JPH0350656B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool pot tilting device for a tool magazine in an automatic tool changer.

Conventional technology A tool magazine has a tool pot (tool storage cylinder) pivoted to a rotary disk that is indexed by an indexing shaft, and the tool pot indexed to the tool exchange position is moved to the indexing shaft by a tilting device. The tool is tilted from the parallel direction to the orthogonal direction, and then the tool is exchanged with the tool on the main spindle using the tool exchange arm. In such a tilting device, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-58941, a guide rail that receives the lower side of the tool pot and supports the tool pot horizontally is cut out at the tool exchange position, and the guide rail is cut out at the tool exchange position. teeth,
A roller that rotates around an axis in the indexing direction is supported, and an engagement member that moves vertically behind the running track formed by the guide rail is provided at the tool exchange position, and the engagement member is connected to the roller. There is one in which a U-shaped groove that engages is formed in the indexing direction.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention According to the above, the roller of the tool pot is guided to the U-shaped groove by the indexing operation, but since the roller is rotatably supported around the axis in the indexing direction, the roller of the tool pot is guided to the U-shaped groove during indexing. Since the outer periphery of the roller is guided in sliding contact with the U-shaped groove, there is a problem that the movement in the indexing direction is not smooth. Furthermore, since the guide rail and the U-shaped groove of the engaging member are out of phase in the horizontal direction (direction parallel to the indexing axis), there is a problem in that it is not easy to align the guide rail and the U-shaped groove.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention supports a large number of tool pots via pivots on an endless chain that is attached to a magazine body and is transferred and indexed by an indexing shaft. In a tool magazine in which the indexed tool pot is tilted in a direction perpendicular to the indexing axis so as to be parallel to the main axis, a stepped roller that is guided by rolling on a guide rail along an endless chain is installed at the rear of the tool pot. At the tool changing position where the guide rail is cut out, there is provided a holding groove through which the stepped roller can pass freely in the transport direction and has a locking edge facing between the front surface of the stepped portion of the stepped roller and the rear surface of the tool pot. The formed tilting holder is disposed, and the holding groove and the guide rail form a running track for a series of stepped rollers, and the tilting holder is provided with a guide member parallel to the pivot shaft, and the guide member is connected to the pivot shaft. A cam groove is provided in the magazine body to guide the
The present invention is characterized in that the tilting holder is configured to move between a position parallel to the index axis and a position perpendicular to the indexing axis by the operation of a cylinder connecting the tilting holder and the magazine body.

Effect According to the above, since the stepped roller is guided to the holding groove as it is while rolling within the guide rail, the indexing movement becomes extremely smooth. Further, since there is no phase shift between the guide rail and the holding groove in the direction parallel to the index axis, alignment of the holding groove and the guide rail is easy.

Embodiment As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a guide member 2 is appropriately attached to a magazine body 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes an endless chain, and guide rollers 5 are attached to both sides of the link pin 4 so that the chain rolls and is guided by contacting the guide member 2, and a sprocket 7 connected to an indexing shaft 6 , laps, and indexing. The guide member 2 is formed into a U-shaped portion 2a at the vertical transfer portion of the endless chain 3, and is adapted to guide the guide roller 5. This U-shaped portion 2a has a relatively large gap with respect to the guide rollers 5, 5 in a direction parallel to the main axis. The endless chain 3 has a large number of tool pots 8.
are each supported by a support body 9 via a pivot 10 so as to be swingable. A U-shaped guide rail 11 for guiding a stepped roller at the rear of a tool pot 8, which will be described later, is continuously disposed in the magazine body 1 along an endless chain 3. This guide rail 11
As shown in FIG. 3, only the portion corresponding to the tool exchange position P is cut out by a predetermined length and is discontinuous. At the rear of the tool pot 8, a stepped roller 12 with a larger diameter at the rear is rotatably supported around the axis of the tool T, and this stepped roller 12 is rollingly guided by the guide rail 11 to split the tool pot 8. It is designed to index the transfer while keeping it parallel to the extraction shaft 6. At the tool changing position P, a holding groove 16 is provided with a locking edge 15 facing between the stepped front surface 13 of the stepped roller 12 of the tool pot 8 indexed at the tool changing position P and the rear surface 14 of the tool pot 8.
A tilting holder 17 having a tip end thereof is normally positioned to connect the notches of the guide rail 11 to form a series of running tracks. This tilting holder 1
7 has guide pins (guide members) 1 above and below the middle part.
8 and 18 are rotatably held parallel to the pivot shaft 10 of the tool pot 8. A pair of upper and lower cam plates 19, 19 are disposed on the guide rail 11 in the notch, and these cam plates 19, 19 are connected to the guide pin 1.
The cam grooves 20, 20 are provided with arc-shaped cam grooves 20, 20 that guide the cam grooves 8, 18 around the pivot shaft 10.
Guide pins 18, 18 are slidably fitted into 20. The cam grooves 20, 20 allow the guide pin 18 to move when the tool pot 8 is in a direction parallel to the main axis.
is positioned substantially rearward of the pivot shaft 10 in this direction. Further, in the magazine body 1, a cylinder 21 is supported by a pin at its center inside the endless chain 3 at the tool exchange position P (on the left side in FIG. Holding groove 1 against guide pin 18
6 by a pin 23, and the movement of the piston rod 22 moves the tilting holder 17 between a standby position parallel to the indexing shaft 6 (FIG. 1) and an operating position perpendicular to the indexing shaft 6 (FIG. 4). A stopper 24 is attached to the guide rail 11, which comes into contact with the side surface of the tool pot 8 when the tool pot 8 is in an operating position perpendicular to the indexing shaft 6.
A tool exchange arm 25 is supported on a rotating shaft 27 parallel to the main shaft 26, and is adapted to exchange tools between the tool pot 8 located perpendicular to the indexing shaft 6 and the main shaft 26. Further, 28 is a very weak spring that biases the pin 23 in the tilting direction when the tilting holder 17 is in the standby position.

According to such a configuration, the sprocket 7 is rotated by the rotation of the indexing shaft 6, and the tool pot 8 storing the tool T necessary for the next machining is moved to the tool exchange position P.
Figure out. At this time, the stepped roller 12 at the rear of the tool pot 8 rolls and enters the holding groove 16 of the tilting holder 17 in the standby position from the guide rail 11, so that it can smoothly move from the guide rail 11 to the holding groove 16. Next, the piston rod 22 retreats, whereby the guide pins 18, 18 of the tilting holder 17 are guided in the cam grooves 20, 20, and the tool pot 8 is tilted 90 degrees about the pivot 10, so that the tool pot 8 reaches the stopper. 24 and is placed in the operating position. In this state, the tool exchange arm 25 rotates, and the main shaft 26 and tool pot 8
The tool T is gripped and moved forward in the axial direction to remove each tool T. At this time, an axial force is applied to the tool pot 8 via the tool T, and this axial force causes the tilting holder 17 to move forward due to the engagement between the stepped front side 13 of the stepped roller 12 and the locking edge 15 of the tilting holder 17. However, since the guide pins 18, 18 of the tilting holder 17 are fitted into the cam grooves 20, 20, the axial force is received by the cam grooves 20, 20, and the endless chain 3 is indexed. No force is applied in the direction perpendicular to the axis 6 (rightward in Figure 4). Therefore, damage or failure of the chain 3 is prevented. Next, the tool exchange arm 25 rotates 180 degrees and retreats, attaching the new tool T to the spindle 26 and the finished tool T to the tool pot 8. The tool exchange arm 25 is placed in a standby state, and the spindle 26 starts machining. At the same time, the piston rod 22 moves forward to reverse the tool pot 8 to the standby position.

In this embodiment, when the tilting holder 17 in the standby position starts moving, the guide pins 18, 18 are inserted into the cam grooves 20, 20.
Spring 28 so that it begins to move smoothly along 0
Although the additional force was given by the spring, this spring may be omitted.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the device of the present invention, the stepped roller of the tool pot rolls within the guide rail during the indexing operation and directly enters the holding groove at the indexing position, so that the indexing movement of the tool pot is prevented. It becomes extremely smooth. Moreover, since there is no phase shift between the guide rail and the holding groove in the direction parallel to the indexing axis, it is easy to align the holding groove and the guide rail when assembling the device. Furthermore, for reversal, a stepped roller is attached to the rear end of the tool pot, and the magazine body has a cam groove, and the stepped roller of the tool pot is indexed to the tool exchange position by engagement with the cam groove. Since the tilting holder engages with the tool pot to reverse the tool pot and also engages with the stepped roller in the tool pot opening direction, the cam groove is connected to the guide member of the tilting holder when the tool pot is parallel to the main axis. By arranging it so that it is almost behind the axis in this direction, the force applied in the axial direction of the tool pot when removing the tool from the tool pot during tool replacement is transferred to the main body (cam groove) via the stepped roller and tilting holder. This force can be prevented from being applied to the endless chain, and has the effect of preventing damage or failure of the chain.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the entirety of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a view from A in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a relationship diagram of the tool pot in the operating position. be. 1...Magazine body, 3...Endless chain, 6...
... Indexing shaft, 8 ... Tool pot, 10 ... Pivot, 12 ... Stepped roller, 13 ... Stepped part front, 1
4... Rear surface of tool pot, 15... Locking edge, 16
...Holding groove, 17...Tilt holder, 18...Guide pin (guide member), 20...Cam groove, 21...Cylinder, 22...Cylinder rod.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A large number of tool pots are supported via pivots on an endless chain that is attached to the magazine body and is transferred and indexed by an indexing shaft, and the tool pots indexed at the tool exchange position are moved to the indexing shaft. In a tool magazine that is tilted in a direction perpendicular to the main axis and parallel to the main axis, a stepped roller that is rollingly guided by a guide rail that runs along an endless chain is installed at the rear of the tool pot, and the tool magazine has a cutout in the guide rail for tool exchange. A tilting holder is disposed at the position, through which the stepped roller can pass freely in the transport direction, and has a holding groove formed with a locking edge facing between the front surface of the stepped portion of the stepped roller and the rear surface of the tool pot. The holding groove and the guide rail form a running track for a series of stepped rollers, a guide member is provided in this tilting holder parallel to the pivot shaft, and a cam groove for guiding the guide member around the pivot shaft is provided in the magazine body. 1. A tool pot tilting device, characterized in that the tilting holder is moved between a position parallel to an indexing axis and a position perpendicular to an indexing axis by the operation of a cylinder connecting the tilting holder and a magazine body. 2. The tool pot tilting according to claim 1, wherein the cam groove is arranged so that when the tool pot is in a direction parallel to the main axis, the guide member is positioned substantially behind the pivot in the direction. Device.