces, and the structure is complicated. There was a problem that it became expensive. The pallet exchange and the workpiece exchange can be performed by the indexing operation only when four pallets are sequentially used. For example, when the pallet 180 ° away from the pallet is used, the pallet is divided. An indexing operation for exchanging the work is required separately from the projecting operation, and the exchange efficiency is disadvantageously reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a new pallet magazine for a machining center capable of efficiently performing pallet exchange and work exchange with a simple and inexpensive structure.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a pallet magazine according to the present invention is provided in a machining center in which a pallet is exchanged with a work mounting surface vertical, around an axis parallel to a pallet exchange direction. At 180
ア ー ム A reciprocatingly rotating arm member, a pair of pallet supports that are alternately rotated between a pallet replacement position and a work replacement position with the rotation of the arm member, And a differential gear mechanism that changes the posture of each pallet support base in conjunction with the arm member so that it is horizontal at the exchange position.

In the pallet magazine according to the present invention, the differential gear mechanism changes a posture of a pallet support pivoting above a pivot center of an arm member to an outward direction.
The pallet support that rotates below the center of rotation of the arm member is configured to change its posture inward.

[0008]

In the pallet magazine having the above structure, when a processed pallet is loaded into one of the pallet support tables at the pallet changing position, the arm member is rotated by 180 °.
The pallet support is arranged at the work exchange position, and the other pallet support at the work exchange position is arranged at the pallet exchange position. At this time, the attitude of each pallet support table is changed by the differential gear mechanism, and the pallet at the work replacement position is held horizontally on the work mounting surface, and the pallet at the pallet replacement position is held vertically on the work mounting surface. Then, the unprocessed pallet at the pallet change position is carried out, and at the same time, the work is exchanged on the pallet at the work change position. Therefore, the simple and inexpensive structure 2
With the surface pallet magazine, pallet exchange and workpiece exchange can be efficiently performed by one operation of merely indexing the arm member by 180 °.

Particularly, according to the differential gear mechanism of the present invention,
Since the pallet support pivoting below the center of rotation of the arm member is changed inward, the passage area of the lower pallet support is reduced, and the space below the pallet magazine is effectively used. Can be. In addition, since the pallet support that rotates above the center of rotation of the arm member changes its posture outward, there is no danger that the upper and lower pallet supports will interfere during the rotation.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an entire horizontal machining center, reference numeral 2 denotes a spindle, reference numeral 3 denotes a tool change arm, reference numeral 4 denotes a support shaft. Have been. Reference numeral 5 denotes a pallet changer, 6 denotes a guide, and 7 denotes a pallet magazine. The pallet P is exchanged between the support shaft 4 and the pallet magazine 7 by the pallet changer 5 via the guide 6 with the work mounting surface Pa being vertical. You.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the pallet magazine 7 has a drive shaft 8 which is parallel to the direction in which the pallets P are exchanged and is horizontal. An arm member 9 is fixed to the drive shaft 8 at the center, and is moved 180 degrees from a horizontal position by a motor (not shown).
て い る It is configured to be able to reciprocate.

At both ends of the arm member 9, a first pallet support 12 and a second pallet support 13 are rotatably supported via driven shafts 10, 11 parallel to the drive shaft 8. Pallets P1 and P2 are supported on the pallets 12 and 13 in a detachable and rotatable manner. And the arm member 9
With the rotation of the first pallet, the first pallet support 12 is
Above the drive shaft 8, that is, above the drive shaft 8, and below the drive shaft 8, the second pallet support table 13 is alternately pivoted between a pallet exchange position A and a work exchange position B. .

A first sun gear 15 and a second sun gear 16 are fixed to the drive shaft 8 inside the arm member 9. The first sun gear 15 is driven by the driven shaft 1 via the intermediate gear 17.
0 is meshed with the first planetary gear 18 on the second sun gear 16
Is the second planetary gear 20 on the driven shaft 11 via the intermediate gear 19
Are engaged. The gears 15 to 20 constitute a differential gear mechanism according to the present embodiment.
The first pallet support 12 is turned outward, and the second pallet support 13 is turned inward. The work mounting surface Pa is moved vertically at the pallet change position A and horizontally at the work change position B. It can be held.

In this embodiment, the sun gear 1
5, 16 and the gear ratios of the planetary gears 18, 20 are set as follows. Number of teeth of first sun gear 15: Number of teeth of first planetary gear 18 =
1: 2 Number of teeth of second sun gear 16: Number of teeth of second planetary gear 20 =
3: 2

Next, in the pallet magazine 7 constructed as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, the processed pallets P are placed on the first pallet support table 12 at the pallet changing position A.
1 is carried in, the arm member 9 is turned 180 degrees counterclockwise.
゜ It is turned. During the rotation of the arm member 9, as shown in FIG. 3, the planetary gears 18 and around the sun gears 15 and 16.
20 is rotated, the first pallet support 12 is rotated outward above the drive shaft 8, and the second pallet support 13 is rotated inward below the drive shaft 8.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the first pallet support base 12 is arranged at the work changing position B after changing the posture by 90 °, and the work mounting surface Pa of the pallet P1 is held horizontally. Also, the second pallet support 13 is 90
(4) After the posture is changed, the pallet is placed at the pallet exchange position A, and the work mounting surface Pa of the pallet P2 is held vertically. In this state, the unprocessed pallet P2 at the pallet exchange position A is carried out, and at the same time, the work is exchanged on the pallet P1 at the work exchange position B. At the time of the next pallet exchange, the arm member 9 is moved clockwise in FIG.
゜ The pallet supports 12 and 13 are turned to the postures shown in FIG.

Therefore, according to the pallet magazine 7 of the present embodiment, the pallet exchange and the workpiece exchange can be efficiently performed by one operation of merely indexing the arm member 9 by 180 °. In addition, the number of pallet supports 12, 13 can be reduced to a minimum of two, and the entire apparatus can be configured simply and at low cost. In particular, since the second pallet support 13 that pivots below the drive shaft 8 is changed inward, the passing area of the pallet support 13 is reduced, and the space below the pallet magazine 7 is effectively used. can do. In addition, since the first pallet support base 12 that rotates above the drive shaft 8 changes its posture outward, there is no possibility that the upper and lower pallet support bases 12 and 13 will interfere during the rotation.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but may be embodied by appropriately changing the shape and configuration of each part without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the posture of the pair of pallet supports is changed so that the work mounting surface is vertical at the pallet change position and horizontal at the work change position. With such a configuration, there is an excellent effect that pallet exchange and workpiece exchange can be efficiently performed with a simple and inexpensive structure.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the pallet support pivoting upward is changed outward and the pallet support pivoting downward is changed inward. The space can be effectively used, and interference during the turning of each pallet support can be reliably prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a horizontal machining center showing a pallet magazine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing the pallet magazine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the pallet magazine while the arm member is rotating.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the pallet magazine in a state where the arm member is rotated by 180 °.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a horizontal machining center showing a conventional pallet magazine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 horizontal machining center, 7 pallet magazine, 8 drive shaft, 9 arm member, 12, 13
Pallet support, 15, 16 · · · sun gear, 17, 19
..Intermediate gears, 18,20..Planetary gears, A..Pallet exchange position, B..Work exchange position, P..Pallet,
Pa ・ ・ Work mounting surface.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A machining center in which a pallet is replaced with a work mounting surface vertical, an arm member reciprocatingly rotated by 180 ° about an axis parallel to a pallet replacement direction, and a pallet associated with the rotation of the arm member. A pair of pallet supports that are pivoted alternately between the exchange position and the work exchange position, and the posture of each pallet support to the arm member so that the work mounting surface is vertical at the pallet exchange position and horizontal at the work exchange position. A pallet magazine for a machining center, comprising: a differential gear mechanism that changes in conjunction with the pallet magazine. 2. The differential gear mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the pallet support that pivots above the center of rotation of the arm member changes its posture outward, and the pallet support that pivots below the center of rotation of the arm member. The pallet magazine for a machining center according to claim 1, wherein the pallet magazine is configured to change its posture inward.