JPH04231192A - Method and machine for laser working - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and inexpensively realize the labor saving, the unmanned working and the automatic working by eliminating the post process of working for punching the cut chip, etc., by hands after working of laser hole machining for the work. CONSTITUTION:After the work 10 is worked with hole machining with the laser beam emitted from the working head 11, the working head 11 is lowered and its top part is collided with the work 10 and the cut chip 10 is dropped. Or, after work 10 is worked with hole machining with the laser beam emitted from the working head, the bar like tool 17 set nearby the working head 11 is lowered, its top end part is collided with the work 10, the cut chip 10d is dropped. Because the post process of the cut chip punching, etc., by hands is eliminated, and the labor saving, the unmanned working and the automatizing working are realized easily and cheap.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing method and a laser processing machine for cutting holes in a plate workpiece using a laser beam and then dropping the cutting chip without using human power.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Laser processing machines are well known that use a laser beam to cut plate materials such as steel plates, and use rotary tool units, punch presses, etc. to form small diameter holes.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a laser processing machine disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-220295. 1 is a saddle of a laser processing machine, 2 is a laser processing head provided on the saddle 1, 3 is a torch attached to the laser processing head 2, 4
5 is a rotary tool unit attached to the laser processing head 2, and 5 is a rotary tool detachably attached to the rotary tool unit 4.

When a plate material such as a steel plate is cut by the laser processing machine as described above, a laser beam emitted from the laser processing head 2 is used, and when a small diameter hole is processed, a rotary tool 5 attached to a rotary tool unit 4 is used. Let's do it.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a processing machine in which a laser processing head is attached to a commonly used CNC turret punch press. 6 is a plate-shaped workpiece, and 7 is a plate-shaped workpiece 6 which is moved along the X-axis and Y-axis by a drive device (not shown).
Multiple free bearings for axial movement. 8
Reference numerals a and 8b designate an upper punching die and a lower punching die for making holes in the workpiece 6, and reference numeral 9 denotes a laser machining head for cutting the workpiece 6 into a complicated shape. Holes in the workpiece 6 are formed by an upper punching die 8a and a lower punching die 8b, and cutting into complicated shapes is carried out by a laser beam emitted from a laser processing head 9.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to the apparatus shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, no machining chips remain on the workpiece 6 when drilling holes in the workpiece 6, but in addition to the laser machining head, there is also a rotating tool unit. 4 and punching devices 8a and 8b are essential, which has the disadvantage that the configuration of the device becomes complicated.

On the other hand, there is a device that cuts the workpiece 6 and makes holes using only a laser beam emitted from a laser processing head. According to this device, the configuration of the device itself is simple, but the hole is made using a laser beam. In some cases, the cutting tip may not fall. In addition, if a cutting defect occurs in only a portion of the cutting tip and the cutting tip remains on the workpiece tilted by gravity, it may collide with the processing head or the like. For this reason, it is necessary to intentionally leave a small amount of uncut material, and after drilling the hole, manually search for the hole and punch it out using a hammer or the like, which is extremely troublesome and requires a lot of man-hours. In addition, recently, when the board material is a product such as a tile or a marble wall panel, there has been an increase in the number of materials in which the drawer is welded at the bottom to prevent the cutting chip from falling when punching holes. There is a problem with this point.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and uses a laser beam to cut and drill a hole in a workpiece. The object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing method and a laser processing machine that do not require post-processing.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the laser processing method according to the present invention, a processing head that outputs a laser beam is lowered after cutting a hole in a workpiece, the tip of the processing head collides with the workpiece, and the cutting chip is dropped. This is how it was done.

Further, the laser processing machine according to the present invention is provided with a mechanism for vertically moving a bar-shaped tool near the processing head that outputs a laser beam, and after cutting a hole in a workpiece with the laser beam, lowers the bar-shaped tool. The cutting tip is made to collide with the workpiece, causing the cutting tip to fall.

[0011]

[Operation] The machining head is lowered after cutting a hole in the workpiece, and the tip of the machining head collides with the workpiece, causing the cutting tip to fall.

After cutting a hole in the workpiece using a laser beam, a rod-shaped tool is lowered, and the tip of the tool collides with the workpiece, causing the cutting tip to fall.

[0013]

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10a is a plate, and 10b is a support frame provided at the bottom of the plate 10a to reinforce the plate 10a. 10 is a work constituted by these plate materials 10a and support frame 10b, and includes an NC drive control device (not shown).
The drive is controlled in the X-axis direction (horizontal direction in the drawing). Note that 10c is a plurality of knife edges that support the workpiece 10, and 10d is a cutting tip after the plate material 10a has been cut with a laser beam.

11 emits a laser beam to emit a workpiece 1
A processing head 12 is a drive motor that moves the processing head 11 in the Z-axis direction (vertical direction). 13 is a saddle provided on the side of the processing head 11;
4 is a cross rail that supports the saddle 13;
is supported by the cross rail 14, and driven together with the processing head 11 and the like in the Y-axis direction (perpendicular to the drawing) by an NC drive control device (not shown). Reference numeral 15 designates a support stand attached to the saddle 13, 16 an air cylinder attached to the support stand 15, and 17 a rod-shaped tool that is moved up and down by the air cylinder 16.

The operation of the present invention constructed as described above will be explained. First, the workpiece 10 is placed in the processing head 1 of the laser processing machine.
1, the processing head 11 is moved up and down in the Z-axis direction by the drive motor 12. Next, a laser beam is emitted from the processing head 11 to form a cutting hole in the workpiece 10. At this time, the NC drive control device moves the processing head 11, etc., along with the saddle 13 in the Y-axis direction, and the workpiece 10 in a direction perpendicular to the operation of the processing head 4, that is, in the X-axis direction, to process the workpiece 10 into the desired shape. do.

After cutting a hole in the workpiece 10, the processing head 11 and the workpiece 10 are relatively moved approximately to the center of the cutting tip 10d. At this time, positioning in the Y-axis and X-axis directions is performed according to a predetermined program by the NC drive control device. When the machining head 11 reaches a desired position, the drive motor 12 lowers the machining head 11, causing the tip of the machining head 11 to collide with the upper surface of the plate material 10a, causing the cutting tip 10d to fall.

Alternatively, after cutting a hole in the workpiece 10, the rod-shaped tool 17 and the workpiece 10 are relatively moved approximately to the center of the cutting tip 10d by the NC drive control device, and the rod-shaped tool 17 is lowered by the air cylinder 16. The tip part collides with the upper surface of the plate material 10a, and the cutting tip 10
Drop d.

In the method of directly hitting the workpiece 10 with the processing head 11 and dropping the cutting tip 10d, the processing head 11 is formed in the shape of a nozzle with a hole at the tip to ensure a passage for the laser beam. Therefore, the dimensions and shape of the processing head 11 are increased to some extent, and the conditions for dropping the cutting chip 10d are limited by the dimensions, but the operating speed and processing speed can be increased.

On the other hand, in the device in which the cutting tip 10d is dropped by striking the workpiece 10 with a bar-shaped tool 17, the bar-shaped tool 17 can be made into a needle shape, and there is also a mechanism for automatically exchanging the tool 17. Since it can be easily added, the conditions for dropping the cutting tip 10d are not subject to any restrictions on size or shape. However, since an offset occurs between the machining head 11 and the rod-shaped tool 17, the stroke of the mechanism must be increased and the operating speed is slower than in the previously described method.

In FIG. 1, the machining head 11 and the workpiece 10 or the rod-shaped tool 17 and the workpiece 10 are configured to move relative to each other, but the workpiece 1
0 is fixed, the processing head 11 or the rod-shaped tool 17
may be configured to move in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, or vice versa.

Further, the vertical movement of the machining head 11 and the rod-shaped tool 17 may be performed by a drive device other than a motor or an air cylinder.

Further, the knife edge 10c supporting the workpiece 10 may have another support structure, for example a honeycomb structure, and it is preferable that there is no support structure at the position where the cutting tip 10d falls. However, even if the knife edge 10c supporting the workpiece 10 is located at an arbitrary position, if the thickness of the plate material 10a is thinner than the thickness of the support frame 10b, the cutting tip 10d can be reliably dropped from the workpiece 10.

[0023]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, the present invention lowers the machining head or rod-shaped tool, collides with the workpiece, and drops the cutting chip. Post-processes such as punching work are eliminated, making it possible to achieve labor saving, unmanned operation, and automation at low cost and easily.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an example of a conventional laser processing machine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional laser processing machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Work 10a Plate material 10b Support frame 10c Knife edge 10d Cutting tip 11 Processing head 12 Drive motor 13 Saddle 14 Crossrail 15 Support stand 16 Air cylinder 17 Rod-shaped tool

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a laser processing machine that cuts a hole in a workpiece using a laser beam, a processing head that outputs the laser beam is lowered into the processing section after cutting a hole in the workpiece, and its tip collides with the workpiece. A laser processing method characterized in that the cutting tip is dropped from the workpiece. 2. A laser processing machine for cutting holes in a workpiece using a laser beam, wherein a mechanism for vertically moving a rod-shaped tool is provided near a processing head that outputs the laser beam, and the workpiece is cut into holes by the laser beam. A laser beam processing machine characterized in that, after processing, the rod-shaped tool is lowered to collide with the workpiece, and the cutting tip is dropped from the workpiece.