JP3246647B2 - Tool magazine for automatic tool change - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool magazine for automatic tool change.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many conventional tool magazines accommodate a tool holder in a direction perpendicular to a main shaft of a machine tool.

In such a case, a certain amount of time is required for the tool change because the tool change is performed while changing the direction of the tool holder. In the case of a general MC, the horizontal direction is changed to the downward direction. Further, since the structure of the tool changing arm becomes complicated, malfunctions and failures may occur during automatic tool changing.

[0004]

On the other hand, a tool magazine having a configuration in which a tool holder is accommodated in parallel with a main shaft of a machine tool is also used.

[0005] However, in this type of tool magazine, the magazine body accommodating the tool holder is located within the operating range of the automatic tool change arm, that is, within or near the operating range of the machine tool table. There was a difficulty that chips and cutting oil easily adhered.

Further, if the distance between the tool magazine and the machine tool body is increased to some extent, foreign matter can be prevented from adhering, but a large exchange arm is required, so that smooth and rapid tool exchange cannot be performed. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem of the prior art, and to prevent a chip or a cutting oil from adhering to a tool holder and to perform an automatic tool change quickly with a simple operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a tool magazine for tool change.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a plurality of tool pots (12) are set in the magazine body (11) so as to be indexable, and each tool pot (12) is entirely cylindrical.
Mold that inserts the tool holder (7) from below
The tool pot (12) has a sp
A holding means consisting of a ring and a ball is
Press and fix the stud bolt of the tool holder (7)
First, a tool holder (7) is fixedly accommodated in the tool pot (12), and the magazine body (11) is arranged outside the working part of the machine tool, and the tool holder (7) is the same as the machine tool spindle. The tool pot (12) is accommodated in the tool pot (12) in an orientation, and a tool pot transport means (13) is provided to transport the tool pot (12) from the magazine body (11) to the tool changing position (A) by parallel movement. Automatic tool change is performed between the tool pot (12) at the change position (A) and the spindle (9) of the machine tool, and two parallel grooves (12a) are formed in the tool pot (12). The magazine plate (18) in the magazine body (11) is formed as a groove (12) in the tool pot (12).
a) has a recess (18a) corresponding to the recess (18a).
The boundary part of a) and the groove (12a) of the tool pot (12)
Are engaged so that the tool pot (12) is received in the recess (18a), and the guide plate (16) is arranged between the magazine body (11) and the tool change position (A). Then, the groove (12a) provided in the tool pot (12) is engaged with the guide plate (16) to guide the tool pot (12), and the tool pot (12) containing the tool holder (7) is inserted into the magazine body. (11), while the tool pot (12) containing the tool holder (7) is conveyed from the magazine body (11) to the tool change position (A) by parallel movement, and Between the time when the tool holder (7) is extracted from the tool pot (12) at the position (A) and inserted into the main shaft (9), the tool holder (7) always moves in parallel, and the direction of the shaft is changed. Not change , The direction of the position is always held in a state of being specified in the position of the predetermined axis around direction tool pot transport position about the axis of the tool holder (7) (B) hereinafter
In the outer area, the tool pot (12) has its outer part
Orbits around the inner periphery of the skirt of the housing (31),
Tool pot transfer position (B) of tool magazine (11 )
Then, the hem of the housing (31) is open,
The slide bracket (15) is movably arranged on
The slide bracket (15)
(12) with the tool pot transfer position (B) and the tool change position
It is for reciprocating movement between (A)
The id bracket (15) sandwiches the tool pot (12).
The present invention provides a tool magazine for automatic tool change, wherein the tool magazine is adapted to transmit a propulsive force in a transport direction .

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A magazine main body is arranged outside an operating part of a machine tool, and is preferably arranged at a certain distance from a table or a spindle. The tool holder is housed in the magazine body in the same direction as the main shaft of the machine tool. That is, it is not necessary to rotate the axis of the tool holder at the time of automatic tool change.

The tool pot transfer means transfers the tool pot between the magazine main body and the tool change position by parallel movement. The tool change position is some distance from the magazine body.

Then, automatic tool change is performed between the tool pot at the tool change position and the spindle of the machine tool. That is, automatic tool change is performed by exchanging and exchanging the tool holders set for both.

It is preferable to provide an automatic opening / closing door between the tool change position and the magazine main body. In this case, the tool holder can be kept cleaner.

When the tool pot transfer means is driven by a cylinder / piston mechanism, quick and reliable transfer can be realized at low cost.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a state in which a tool magazine 10 for automatic tool change according to the present invention is set in a machining center (MC) 1. FIG. 2 is a top view showing the spindle head 4 and the tool magazine 10 of FIG.

The machining center 1 includes a base 2, a column 3, a spindle head 4, an XY table 5, a control device (not shown), and the like.

A spindle 9 is set on the spindle head 4, and a lubricating oil supply means 50 is arranged near the spindle 9.

A tool magazine 10 is arranged on the far left side of the machining center C1 when viewed from the front. The tool magazine 10 is located outside the operating range of the XY table 5. In addition, the tool magazine 10 is separated from the main shaft 9 to some extent as shown in FIG. For this reason. Chips and cutting oil do not adhere to the tool holder of the tool magazine 10.

An automatic tool change arm (ATC arm) 6 is arranged on the left side of the spindle head 4. ATC
The arm 6 performs a parallel movement in the central axis direction, that is, a vertical direction, and a rotational movement about the central axis. ATC arm 6
At both ends, there are provided claw portions 6a for gripping the tool holder, and well-known pressing projections 51 are arranged inside the claw portions 6a. The holding projection 51 is urged outward by a spring.

At the time of machining, the ATC arm 6 is retracted above the table so that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the left wall surface of the spindle head 4.

FIG. 8 shows the tool holder 7 and the tool pot 1.
FIG.

The tool pot 12 is generally cylindrical.
The tool holder 7 is inserted from below.
An ordinary holding means (not shown) composed of a spring and a ball is arranged on the upper part of the tool pot 12 to urge and fix the stud bolt of the tool holder 7.

On the upper side of the outer periphery of the tool pot, a groove 12a is provided.
Are formed. The groove 12a can be formed, for example, as two parallel grooves running in the horizontal direction. This groove 12
“a” is used as guide means when the tool pot 12 is housed in the magazine main body 11 and when the tool pot 12 is transported to the tool changing position.

Hereinafter, the tool magazine 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 are a side view, a front view, a cross-sectional view along a transport direction of the tool magazine 10, and a cross-sectional view in a direction perpendicular thereto.

The tool magazine 10 comprises a magazine body for accommodating a tool pot and a tool pot transfer means 13 for transferring the tool pot.

The tool magazine 11 has an inverted cup-shaped housing 31 as a whole, and the housing 31 is attached to a machine tool via a bracket 28.

The magazine plate 18 is rotatably mounted on the housing 31 via a center shaft 25. The magazine plate 18 is fixed to the upper surface of the housing 31 and is driven to rotate by a reversible motor 19. An intermediate gear head is connected to the reversible motor 19.

The boss 3 is provided above the magazine plate 18.
The index plate 17 is fixed via the second plate 2.

The index plate 17 has a plurality of cam means 17a corresponding to the accommodation positions of the tool pot 12. A slide bracket 26 having a cam follower 23 is disposed above the index plate 17. The slide bracket 26 is urged in a direction in which the cam means 17a and the cam follower 23 engage. A proximity switch 27 is arranged near the slide bracket 26.

The cam means 17a, the cam follower 23 and the proximity switch 27 cooperate to perform the indexing operation of the magazine plate 18.

On the outer periphery of the magazine plate 18, a series of recesses 18a corresponding to the grooves 12a of the tool pot 12 are formed at regular intervals. When accommodating 15 tool pots 12, 15 recesses 18a are formed.

Each of the tool pots 12 is accommodated in the recess 18a such that the boundary between the recess 18a and the groove 12a of the tool pot 12 engages. In a region other than the transfer position described later, the tool pot 12 orbits with its outer portion abutting on the inner periphery of the skirt of the housing 31 as shown in FIG.

At the tool pot transfer position B of the tool magazine 11, the bottom of the housing 31 is open, and the slide bracket 15 is movably disposed there. The slide bracket 15 reciprocates the tool pot 12 between the transfer position B and the exchange position A.

The slide bracket 15 has an h-shaped cross section. Then, as shown in FIG.
The tool pot 12 is sandwiched between the crotch portions of the mold to transmit a propulsive force in the transport direction.

The tip of the piston of the cylinder mechanism 14 is fixed to the upper part of the slide bracket 15. At the center of the slide bracket 15, the tips of the two guide rods 21 are fixed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the housing 31 is provided with two plate supports 22 protruding forward with the slide bracket 15 interposed therebetween. On the lower surface of the plate support 22, the slide plates 16 are fixed in parallel with each other. Tool change position A
Is located at the tip of the slide plate 16.

The two slide plates 16 form a transfer path of the tool pot 12 between the transfer position B of the magazine and the tool change position A. Both slide plates 1
6, the distance between the two grooves 12a of the tool pot 12
It corresponds to. The tool pot is, as shown in FIG.
The groove 12 a is movable along the slide plate 16 in a state where the groove 12 a is guided by the inner portion of the slide plate 16.

When the piston of the cylinder mechanism 14 is extended, the tool pot 12 engaged with the crotch portion of the slide bracket 15 is slid to the front of the housing along the transport path and transported to the tool changing position A. Conversely, when the piston of the cylinder mechanism 14 contracts, the tool change position A
Is pulled back to the transport position B on the index trajectory.

As described above, the tool pot conveying means 13
Is composed of a slide bracket 15, a cylinder / piston mechanism 14, and a slide plate 16.

At the front side of the tool magazine body, an automatic opening / closing door 30 for more completely blocking chips and cutting oil.
Is arranged. The door 30 is opened at the time of automatic tool change and closed at the time of machining.

Next, the automatic tool change operation will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

1) On the tool magazine main body side, a tool pot 12 having a tool holder 7 to be used in the next step
Is indexed to the transport position B.

2) When the processing of the current process is completed, the door 30
Is released, and the tool pot is conveyed to the tool changing position A by the tool pot conveying means and is made to stand by.

3) The spindle head 4 is moved to a predetermined replacement position.

4) By operating the ATC arm 6, the tool holder 7 used in the current process and the tool pot 7 used in the next process are both pulled out from the spindle 9 and the tool pot 12 (the state shown in FIG. 6).

5) The ATC arm 6 is rotated by 180 degrees to exchange the positions of the two tool holders 7, and these are inserted into the tool pot 12 and the main shaft 9.

6) The storage location of the collected tool pot 12 is indexed, and the tool pot 12 is returned to the transport position B on the magazine body side. At the same time, ATC arm 6
Is returned to the standby position, and the next step is started.

[0048]

According to the present invention, the magazine body is a machine tool.
Since the machine is outside the operating range of the machine, chips and cutting
No oil adheres. Also parallel to the tool change position
Tool exchange between the tool pot conveyed by movement and the spindle
And insert the grooves (12a) into the tool pot (12)
Formed as two grooves parallel to the main body of the magazine (11)
The magazine plate (18) in the tool pot (12)
Having a recess (18a) corresponding to the groove (12a) of
Boundary part of recess (18a) and groove of tool pot (12)
(12a) is engaged with the tool pot (1).
2) is accommodated in the recess (18a), and
Guide between the magazine body (11) and the tool change position (A)
Place the plate (16) and place it in the tool pot (12).
Engage the groove (12a) with the guide plate (16)
To guide the tool pot (12) and the tool holder (7)
The tool pot (12) containing the
1) While the tool holder (7) is housed in
Tool pot (12) from inside the magazine body (11)
While being conveyed by parallel movement to the tool change position (A)
And the tool pot (12) at the tool change position (A)
Tool holder (7) is pulled out and inserted into the spindle (9)
Until the tool holder (7) is always translated
The direction of the shaft does not change due to
(7) The position around the axis is always in the predetermined direction around the axis.
Simple because it is kept in a specified position
Tool change quickly and with high reliability
it can.Furthermore, each tool pot (12) is generally cylindrical.
Mold that inserts the tool holder (7) from below
The tool pot (12) has a sp
A holding means consisting of a ring and a ball is
Press and fix the stud bolt of the tool holder (7)
In areas other than the tool pot transfer position (B),
The outer portion of the lamp (12) has a housing (31).
Of the tool magazine (1)
In the tool pot transfer position (B) of 1), the housing
The hem of (31) is open and there is a slide bracket
The slot (15) is movably arranged, and its slide
Do bracket (15) for tool pot (12)
Between the pot transfer position (B) and the tool change position (A)
To move back Is the slide bracket
(15) is in the transport direction across the tool pot (12)
Tool pot because it is designed to convey the thrust of
Not only can (12) be a simple structure
Fast and reliable with extremely simple operation
Tool change can be performed.

Also, since the magazine body is outside the machine (for example, outside the range of movement of the MC table), the operator can safely check and exchange tools stored in the magazine even while the machine is operating. It can be done easily.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, instead of a cylinder / piston mechanism, a tool pot can be transported by a motor drive type as shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, reference numerals 63 and 64 are a feed screw and a nut,
The feed screw 63 is driven by a motor 61 via a pulley 62.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a state in which a tool magazine for automatic tool change according to an embodiment of the present invention is set in a machining center.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing the spindle head and tool magazine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the tool magazine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the tool magazine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the tool magazine of FIG. 1 taken along a transport direction.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the tool magazine in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view schematically showing an automatic tool change operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a tool pot into which a tool holder is inserted.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the conveying means.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an engagement state between a tool pot and a guide plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Machining center 4 Spindle head 5 Table 6 Automatic tool change arm 7 Tool holder 9 Spindle 10 Tool magazine 11 Magazine body 12 Tool pot 13 Tool pot transfer means 14 Cylinder / piston mechanism 30 Automatic opening / closing door

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of tool pots (12) are set to be indexable on a magazine body (11), and each tool pot (12) is
The socket (12) is entirely cylindrical and has a tool from below.
The holder (7) is inserted into each tool pot.
The upper part of (12) consists of a spring and a ball
Means are arranged and studs of the tool holder (7)
The configuration is such that the bolts are biased and fixed, and the tool holder (7) is fixed and accommodated in the tool pot (12) , and the magazine body (11) is arranged outside the operating part of the machine tool. ) Is accommodated in the tool pot (12) in the same direction as the machine tool spindle, and a tool pot transfer means (13) is provided to move the tool pot (12) from the magazine body (11) to the tool change position (A). The tool pot (12) is conveyed by parallel movement and automatic tool change is performed between the tool pot (12) at the tool change position (A) and the spindle (9) of the machine tool.
2a) is formed as two grooves parallel to each other, and the magazine plate (18) in the magazine body (11) has a recess (18a) corresponding to the groove (12a) of the tool pot (12).
And the tool pot (12) is received in the recess (18a) such that the boundary portion of the recess (18a) and the groove (12a) of the tool pot (12) are engaged with each other. In addition, the magazine body (11) and the tool change position (A)
The guide plate (16) is disposed between the guide plates (1) and the groove (12a) provided in the tool pot (12) is aligned with the guide plate (1).
The tool pot (12) is guided by engaging with the tool holder (6), and the tool holder (7) is housed in the magazine body (11) and the tool holder (7) is housed. The tool holder (7) is moved from the tool pot (12) at the tool change position (A) while the tool pot (12) is transferred from the magazine body (11) to the tool change position (A) by parallel movement. During withdrawal and insertion into the main shaft (9), the tool holder (7) always moves in parallel and the direction of the shaft does not change, and the position of the tool holder (7) in the direction around the axis is always predetermined. The tool port is held in the specified state around the axis
In areas other than the cartridge transfer position (B), the tool pot (1
2) The outer part is on the inner periphery of the skirt of the housing (31).
It rotates around in contact with the tool of the tool magazine (11)
At the pot transfer position (B), the bottom of the housing (31)
It is open and there is a slide bracket (15)
It is movably arranged and its slide bracket
(15) Tool pot (12) is transferred to the tool pot
Reciprocate between position (B) and tool change position (A)
The slide bracket (15) is
The thrust in the transport direction across the lamp pot (12)
A tool magazine for automatic tool change, characterized in that: 2. The tool magazine for automatic tool change according to claim 1, wherein an automatic opening / closing type door (30) is provided between the tool change position and the magazine body (11). 3. The automatic tool changer according to claim 1, wherein the tool pot conveying means (13) is driven by a driving device such as a cylinder / piston mechanism (14) or a feed screw mechanism (60). Tool magazine for.