JPH0319741A - Automatic tool exchange mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive simplification of work and improvement of efficiency by forming a holding part available for a plurality of tools in an automatic tool exchanging arm. CONSTITUTION:In an arm 68A on the left side of an automatic tool exchanging arm 64, a tool holder 10, mounted to a machine tool main unit 12, is held by the first holding part 70, and a similar nozzle 24 is held by the second holding pat 72. Then, a tool holder 10 of new machining tool, selected from a magazine provided with a plurality of machining tools, and a refrigerant nozzle 24, paired with this tool holder 10, are simultaneously held by the other arm 68B, held in the respective holding parts. By rotating the automatic tool exchanging arm 64 with a turning shaft 66 serving as the center, a new machining tool and a nozzle are mounted to the machine tool main unit 12, and the machining tool and the nozzle, used in the past, are returned into the magazine.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic tool change mechanism, and particularly to the structure of an automatic tool change arm used in a so-called machining center.

[Prior Art] In recent years, so-called machining centers have been widely used to automatically and efficiently perform machining such as cutting and grinding. This machining center selects the appropriate machining tool according to the type of machining required and automatically attaches it to the main shaft of the machine tool body to perform machining. , a mechanism such as an automatic tool change arm is provided for removal.

However, not only when only one processing tool is attached to the machine tool body, but also when multiple processing tools are attached in parallel and machining is performed at the same time, it is necessary to supply coolant to each processing tool. There are various usage forms such as when nozzles are installed side by side.

Here, the arm used as a conventional automatic tool change mechanism grasps one of these tools, attaches it to and removes it from the machine tool body, and attaches the machine tool to the machine machine installed adjacent to the machine tool body. It was used to store tools that had been removed from the machine tool body, or to grasp new tools and attach them to the machine tool body.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] Therefore, when a plurality of tool corners are attached to the machine tool body, the plurality of -[! ! ．． When it is necessary to replace several types of automatic tool changing arms at the same time, it may be possible to complete the replacement only by the operation of the automatic tool changing arm several times. Although it is attempted to prepare the equipment in advance and complete the work in a short time, there is a problem in that the equipment is forced to be larger.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to eliminate the need to attach and remove tools, even if a plurality of tools are attached to the main body of a machine tool. Even if there is. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic tool changing mechanism that can complete its work with one operation of one automatic tool changing arm, thereby simplifying the work and improving efficiency.

[A Thousand Steps to Solve the Problem] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is capable of attaching a plurality of tools to a machine tool body in a removable manner, and the tools are selected by an automatic tool changing arm. This is an automatic tool change mechanism that is attached to and removed from a machine tool body by being gripped, and has a plurality of gripping parts formed on the automatic tool change arm.

[Function] In this way, by forming the automatic tool changing arm to hold a plurality of tools, when a plurality of tools are present at a predetermined position, this arm can be moved to that position. As a result, a plurality of tools are held by one arm, and a single operation of this arm can accomplish only the attachment and detachment of a desired tool according to the purpose. The tools here include not only processing tools but also nozzles for feeding the coolant 1 and the like.

[Example] The present invention will be explained below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention 1, particularly an embodiment in which a grindstone is used as a machining tool. The symbol 10 indicates a tool holder, and this tool holder 10 has a taber shank portion 14 at its base end that is attached to a spindle head (not shown) of a machine tool body 12 such as a machining center. Following the Taber shank portion 14, the flange portion 16 and this flange B51 are integrated.
A holder body 18 is provided on the distal end side of the holder body 18, and a processing tool 20 such as a grindstone is provided at the distal end of the holder body 18 (lower end in the figure). The flange portion 16 functions for positioning when the tool halter IO is attached to the spindle head, and is provided with an engagement groove 22 on its outer periphery for engagement with an automatic tool change arm, which will be described later.

Reference numeral 24 designates a refrigerant nozzle, which is bent into a substantially L-shape as a whole, and its opening 26 is located opposite to the processing tool 20 . A refrigerant passage 28 communicates with the opening 26 and is formed along the axis of the nozzle 24. This nozzle 24 is separated from the tool holder 10 and is independently and removably attached to the machine tool body 12.

For more details, the machine tool body l2 has a mounting block 30.
The nozzle 24 is mounted on this mounting block 30 in a fixed manner. Here, the refrigerant is the machine tool body 1
Since the high pressure refrigerant is introduced from the refrigerant 2 into the refrigerant passage 28 of the nozzle 24 through the mounting flock 30, in order to prevent the nozzle 24 from falling off from the mounting block 30 due to the pressure of this high pressure refrigerant, A drop-off prevention mechanism is provided at the base end and within the mounting block 30.

That is, the base end of the nozzle 24 is the base end (upper end in FIG. 1).
The taper shank portion 32 tapers toward the end, thereby facilitating installation into the mounting block 30, and a ball receiving groove 34 is formed approximately at the center of the taper shank portion 32 along its outer periphery. . Reference numeral 36 is a flange portion which functions to position the nozzle 24 with respect to the mounting block 30, and has an engagement groove 38 on its outer periphery for engagement with an automatic tool change arm to be described later.

The mounting block 30 mainly includes a stopper cylindrical body 42 that is biased toward the distal end (downward in FIG. 1) by a coil spring 40 to regulate the axial position of the nozzle 24;
A pressing cylinder 46 is disposed between the outer periphery of the stopper cylinder 42 and the inner periphery of the wooden body 44 of the mounting block 30 and holds a plurality of locking balls 48 and a pressing cylinder 46 that can slide in the axial direction. The inner cylindrical body 5o is formed in a tapered shape corresponding to the tapered shank portion 32 of the nozzle 24 and is fixed to a wooden body 44. Reference numeral 52 denotes a refrigerant inlet formed on the bottom surface of the wooden body 44, and when refrigerant is introduced from here at high pressure, the pressure acts on the base end surface (upper surface in FIG. 1) of the suppressing cylinder 46. The pressing cylinder 46 slides downward as shown in FIG.
The ball receiving groove 3 of the Taber shank portion 32 of the nozzle 24 inserted into the inner cylinder 5o is pressed radially inward.
It is supposed to be pushed to 4. This pressing cylindrical body 46 is normally urged in the proximal direction by a coil spring 56, so that the locking ball 48 is retreated radially outward while being held by the cylindrical body 50. Note that 58 is a sealing member, and 6o is a positioning pin that protrudes from the end surface of the inner cylindrical body 50 and engages with an engagement groove (not shown) formed in the flange portion 36 of the nozzle 24.

In this way, the nozzle 24 is installed in the mounting bracket 30, and the high-pressure refrigerant passes from the refrigerant introduction hole 52 of the wooden body 44 through the space inside the stopper cylinder 42, and enters the refrigerant passage 28 of the nozzle 24.
When injected from the opening 26 through the nozzle 24, the pressure is used to press the ball 48 into the ball receiving groove 34 of the Diva shank portion 32 of the nozzle 24.
The nozzle 24 is held by the mounting nozzle 3o with a stronger force and is prevented from falling off.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the structure of an automatic tool change arm 64 used for a tool holding structure separated from the nozzle 24 or the tool holder 10 as shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. The state of the tool holder 1o and the nozzle 24 held by the automatic tool change arm 64 is shown.

The automatic tool change arm 64 has a rotation shaft 66 adjacent to the machine tool body 12, and a pair of arms 68A, 68B extend from the rotation shaft 66. Each arm 68A, 68B
The engagement groove 2 of the flange part 16 of the tool polder lo is at the end of the
A first grip part 70 that engages with the first grip part 70 and a second grip part 72 that engages with the engagement groove 38 of the flange part 36 of the nozzle 24 are formed further toward the distal end of the first grip part 70 ( (See Figure 3). Reference numerals 7 and 73 indicate claws for the fall prevention IE, respectively.

It should be noted that it is preferable to configure the pawl 71 to move in and out in conjunction with the control of the automatic tool change arm 64, or the other pawl 73 may be operated in a similar manner, for example, or simply by a spring or the like. The urging means urges the second gripping part 72 inside, and when the nozzle 24 enters the second gripping part 72, it is pushed away and retreats, and when the nozzle 24 is gripped, the nozzle 24 is pushed from the outside by the urging force. It may be made so that it can be grasped.

In the state shown in FIG. 2, in the left arm 68A of the automatic tool change arm 64, the first gripping part 70 grips the tool holder 10 attached to the machine tool main body l2, and the second gripping part 72 grips the tool holder 10 attached to the machine tool main body l2. 24, and at the same time, the other arm 68B holds the tool holder 10 of a new machining tool selected from a magazine equipped with a plurality of machining tools (not shown) and a refrigerant nozzle paired with this tool holder IO. No. 24 is gripped at each gripping portion. Then, by rotating the automatic tool change arm 64 about the rotation axis 66, a new machining tool and nozzle are attached to the machine tool body 12, and the previously used machining tool and nozzle are placed in a predetermined position. It is returned into the magazine.

4 and 5, the structure of the first and second grips of one arm 68A of the automatic tool change arm 64 is shown in detail. The same applies to the other arm 68B. Each of the gripping parts 70 and 72 has four parts each having a substantially semicircular arc shape, and has projecting edges 80 and 82 along the inner periphery of the recessed part to fit into the engagement grooves 22 and 38 of the object to be gripped. There is.

The falling-off prevention claw 71 of the tool holder 10 held by the first gripping part 70 is capable of coming out and retracting from the end surface of the arm 68A.
At the time of protrusion, it engages with the engagement groove 22 of the tool holder IO, and cooperates with the protrusion 80 to reliably grip the tool holder 10. It is preferable that the movement of the claw 71 to protrude and retract is controlled in conjunction with the operation control of the automatic tool changing arm 64.

As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, a gripping lever 84 is provided in place of the pawl 73 of the second gripping portion 72 shown in FIG. 2 described above. This gripping lever 84 is pivotally supported via a pin 86 to the main body of the arm 68A. A coil spring 88 interposed between the main body of the arm and the gripping lever 84 biases the gripping lever 84 toward the position shown by the two-point chain in FIG. The abutting portion 90 on one side of the gripping portion 84 is located within the arc of the first gripping portion 70 .

Accordingly, when the tool holter 10 is completely gripped within the first gripping part 70, the gripping lever 84 is
By being pushed away by the tool holder 10, it is rotated around the bin 86 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. At this time, the positional relationship is such that the nozzle 24 is already fitted into the second gripping part 72, and the tip 1l of the gripping lever 84 is engaged with the engagement groove 38 of the nozzle 24 in the second gripping part 72. The nozzle 24 is reliably gripped in cooperation with the protruding edge 82 of the second gripping portion 72. It is preferable to form the protrusion 92 on the second gripping portion 72 side at the tip of the gripping lever 84, as this will ensure more reliable engagement with the engagement groove 38.

In the above embodiment, the part of the machine tool body l2 where the mounting block 30 is attached is configured to be rotatable with respect to the spindle head of the machine tool body l2 where the tool holder 10 is attached. It is also possible to rotate the opening 26 of the nozzle 24 as the workpiece moves relative to the workpiece, so that the refrigerant is always injected to an appropriate position.

In addition, in the second embodiment, an example was shown in which the tool holder 10 and the nozzle 24 are attached to the machine tool body, but the wood spring 1 is not limited to this, and can be used to hold various processing tools. It can also be applied in various ways, such as when multiple tool holders are attached to the main body of a machine tool.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the automatic tool changing arm 1 2 is provided with two gripping portions, but there is no need to limit it to this, and cases in which three or more gripping portions are provided are also included in the present invention. Note that when installing and removing tools, it is not necessary to use all the grips provided on the automatic tool change arm; for example, an arm with three grips can be used to attach or remove only two or one tool. It is possible for children to grasp the device, attach it to a designated location, and then remove it.

[Effect] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the automatic tool changing arm is formed with a plurality of gripping parts for tools, a number of tools can be handled in one operation by one automatic tool changing arm. It has the excellent effect of being able to exchange items.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view showing an example of the tool gripping structure of a machine tool body used in the automatic tool changing mechanism according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view showing an example of the automatic tool changing mechanism according to the present invention. 1 is a bottom view, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the state in which the tool is gripped by the automatic tool changing arm in the same embodiment, FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing the gripping part of the automatic tool changing arm, and FIG. The figure is a view taken in the direction of the V arrow in FIG. 4. 10 ・ 1 2 ・ 2 0 ・ 2 4 ・ 3 0 ・ 6 4 ・ 7 0 , ... Tool holder ... Machine tool body ... Processing tool ... Nozzle ... Mounting block ... Automatic tool change arm 72 ... Gripping part

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An automatic tool change mechanism in which a plurality of tools can be removably attached to a machine tool body, and the tools are selectively gripped by an automatic tool change arm to be attached to and removed from the machine tool body; , an automatic tool change mechanism in which an automatic tool change arm has gripping parts for multiple tools.