JPH0314576B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a tool head that is equipped with one or more tools and is attached to the spindle of a machine tool such as a drilling machine, milling machine, or machining center. This invention relates to a tool head that allows the position of a tool to be determined relative to the position of the tool.

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a tool head is a so-called multi-axis head which is equipped with a plurality of tools such as drills and is capable of machining a large number of holes at once. and,
Conventional multi-spindle heads have multiple tools rotatably attached to the multi-spindle head body which is non-rotatably installed at the tip of the head, and these tools are rotated by a drive shaft connected to the main shaft of the machine tool. .

Another example of a tool head is an angle head, which allows one or more tools to be mounted at a predetermined angle with respect to the main axis of a machine tool. Conventional examples of such angle heads also have the same driving configuration as described above.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the case of conventional multi-axis heads, the multi-axis head body cannot rotate, so in order to improve machining efficiency, it is inevitable to adopt the embodiments shown below. However, it had the following drawbacks.

An embodiment is adopted in which a multi-axis head equipped with a number of tools corresponding to the number of holes is used to simultaneously machine a large number of holes. However, in this case, there are disadvantages in that the multi-axis head becomes larger and the structure becomes more complicated.

An embodiment is adopted in which a plurality of multi-axis heads each having a number of tools smaller than the number of holes are used, and each multi-axis head processes holes at corresponding locations. However, in this case, it is necessary to replace the multi-axis head, so there is a limit to how much machining efficiency can be improved.

Such drawbacks also occur with the above-mentioned angle head.

The present invention was made in order to solve the problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a tool head that has a simple structure and can quickly perform a wide variety of machining operations.

Means for Solving the Problems The tool head according to the present invention includes a proximal connecting portion connected to the main shaft of a machine tool, and a distal end side of the proximal connecting portion. A tool head comprising a multi-axis head main body provided with a tool, and an indexing mechanism provided in the middle thereof for indexing the tool around the axis of the base end connecting part or around an axis inclined thereto, The indexing mechanism is provided on the distal end side of the proximal connecting portion, and includes a drive shaft that directly or indirectly drives the tool, a housing that rotatably supports the drive shaft, and a peripheral portion of the housing. a support tube that is provided and that fixes and supports the housing on the machine tool by advancing a built-in positioning member; a fluid passage provided inside the positioning member; and a fluid passage that is built in the support tube; a first piston that is moved toward the proximal end by fluid flowing into the support cylinder through the housing; , an annular body having an engagement recess on the inner surface side, a second piston that is provided inside the drive shaft and advances when the fluid flows in, and whose tip end engages with the engagement recess; and the housing. A power transmission shaft is rotatably supported on the tool holder, has an intermittent gear rotating in conjunction with the engagement piece on the base end side, and has a drive gear connected on the distal end side, and the base of the tool holder. an internal gear provided on the inner circumferential surface of the end side and meshing with the driving gear; and one or more internal gears provided on the internal gear, and at the time when the fluid stops flowing into the support cylinder, the first and a positioning recess into which the tip of the piston engages.

Action In such a case, when fluid flows into the support cylinder,
The engagement between the first piston and the positioning recess, that is, the connection between the housing and the multi-axis head main body is released, and the second piston, the engagement piece, the drive gear and the internal gear are connected to the drive shaft and the multi-axis Since the head body will be linked, when the drive shaft (main shaft) is rotated, the tool will rotate at a predetermined reduction ratio determined by the number of teeth of the intermittent gear, etc., so the position of the tool relative to the workpiece can be controlled. It will be possible to change it.

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a multi-axis head, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the structure around an intermittent gear.

This multi-axis head is the main axis 1 of the machining center.
The proximal end connecting portion 10 that is fitted and connected to the proximal end connecting portion 1
a housing 20 that rotatably supports a drive shaft 11 provided at the tip end of the head; and a multi-axis head body 3 that rotatably supports a tool (not shown) such as a drill.
0.

Attachment of the proximal connecting portion 10 to the main shaft 1 is as follows:
Specifically, this is done by pushing the taper shank 12 located on the left side in the figure into the fitting hole 1a provided in the main shaft 1. At this time, keys 2 provided at two opposing positions on the main shaft 1 (only one is shown in the drawing)
is fitted into a key groove 13 provided on the circumferential surface of the proximal end connecting portion 10, thereby preventing the proximal end connecting portion 10 from rotating relative to the main shaft 1.

The housing 20 is formed by connecting a proximal cylinder body 21 and a distal cylinder body 22, and a support cylinder 50 is provided at the peripheral edge of the housing 20 for fixedly supporting the housing 20 with respect to a machining center. That is, the support tube 50 has a built-in pin-shaped positioning member 51, and this positioning member 51 is connected to the taper shank 12.
The engaging groove 6 of the positioning block 60 provided on the machining center side when pushing into the fitting hole 1a of the main spindle 1
1, so that the housing 20 is fixedly supported with respect to the machining center. Note that the positioning member 51 is always urged toward the proximal end by a coil spring 52 provided inside the distal end of the support tube 50.

The rotation of the drive shaft 11 is supported by four bearings 2.
3, 24, 31, and 32. The bearings 23, 24, 31, 32 are located on the proximal inner peripheral surface of the proximal cylinder 21, on the distal inner peripheral surface of the distal cylinder 22,
They are fitted onto the inner circumferential surface on the base end side of the multi-axis head body 30 and the inner circumferential surface on the distal side of the multi-axis head body 30, respectively.

The tool also has a chuck 4 on the tip side of a tool drive shaft 42 rotatably supported by the multi-axis head body 30.
1, and is designed to rotate together with the tool drive shaft 42. This rotation is the main axis 1
This is done by rotating the . That is, a gear 43 is provided on the base end side of the tool drive shaft 42 and meshes with the drive gear 14 provided at the intermediate portion of the drive shaft 11, and the rotation of the main shaft 1 is transmitted to the tool via these gears. It is becoming more and more common. Note that other tools have similar structures.

Now, this multi-axis head has a multi-axis head main body 30.
Means is provided for making the tool rotatable relative to the housing 20 and for positioning (hereinafter referred to as indexing) the tool relative to a workpiece (not shown). The details of this method are as shown below,
Basically, due to the working fluid such as air flowing into the support tube 50 from the positioning block 60 side,
The drive shaft 11 and a gear group for rotating the multi-axis head body 30 are connected, and the multi-axis head body 3 is rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft 11, that is, the main shaft 1 connected thereto.
It has a structure that rotates 0.

The details of this means will be explained below. A fluid passage (not shown) is provided inside the positioning member 51, and when the positioning member 51 is connected to the positioning block 60, working fluid flows into the support cylinder 50 through the positioning block 60 and the fluid passage. I'm starting to do that.

A cylinder storage chamber 26 containing a cylinder 25 is formed in a portion of the housing 20 adjacent to the support cylinder 50, and a piston 27 is disposed inside the cylinder 25.
is provided so as to be movable in the axial direction of the main shaft 1.
The piston 27 is always urged toward the distal end by a coil spring 28 housed in the proximal end of the cylinder storage chamber 26. This piston 27 is for positioning the housing 20 and the multi-axis head body 30 which is rotatable with respect to the housing 20.

That is, at the time when the working fluid does not flow into the support cylinder 50, the tip of the piston 27 is placed at a predetermined position in the circumferential direction of the internal gear 34, which will be described later, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. So 4
The housing 20 of the multi-axis head body 30 is engaged with the groove-shaped positioning recess 35 provided in this way.
Rotation is prevented, that is, positioning is performed.

This detent state is released by the flow of working fluid into the support cylinder 50. That is, a support tube 50 is provided on the tip side of the cylinder storage chamber 26.
A fluid passage 29 is provided that communicates with the cylinder 25. When the working fluid that has flowed into the support cylinder 50 flows into the cylinder 25 through the fluid passage 29, this fluid pressure causes the piston to resist the biasing force of the coil spring 28. 27 moves toward the distal end, and the engagement between the piston 27 and the positioning recess 35 is released, so that the rotation-preventing state of the multi-axis head main body 30 is released. Note that the support cylinder 5 for the working fluid
The inflow and discharge into and out of the fluid are controlled by a fluid supply means consisting of a directional switching valve (not shown) or the like.

A cylinder 110 is attached to the middle part of the drive shaft 11 so as to be inserted through the cylinder 110 in the radial direction.
A piston 111 is provided within the cylinder 110. The piston 111 is constantly urged inward of the drive shaft 11 by a coil spring 112 housed within the cylinder 110. This piston 111
transmits the rotation of the drive shaft 11 to the multi-axis head body 30 via a group of gears described below.
This is for positioning the tool with respect to the housing 20, that is, indexing the tool to the machining position of the workpiece.

That is, the inside of the cylinder 110 and the cylinder 2
Working fluid is supplied to the cylinder 1 through a fluid passage 113 formed in the drive shaft 11 to communicate with the inside of the cylinder 1.
When it flows into the housing 2 , the piston 111 causes the tip of the piston 111 to protrude outside the drive shaft 11 , and the tip surrounds the drive shaft 11 .
It engages with a groove-shaped engagement recess 115 recessed at a predetermined position on the inner peripheral surface of an annular body 114 attached to the inner peripheral surface of the ring body 114.

As shown in FIG.
16 is formed in a protruding manner, and when the main shaft 1 is rotated, an engagement piece 116 that interlocks with the drive shaft 11 drives a star-shaped intermittent gear 117 provided in the rotation range of the engagement piece 116 to a predetermined reduction ratio according to the number of teeth of the engagement piece 116. It will be rotated.
Incidentally, the number of teeth of the illustrated intermittent gear 117 is set to five, and as a result, the intermittent gear 117 rotates 1/5 for one rotation of the main shaft 1 and the drive shaft 11. The rotation of the intermittent gear 117 is transmitted to the multi-axis head main body 30 via a group of gears described below. The mounting position of the intermittent gear 117 to the housing 20 is as shown in FIG. 2, and is shown at this position in FIG. 1 for convenience of drawing. Further, 118 is an O-ring interposed between the drive shaft 11 and the cylinder 110, which prevents the working fluid from leaking to the outside of the drive shaft 11 and prevents the cylinder 110 from accidentally rotating with respect to the drive shaft 11. It functions to prevent this from happening. Similarly, an O-ring 119 is interposed between the ring body 114 and the inner peripheral surface of the housing 20 to prevent leakage of working fluid and accidental rotation of the ring body 114.

Next, the gear group will be explained. The intermittent gear 1
17 is pivotally supported on the proximal end side of a support pin 120 that is rotatably supported between the distal end side cylinder body 22 and the proximal side cylinder body 21, and a pinion 121 is supported as a shaft on the distal side of the support pin 120. It is supported. pinion 1
21 meshes with a gear 123 provided on the proximal end side of a transmission shaft 122 rotatably supported by the distal end cylinder body 22. A driving gear 124 is provided which meshes with an annular internal gear 34 attached to the peripheral surface.
Note that positioning recesses 35 (or holes) with which the tip of the piston 27 engages are provided at a plurality of positions in the circumferential direction of the internal gear 34 as described above.

Thus, when the main shaft 1 is rotated and the intermittent gear 117 rotates accordingly, the drive gear 124 is connected to the internal gear 34 via these gear groups, that is, the multi-axis head main body 30 changes the number of teeth of the intermittent gear 117 and the gear group. The tool rotates around the drive shaft 11 at a predetermined reduction ratio corresponding to the tooth number ratio, and the tool can be indexed. A rotation speed detector 71 such as a proximity switch is provided in the rotation range of the key 2 to detect the rotation speed of the main shaft 1. That is, the rotation speed detector 71 detects the proximity of the two keys 2 and provides a detection signal to the arithmetic control device 70. The arithmetic and control unit 70 counts these detection signals and determines that the main shaft 1 has rotated once for every two detection signals. This arithmetic and control device 70 is installed in a machining center, etc., and controls machining operations as described below.

Next, the details of the machining operation will be explained for the case where 16 holes are machined using four tools. First, the piston 27 is engaged with the first positioning recess 35 at a predetermined position, and the phase of the tool is set to the initial machining position of the workpiece. Next, the main shaft 1 is rotated and fed, and four holes are first machined. Next, the fluid supply means is driven, and the support cylinder 5
0, and the engagement between the piston 27 and the first positioning recess 35 is released. Thereafter, the tool is rotated 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise, and in this state, the working fluid in the support cylinder 50 is discharged, the piston 27 is engaged with the second positioning recess 35, and the four Perform hole machining. Then, the same operations as above are performed, and the drilling operation is performed a total of four times, resulting in a total of 16 holes.

Here, the tool phase setting and hole machining from the second time onwards are controlled by the arithmetic and control unit 70. That is, the arithmetic and control unit 70 has no tools.
The rotational speed of the main shaft 1 required to rotate 90 degrees is set in advance, and the rotation of the main shaft 1 is stopped when a rotational speed detection signal corresponding to this rotational speed is input from the rotational speed detector 71. , and also issues a fluid discharge command signal to the fluid supply means to cause the piston 27 to engage the second positioning recess 35, thereby setting the phase of the tool at the second machining position. Then, a predetermined drive command signal is issued to the spindle 1,
Execute hole machining. When the hole machining is completed, a fluid supply command signal is issued to the fluid supply means again to disengage the piston 27 from the second positioning recess 35 and engage the piston 27 to the third positioning recess 35. The main shaft 1 is rotated in the same manner as described above.

As explained above, when adopting an embodiment in which the arithmetic and control unit 70 is provided, there is an advantage that hole drilling with high precision can be performed automatically and quickly, so it is preferable to carry out the implementation. 7
Of course, an embodiment may be adopted in which 0 is not provided.

Other Embodiments FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an angle head.

The structure of the proximal end of this angle head is the same as that of the above embodiment, so a description of the corresponding parts will be omitted, and only the different parts will be described below.

Note that the tool holder 130 corresponds to the multi-axis head main body 30 in the multi-axis head.

As shown in the figure, a tool holding portion 130 is provided on the distal end side of the housing 20 similar to the above through an intermediate housing 80 that rotatably supports the distal end side of the drive shaft 11.
are connected. The intermediate housing 80 is rotatable about the axis of the drive shaft 11 relative to the housing 20. That is, the internal gear 34 that meshes with the driving gear 124 is attached to the inner circumferential surface of the proximal end of the intermediate housing 80 in the same manner as described above, so that the intermediate housing 80 rotates integrally with the main shaft.

The tool holder 130 has a cylindrical shape with its axis inclined at 90 degrees with respect to the main axis, and is fixedly connected to the intermediate housing 80. A tool similar to the above (also not shown), for example, one tool is attached to the top end of the tool holder 130 at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the drive shaft 11. This tool is linked to a tool drive shaft 131 rotatably supported within a tool holder 130. A bevel gear 133 that meshes with a bevel gear 132 attached to the tip of the drive shaft 11 is provided at the base end of the tool drive shaft 131, and the rotation of the main shaft is controlled in the direction of rotation via these bevel gears 132, 133.
It is designed so that it can be transmitted to the tool with a 90° difference.

Thus, in this angle head, when the main shaft is rotated in the same manner as described above, the tool holding portion 13
0, that is, it becomes possible to index the tool to the workpiece, and it is possible to machine a workpiece whose machining surface is inclined at 90 degrees with respect to the main axis. Note that the mounting angle of the tool holder 130 with respect to the housing 20 is not limited to 90°, and it goes without saying that various inclination angles can be selected depending on the workpiece to be machined, and the type of tool, The number is not limited to the above.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention as described above, the multi-axis head main body to which one or more tools are attached can be rotated around the main axis, so that the tools can be indexed with respect to the workpiece. Therefore, since a large number of holes can be drilled with a small number of tools, the tool head can be made smaller and the structure can be simpler than in the conventional case, which has the same number of tools as the machining parts. This has the effect of making it possible to improve the

In addition, since machining of a greater number of machining parts than the number of tools can be performed with one tool head, compared to the conventional method described above in which machining is performed by exchanging multiple tool heads. This has the effect of greatly improving the processing efficiency of a wide variety of processes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a multi-axis head, and FIG. 2 shows a structure around an intermittent gear. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view and a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an angle head. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Main shaft, 10... Tip connection part, 11... Drive shaft, 20... Housing, 27, 111... Piston, 30... Multi-axis head body, 34... Internal gear, 35... Positioning recess, 50...Support tube, 5
1... Positioning member, 114... Ring body, 115...
...Engagement recess, 116...Engagement piece, 117...Intermittent gear, 124...Driving gear.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A base end connecting portion connected to the main shaft of the machine tool;
A multi-axis head body is provided on the distal end side of the proximal end connecting portion, and is provided with one or more tools on the distal end side, and a multi-axis head main body is provided between these, and the tool is attached to the axis of the proximal end connecting portion or A tool head comprising this and an indexing mechanism that indexes around an inclined axis, the indexing mechanism being provided on the distal end side of the proximal connecting portion, and a drive shaft that directly or indirectly drives the tool. a housing that rotatably supports the drive shaft; a support tube that is provided on the periphery of the housing and that allows a built-in positioning member to advance to securely support the housing on the machine tool; and an interior of the positioning member. a first piston that is built into the support cylinder and moves toward the proximal end side by fluid flowing into the support cylinder through the fluid passage; and a first piston that is disposed within the housing. an annular body that surrounds the drive shaft, has an engagement piece on the proximal end side, and an engagement recess on the inner surface side; , a second piston whose distal end engages with the engagement recess, and an intermittent gear rotatably supported by the housing and rotated in conjunction with the engagement piece on the base end side; a transmission shaft with a driving gear connected to the side; an internal gear provided on the inner circumferential surface of the base end side of the multi-axis head body and meshed with the driving gear; and one or more internal gears provided on the internal gear. and a positioning recess with which the tip of the first piston engages when the fluid stops flowing into the support cylinder.