JPH0334477B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pen exchange method between a pen holding mechanism on the head side and a pen holding mechanism on the main body side in automatic drafting.

In this type of pen exchange method, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Push the pen into the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, and let the pen holding mechanism on the main body hold the pen. When the pen holding mechanism on the main body side holds the pen, the solenoid is driven to lock the pen holding state of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side. Next, move the cursor to the next command point. This movement of the cursor releases the pen from being held by the pen holding mechanism on the head side. Next, the power to the solenoid is removed.

As mentioned above, if the pen held in the pen holding mechanism on the head side is held in the pen holding mechanism on the main body side and then the pen holding mechanism on the main body side is locked, it takes time to replace the pen. However, when attempting to do this quickly, there was a drawback in that it was extremely difficult to set the timing of the lock signal.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned defect, and when pushing the pen held by the pen holding mechanism on the head side into the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, the head side pen holding mechanism When located near the mechanism, the pen holding mechanism on the main body side is locked, that is, the pen holding force of the mechanism is made larger than the pen holding force of the head side pen holding mechanism, and the pen holding mechanism on the head side is moved against this locking force. The present invention is characterized in that the pen held by the pen holding mechanism is pushed into the holding position of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side by the driving force of the cursor.

The configuration of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Reference numeral 2 designates an X-Y plotter, in which a rail 6 is supported along both sides 4a, 4b of the main body 4 so as to be movable along the Y coordinate axis direction, and a cursor 8 is movably attached to the rail 6. A head 10 is attached to the cursor 8. Said rail 6
The movement of the cursor 8 along the Y coordinate axis direction and the movement of the cursor 8 along the X coordinate axis direction along the rail 6 are controlled by a known X-coordinate axis direction, which is controlled by a computer (not shown).
Controlled by Y numerical control mechanism. head 10
is provided with a pen holding mechanism which will be described later. 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a top plate of eight pen holding mechanisms on the drawing board side, which are located on one side of the drawing board 14 and are provided in the main body 4.

Next, the pen holding mechanism on the cursor side will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a pen elevating solenoid fixed to a board fixed to the cursor 8, and is driven by a pen up/down signal from the computer. An elevating plate 22 is fixed to the output shaft 21 of the solenoid 20. Reference numeral 24 denotes a swinging arm supported by a shaft 26 on the elevating plate 22 so as to be rotatable in a plane parallel to the surface of the drawing board 14, and a pen holder 24 consisting of a concave curve on the inner surface of this swinging arm.
a is formed. Reference numeral 28 denotes a holding frame fixed to the elevating plate 22, and an upper holding piece 28a and a lower holding piece 28b are attached to this frame in a direction horizontal to the plane of the drawing board 14 and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rail 6. It is formed. The holder 28 has a pen contacting surface 2.
8c is formed perpendicular to the surface of the drawing board 14 and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the rail 6. A recessed portion is formed in the upper holding piece 28a and the body portion of the holder 28 to receive a plate 32 that is fitted and fixed to the body portion of the pen 30. The holding body 2
8 is provided with a transparent hole, and a shaft 34 is slidably disposed in the hole, and the rear end of the shaft 34 is in elastic contact with the operating shaft of a limit switch 36 fixed to the lifting plate 22 via a bracket. . The resiliency of the actuating shaft urges the shaft 34 so that its tip protrudes into the recessed portion of the body portion of the holder 28 . A slide ball bearing 40 is fixed to the elevating plate 22, and the bearing 40 is slidably inserted into a vertical guide shaft 42 fixed to the base plate of the head 10 and the cursor 8. or,
Guide roller 4 rotatably supported by the lifting plate 22
4 is in elastic contact with a vertical guide column 46 fixed to the substrate of the head 10 and the cursor 8 by the tensile force of a return spring 48.

A coil spring 48 is compressed and arranged in a spring holding hole formed in the rising portion of the swinging arm 24 and a spring holding hole formed in the holding body 28, and the swinging arm 24 is compressed by the elastic force of the spring 48. is biased about the shaft 26 in the direction of rotation of the hour hand in FIG.

Next, the pen holding mechanism 12a on the main body 4 side will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8.

50 is a base fixed to the main body 4, and the drawing board 14 is fixed to this base. A plurality of cylindrical bodies 52 are erected on the base 50, and a cylindrical resin holder 54 is slidably inserted into the cylindrical bodies 52 by being biased upward by the elasticity of a coil spring 56. . A protrusion 58 provided on the holder 54 protrudes to the outside through a long hole (not shown) in the cylindrical body 52, and the protrusion 58 abuts a cam 60 rotatably supported on the base 50 via a bracket. are in contact with each other. The cam 60 is locked to a stopper member 62. An annular body 64 made of rubber is fixed to the upper end of the holder 54. Reference numeral 66 denotes an elevating body disposed in the holder 54, and a presser foot 68 made of rubber is fixed to the tip of a shaft fixed to this. The elevating body 54 is urged upward by a coil spring 70. On the head 10 side, a protrusion 72 is fixed to the lower part of the holder 28 at a position corresponding to and in contact with the cam 60. Reference numeral 74 denotes an upper holding piece fixed to the base 50 via a support, and the holding piece has a contact surface 74a formed in a direction perpendicular to the rail 6 and perpendicular to the surface of the drawing board 14. There is. Reference numeral 76 denotes an upper holding piece, which is fixed to the base 50 via a support. The upper holding piece 76 has a contact surface 76a for contacting the peripheral surface of the body of the pen 80 and a contact surface 7 for contacting one side of the body of the pen 30.
6b is formed. The upper holding pieces 74 and 7
6 is a board 3 of a pen 30 in a direction perpendicular to the drawing board 14.
They face each other with an interval slightly wider than the thickness width of No. 2. 80 is a swing arm, and a hook part 8 is attached to the tip of the swing arm.
0a is formed. The swinging arm 80 is attached to the mounting plate 8
2 is supported by a shaft 84 so as to be rotatable within a plane parallel to the plane of the drawing board 14. 86 is a lower holding piece fixed to the base 50, and like the upper holding piece 76, it has a contact surface 86a for contacting the circumferential surface of the body of the pen 30, and a contact surface 86a for contacting the side surface of the body. A contact surface 86b is formed. The swinging arm 80 is moved by the tensile force of the coil spring 88.
It is biased in the direction of rotation of the hour hand in FIG. 8 with the shaft 84 as the center. The rear end of the swing arm 80 is in elastic contact with a switch piece of a limit switch 90 attached to the base 50 via a bracket. 9
A solenoid 2 is fixed to the base 50 via a bracket, and one end of a shaft rod 94 is fixed to the output shaft of the solenoid. The other end of the shaft rod 94 is the bearing 9
6 on the base 50 so as to be slidable.

The shaft 94 is slidably inserted into the hole of the swinging arm 80, and stopper plates 96 attached to the shaft 94 face each side of the swinging arm 80.

The pen holding mechanism on the main body side is the solenoid 92.
Eight shaft rods 94 are provided as common parts. A rail detection element 91 consisting of a limit switch is disposed near one end of one side portion 4b of the main body 4, and the element 91 is connected to a controller. When the pen holding mechanism on the head side approaches the pen holding mechanism on the main body 4 side and the cursor 8 crosses the pen change point assumed on the drawing board 14, one end of the rail 6 touches the detection element 91 while passing over the pen change point. The position of the detection element 91 is set so as to be operated. The pen change point is set at such a position that when a predetermined position of the cursor is located at the point, the head side pen holding mechanism faces the main body side pen holding mechanism with a predetermined distance therebetween. Holding pieces 28a, 28 of the pen holding mechanism on the head 10 side
b indicates the holding pieces 74, 76 of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side;
86, the swinging arm 26 corresponds to the swinging arm 80. These mutually corresponding mechanisms are arranged symmetrically, and this symmetrical position allows the pen holding mechanism on the head 10 side to be moved until it is located within the pen holding mechanism on the main body side.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the pen exchange signal is input to the input device of the computer, the computer turns on the limit switch 36,
Based on the OFF state, it is determined whether the pen holding mechanism on the head 10 side is holding the pen 30 or not. When the pen holding mechanism on the head 10 side is holding the pen 30, it is determined whether the pen is held in the pen holding mechanism on the main body side having the designated number based on the ON/OFF state of the limit switch 90. The computer outputs a command to the numerical control mechanism to move the cursor 8 to the pen change point in front of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side with the designated number. cursor 8
When the pen moves to the designated pen holding mechanism in front of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, the detection element 91 operates and outputs a detection signal, and based on this detection signal, the computer issues a drive command to the solenoid 92. . As a result, the solenoid 92 is driven, and the shaft rod 9
4 moves rightward in FIG. 8, the swinging arm 80 swings in the direction of rotation of the hour hand about the shaft 84, and is stopped at the swinging position by a stopper plate 96.

Next, the calculator drives rail 6 and cursor 8
toward the body-side pen holding mechanism with a predetermined number. Due to this movement, the protrusion 72 lowers the cam plate 60, as shown in FIG.
Lower 4. On the other hand, the pen 30 held by the pen holding mechanism on the side of the head 10 is pressed against the claw portion 80a of the swinging arm 80 by the driving force of the cursor 8, and due to this pressure, the swinging arm 80 is Due to the bending of the solenoid itself and the bending of the bracket supporting the solenoid 92, the pawl portion 80 as shown in FIG.
The contact surfaces 7 of the holding pieces 74, 76 and 86 beyond a
4a, 76b and 86b and the side surface of the swinging arm 80. At this time, the board 32 of the pen 30
The upper and lower surfaces of are located between the upper holding pieces 74 and 76. As a result, the pen 30 is held by both the pen holding mechanism on the head 10 side and the pen holding mechanism on the main body 4 side. Next, the computer outputs a command to the numerical control mechanism to cause the cursor 8 to return in the direction of the pen-change point. When the cursor 8 moves in the direction of the pen twist point, the swinging arm 26 on the head 10 side swings about the shaft 26 in the counterclockwise direction of rotation of the hour hand in FIG. 2 against the elasticity of the coil spring 48. Then, the state in which the pen is held by the swinging arm 26 is released. When the cursor 8 returns to the pen tip point, the detection element 90
is activated, the solenoid 92 is turned off, and the swinging arm 80 comes into elastic contact with the side surface of the pen 30 due to the tensile force of the coil spring 88. The rotational torque of the swinging arm 80 caused by the coil spring 88 is applied to the swinging arm 24 caused by the coil spring 48 on the head 10 side.
The rotation torque is set to be weaker than the rotation torque of The computer then moves the cursor 8 to the next instruction point. Next, when a pen exchange signal is input to the computer, the computer determines whether or not the head 10 is holding a pen based on the signal from the limit switch 36.
When the head 10 does not hold a pen, it is determined whether or not there is a pen in the designated pen holding mechanism on the main body side based on the ON/OFF state of the limit switch 90. When there is a pen in the designated pen holding mechanism on the main body side, the cursor 8 is moved to the pen change point of the designated number. Next, the cursor 8 is brought close to the designated pen holding mechanism on the main body side, and the holding piece 28a28b and the swing arm are placed on both sides of the pen 30 held on the pen holding mechanism side on the main body against the elasticity of the spring 48. 24, and the pen 30 is held by the head-side pen holding mechanism. At this time, the plate 32 of the pen 30 is attached to the holding piece 2.
It is located in the recessed part of 8a. Next, if you move the cursor 8 to the pliers engine point, the swinging arm 2
Due to the elastic force of No. 4 on the pen 30, the pen 30
is released from the holding state of the holding pieces 74, 76, 86 and the swinging arm 80 against the elastic locking force of the claw portion of the swinging arm 80. The head 10 moves to the next command point while holding the pen. Note that when the head 10 separates from the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, the cam plate 60
The pressing force of the protrusion 72 against the holder 5 is released.
4 is raised by the elasticity of the spring 56, and the tip of the pen 30 is sealed by the ring body 64 and the rubber body 68, thereby preventing the pen tip from drying out. Incidentally, FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of the circuit for driving the solenoid 92. A desired limit switch among the limit switches 90 is selected by a command from the controller and connected to the line L2. The NAND circuit 100 outputs a drive signal to the drive circuit 102 that drives the solenoid 92 when the levels of all three input terminals are "High". The switches 36 and 90 and the detection element 91 are set so that their outputs are "Low" when they are ON, and "High" when they are OFF. In the above configuration, when the switch 36 is ON, that is, the head side pen holding mechanism is holding the pen, and
When the detection element 91 turns ON while the selected switch 90 is in the OFF state, a "Low" solenoid drive signal is output from the NAND circuit 100 to the solenoid drive circuit 102. You may also use the output end of the preset counter of the control mechanism.This counter counts the amount of movement of the cursor 8 in the Y coordinate axis direction, and
When cursor 8 crosses the pen-chinge point,
A “High” signal is supplied to the input terminal of the NAND circuit 100.

As described above, the present invention allows the pen holding force of the main body side pen holding mechanism to be greater than the pen holding force of the head side pen holding mechanism before the pen of the head side pen holding mechanism is pushed into the pen holding position of the main body side pen holding mechanism. The drive force of the cursor is used to forcibly push the pen into the pen holding position of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, against the pen holding force of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, so that the head of the pen This has the advantage that the side pen holding mechanism can be quickly replaced with the main body side pen holding mechanism.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a plan view of the X-Y plotter, Figure 2 is
Plan view, Figure 3 is a side view, Figure 4 is a sectional view, Figure 5 is
The figure is a side view, Figure 6 is a side view, Figure 7 is a front view of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, Figure 8 is a sectional view, Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram, Figure 10 is an explanatory diagram, and Figure 11 is an explanatory diagram. Flowchart: FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram of another embodiment, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a conventional scheme. 2...X-Y plotter, 4...Main body, 6...
Rail, 8... Cursor, 10... Head, 14
...Drawing board, 20... Solenoid, 22... Elevating plate, 24... Swinging arm.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Push the pen held by the pen holding mechanism on the head side with a predetermined pen holding force into the pen holding position of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side using the driving force of the head, and increase the pen holding force of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side. greater than the pen holding force of the pen holding mechanism on the head side,
By driving the head in the direction away from the pen holding mechanism on the main body side, the pen holding state on the head side can be adjusted.
In the pen exchange method in which the pen holding mechanism is released against the pen holding force of the pen holding mechanism, the main body side pen holding mechanism is released before the pen held in the head side pen holding mechanism reaches the main body side pen holding mechanism. The pen holding force of the mechanism is set to be larger than the pen holding force of the head side pen holding mechanism, and then the pen held in the head side pen holding mechanism is moved to the pen holding force of the main body side pen holding mechanism by the driving force of the head. A method for replacing a pen in automatic drafting, characterized in that the pen is pushed into position against the pen holding force of the pen holding mechanism on the main body side.