JPH0215940A - Automatic tool exchange for plurality of horizontal spindles - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance production efficiency by supporting a plurality of main spindles at the side of a machine tool in such a way as to be shiftable, storing tools of a quantity corresponding to the number of the main spindles, and providing a magazine drum for positioning the tools concurrently at the predetermined position, an arm, a tool delivery device and a control device. CONSTITUTION:Tools 25a and 25a located at the predetermined position are clamped with an arm 2 having holding tools 11a and 11a at a position opposing the aforesaid position, and pulled out form the tool storage pots 24a and 24a of a magazine drum 3. Then, the arm 2 is 90 degrees turned with a tool delivery device 1 and positioned in parallel to a main spindle 4. Thereafter, the device 1 and the main spindle 4 are shifted in an X-X direction and the main spindle 4 is also shifted in a Y-Y direction, thereby aligning the main spindle 4 with the tools 25a and 25a. Then, the arm 2 is shifted in a Z-Z direction and the tools 25a and 25a clamped are concurrently inserted into the main spindle 4. The aforesaid processes are reversed for pulling out the tools used within the main spindle and returning the tools to the side of the magazine drum.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention has a plurality of main shafts in the horizontal direction (CX-X axis direction), and the main shafts are arranged in the horizontal direction (CX-XH direction) and the vertical direction (
y-Y@1m direction) and front-back direction (Z-X axis direction 1
The present invention relates to an automatic tool changer for multiple horizontal spindles suitable for automatically inserting the same number of tools simultaneously into the main spindle of a machine tool supported movably in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper.

[Conventional technology]

A value control machine tool having an automatic tool changer is provided with a magazine drum for storing tools, a tool transfer device for inserting the tools in the magazine drum into a spindle, and a control device for these devices. However, most of the above-mentioned general machine tools have a single spindle, and the tools used for tool exchange also have a single function. In addition, even if a machine tool has multiple spindles, there is no machine tool that can simultaneously insert and load tools into these machines, and this requires a large magazine drum, which takes up a large amount of floor space, and the tool The problem arises that the exchange device becomes complicated and expensive.6 [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic tool changer with multiple horizontal spindles that can smoothly and accurately insert the same number of tools, shorten exchange time, improve production efficiency, and reduce floor space occupancy. .

[Means to solve the problem]

For this purpose, the present invention has a plurality of main axes, X-x axis, Y-
A magazine drum is supported on the machine tool side so as to be movable in the Y-axis and 2-2 axis directions, and is formed to store the same number of tools as the number of spindles, and to simultaneously index and position these tools at fixed positions. an arm having a gripping tool for holding the plurality of tools at a position facing each of the plurality of tools of the magazine drum; and supporting the arm so as to be rotatable by 90 degrees, This constitutes an automatic tool changer for multiple horizontal spindles, which includes a tool transfer device supported movably in the axial direction and a control device for these devices.

[Effect]

In the first step, a plurality of tools positioned at a fixed position are held by an arm having a gripping tool at a position facing the tools, and the tools are pulled out from a tool storage pot of the magazine drum.
The arm is rotated 90 degrees by the tool transfer device and placed in a direction parallel to the main axis. Next, the tool delivery device and the main shaft are moved in the X-X direction, and the main shaft is also moved in the Y-Y axis direction, so that the main shaft and the tool are aligned. Thereafter, the arm is moved in the Z-Z axis direction, and the held tool is simultaneously inserted into the spindle. This completes the work of inserting a plurality of tools.

Pulling out the tool in the used spindle and returning it to the magazine drum can be easily carried out by sequentially performing the steps in reverse.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

In this embodiment, a machine tool will be described in which two main spindles are used as the plurality of main spindles, and a magazine drum also has a child drum arranged around the outer periphery of the large drum, but the invention is of course not limited to this.

The machine tool 5 to which this embodiment is applied has two spindles 4a, 4.
The main shaft 4 is supported by the column 8 so as to be movable along the Y-Y axis direction, and the main shaft 4 is supported by the column 8 so as to be movable along the Y-Y axis direction.
It is supported so as to be movable in the X-X axis direction and the Z-Z axis direction by the movement of the column 8 mounted on the. Further, a magazine drum 3 is provided in the vicinity of the machine tool 5, and is configured such that a large drum 7 having a child drum 6 sequentially indexes and positions the child drum 6 at a fixed position (indicated by A) on the magazine frame 10. ing. Further, a tool transfer device M1 for moving the tool in the child drum 6 to the main shaft 4 side is interposed in the magazine drum 3 and the machine tool 5, and can rotate the arm 2 that holds the tool every 90 degrees. I support it as much as possible. Although not shown, the tool delivery device 1. The movements of the magazine drum 3, the main shaft of the machine tool 5, etc., which will be described later, are automatically controlled by a control device attached to the machine tool 5.

First, the tool delivery device 1 will be explained.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, gripping tools 11a, 11a, llb for holding tools are provided on the left and right sides of the arm.
A total of four grippers llb are provided, one pair each, and the pitch between the pair of grippers 11a and lla is 8 dimensions. Although the detailed structure is omitted, the arm 2 as shown in FIG. 1 is supported by a carrier 12, and as shown in FIG. 4, it is rotatably supported by a motor 13 and a gear group 14 fixed to the carrier 12. At the same time, it is supported movably in the 222 axial direction by a cylinder 15 which is also fixed to the carrier 12. The motor 13 and the gear group 14 are configured to index the arm 90 degrees at a time and are coaxial, and the cylinder 15 is the gripping tool 11a.

It is formed so as to be movable by a stroke that allows the tool magazine drum 3 and the main shaft 4 held by the parts 11b and the like to be pulled out or inserted.

The carrier 12 is further supported by a slide base 16 so as to be slidable in the X-X axis direction, and the slide base 16 is placed on a support base 17 fixed to the magazine frame 10. Further, the carrier 12 has a hand member 18 for moving it.
is fixed, and the hand member 18 is formed movable along the slide base 16 by a cylinder 19 fixed to the support stand 17.

With the above structure, the arm 2 is configured to be able to rotate in 90 degree increments about its central axis and to be able to move left and right in the XX axis direction. Note that the grippers 11a and llb are of a known structure, such as a swing arm gripper used in an automatic tool change bag M (ATC).
Formed to securely hold tools (explanation omitted)
.

Next, the magazine drum 3 will be explained.

The magazine drum 3 is rotatably supported by a magazine frame 10, and roughly consists of a large drum 7, a mechanism for indexing and rotating the child drum, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, the large drum 7 has a 10-sided structure in this embodiment, and each child drum 6 is rotatably supported on its outer surface. The large drum 7 is formed so as to be rotated into 10 planes and to index and position the child drum 6 at a fixed position (indicated by A), and this indexing mechanism rotates an indexing plate 20 fixed to the large drum 7 by a motor 22. In this embodiment, the child drum 6, which is constructed by fitting cam followers 23 into grooves 21 recessed at equal intervals in the index plate 20, corresponds to the two main shafts 4a and 4b, and has four child drums. It consists of pots 24a, 24a, 24b, 24b, and tools 25a, 25a are inside the pots 24a, 24a.
, 25b, and 25b are respectively inserted. In addition, pots 24a and 24b and pots 24b,
The pitch between 24b is formed from eight dimensions equal to the pitch dimension of main shafts 4a and 4b. Pot 24a of child drum 6.

24b is supported as a whole by the large drum 7 so as to be rotatable every 90 degrees, and as shown in FIG. This is done by fitting the flat plates 27 of 6 into each other.

With the above structure, the large drum 7 rotates, and the child drum 6
, the desired tools 25a, 25b are placed in the localization IA.
etc. can be indexed and positioned. Tools 25a, 25a and tools 25b, 25b and gripping tools 11a, ll of arm 2
a, llb, and llb are placed at positions facing each other in stereotaxic fiA.

The main spindle 4 of the machine tool 5 is a headstock 28 supported by a column 8.
It is movable in the Y-Y axis direction by the motor 29, and is supported movably in the X-X axis direction and the 2-2 axis direction by the movement of the column 8 as described above.

Before explaining the operation of this embodiment, the amount of tools is determined by the transfer device 1 as shown in FIG. Arm 2. Magazine drum 3゜main shaft 4a, 4
The positional relationship of b is clarified by the code size. Also, the main shaft 4a
, 4b is the tool 25 in this embodiment.
It is assumed that the six magazine drums 3, denoted by a and 25a, index and rotate the child drum 6 to a fixed position A by the motor 22, or that the tools 25b and 25b are on the side away from the arm 2. A tool 25a near arm 2.

The center distance between 25b and the gripping tools 11a and lla is assumed to be the dimension. Further, it is assumed that the rotational center point of the arm 2 (hereinafter referred to as 0 point) is located at a position separated by a radius r from the gripping points of the gripping tools 11a and llb. That is, it is assumed that the arm 2 rotates with a radius r around the 0 point.

In Fig. 1, if the B-B line is the tool insertion/removal position, the 0 point of the arm 2 is at a distance of a dimension d from the B-B line, and the center point of the spindle 4 is at a distance of one dimension. shall be taken as a thing. All of the above dimensions are along the X-X axis direction. Furthermore, Y between the 0 point of arm 2 and the center point of main shaft 4
- It is assumed that they are separated by a dimension p in the Y-axis direction. Furthermore, although not clearly shown in the figure, the tools 25a, 25a, etc. held by the gripper 12 of the arm 2 are placed in the pot 24a.

The moving distance of the arm 2 in the Z-Z axis direction required to pull it out from the arm 24a is assumed to be g dimension for convenience of explanation, and tools 25a, 25a, etc. can be inserted into the main shafts 4a, 4b by moving by two dimensions. shall be.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10.

FIG. 5 shows the tool 24a in the dimensional and positional relationship described above.

24a, the arm 2, the gripping tools 11a, 11a, and the state in which the tools 4a, 4b are arranged in the main shaft 4, and their respective dimensional values are shown.

First, as shown in FIG. 6, the child drum 6 rotates 180 degrees to direct the tools 24a, 24a toward the arm 2, and the arm 2 moves by 5 dimensions in the X-X axis direction, and the first gripper 11a
, lla by tool 25a.

25a is held. Therefore, the zero point of the arm 2 and the center point of the main shaft 4 are separated by a dimension b+d+f in the XX axis direction, and separated by 2 dimensions in the YY axis direction. Specifically, the 0 point of the arm 2 is separated from the line B-B by a dimension b+d, and the center point of the main shaft 4 is separated by one dimension.

Next, as shown in FIG.
The tools 25a, 25 are pulled out by two dimensions from the tools 24a, 24a, and the arm 2 is rotated by 90 degrees around the zero point.
Point a toward the upper position of the figure.

That is, the tools 25a, 25a are the tools 4a of the main spindle 4.

Like 4f, they are arranged horizontally and have the same pitch of 8.
They are set apart by the same size. Therefore, the tool 25a
, 25a and the tools 4a, 4b are separated by r+p in the Y-Y axis direction.

From the B-B line, b + d in the X-X axis direction, respectively.
dimension and one dimension apart.

As shown in Fig. 8, move arm 2 from the state shown in Fig. 7 to X-X.
When the axis direction is moved by dimension b+d and the spindle 4 is moved by one dimension, the zero point of arm 2 and the center point of spindle 4 will both be on line B-B, so that the center point of tools 25a, 25a and tool 4a, The center point of 4b is r in the Y-Y axis direction.
They are only separated by +2 dimensions. Here, as shown in FIG. 9, by raising the main shaft 4 by the pr dimension in the Y-Y axis direction, the center of the tools 4a, 4b and the gripping tool 1
The centers of 1b and llf will completely coincide with each other. By moving the arm 2 by two dimensions in this position, the tools 4a, 4b are pulled out from the main shaft 4.
As shown in FIG.
a and 25b will come to a position where they coincide with the main axis 4 at the bottom of the figure. At this point, the tools 25a, 25a can be inserted into the main shaft 4 by retracting the arm 2 by two dimensions. Next, as shown in FIG.
The main shaft 4 into which the arm 2 has been inserted is lowered by the pr dimension, and the relationship between the arm 2 and the main shaft 4 is separated.

Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the arm 2 is rotated 90 degrees, moved to the side of the child drum 6 by dimension f+d, the main shaft is moved one dimension to the right in the figure, and the tools 4a, 4b are placed inside the child drum 6. is stored to complete the cycle, and the same process is repeated thereafter.

In this embodiment, there are two main shafts 4, and two tools 25a, 25a, etc. are inserted simultaneously into the main shafts 4, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Further, the indexing machines for the child drum 6 and the large drum 7, the movement structure for the arm 2, etc. are not limited to those of this embodiment, and it goes without saying that publicly known techniques can be employed.

Further, in this embodiment, the same type of tools 25a, 25a are used on the main shaft 4.
However, it is of course possible to insert different types of tools at the same time.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, similar tools can be inserted into multiple spindles at the same time smoothly and accurately, improving the operating rate of the machine and improving production efficiency. In addition, since the magazine drum has a child drum, the floor space occupancy rate can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view showing the general structure of a magazine drum used in the embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a side view showing the general structure of a magazine drum used in the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the rotation mechanism of the child drum in the magazine drum, and FIG. 4 is an axial sectional view illustrating the tool transfer device of the embodiment. 5 to 12 are explanatory front views for explaining the operation of this embodiment. 1...The tool receiver is a passing device, 2...The arm. 3...Magazine drum, 4...Main shaft, 4a. 4b, 25a, 25b...tool, 5...machine tool,
6... Child drum, 7... Large drum, 8... Column, 9... Bed, lla, llb... Gripping tool, 12
...Career, 13, 15, 22.26.29...
Motor, 14... Gear group, 16... Slide base, 17... Support stand. 18...Hand member, 19...Cylinder, 20...
- Index plate, 21...groove, 23...cam follower, 24a, 24b...pot, 27...flat plate, 28...headstock. rice map

Claims (1)

[Claims] A horizontal multi-spindle automatic tool configured to automatically exchange the same number of tools simultaneously in the main spindle of a machine tool that is supported movably in three axes and has a plurality of main spindles in the horizontal direction (X-X axis direction). In the exchange device, a magazine drum that stores a plurality of tools and indexes and positions the plurality of tools at fixed positions, and a gripping tool that holds each of the magazine drums at a position facing the plurality of tools. and a gripping tool of the arm is held rotatably at 90 degrees horizontally and vertically, and the arm is supported so as to be movable in a direction toward or away from the main axis (X-X axis direction). a tool delivery device that supports the tool in the direction of pulling out or returning the tool from within the magazine drum (Z-Z axis direction); and a control device that automatically controls the tool, the spindle, and the tool delivery device to the home position or the tool delivery position. An automatic tool changer for horizontal multiple spindles, characterized in that it has: