JPH05253711A - Automatic chuck changer of machine tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To change chuck main bodies relative to a main spindle very efficiently by installing a chuck magazine that can be moved in parallel and/or perpendicular to the axis of the main spindle, in the vicinity of a machine tool. CONSTITUTION:A chuck magazine 20 that can be moved in parallel and/or perpendicular to the axis of a main spindle 4, in the vicinity of a machine tool 1. The chuck magazine 20 is connected to an endless chain 24 arranged on a magazine main body 21 by a plurality of holding members 26 for holding a chuck for replacement detachable, at a fixed pitch, and the holding member 26 can be indexed to a predetermined replacement position. The chuck is directly changed between the holding member 25 indexed to the replacement position and the main spindle 4 by relatively moving the main spindle 4 and the chuck magazine 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool for exchanging a chuck for gripping a workpiece with an appropriate chuck according to the shape of the workpiece.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the most common method for automatically exchanging a chuck of a machine tool is to transfer a chuck selected from a chuck stocker accommodating a plurality of chucks to a spindle by a robot or a gantry loader. ..

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional method requires a chuck transfer robot or loader and a chuck stocker that accommodates a plurality of chucks and that can be arbitrarily selected and positioned, and includes a machine tool. There is a problem that the entire device becomes complicated and expensive. In addition, it is necessary to replace the work in order to achieve comprehensive automation.
Some robots or loaders are provided with a hand exchanging function to perform full automatic exchanging, but it takes time to exchange the hands and is not efficient. On the other hand, there is known a lathe that directly and automatically exchanges a pallet holding a work for a spindle (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 6-66).
3-212432). When the pallet is used in this way, not only is the pallet expensive, but it also takes time to replace the pallet, and a large number of pallets are required for long-term unmanned operation, which makes the entire apparatus large and expensive.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has a simple structure and can be manufactured at low cost, but the chucks can be replaced in a short time, and the number of chucks accommodated can be easily increased. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool that is capable of handling high-mix low-volume production.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a machine tool having a chuck removably attached to the front end of a spindle, in the vicinity of the machine tool. A chuck magazine that is movable in a direction parallel and / or orthogonal to the above is installed, and the chuck magazine has a plurality of holding members that detachably hold the replacement chuck and are connected at a constant pitch to an endless chain provided in the magazine body. In addition, the holding member can be indexed to a predetermined replacement position, and the main shaft and the chuck magazine are relatively moved to directly move between the holding member indexed to the replacement position and the main shaft. It is characterized in that the chuck is configured to be replaced.

[0006]

With the above construction, the chuck housed in the chuck magazine can be directly exchanged with the main shaft and can be exchanged in a short time. Further, the number of chucks accommodated can be increased only by adding the chuck magazines. In addition to the chuck, the holding member of the chuck magazine can detachably hold the work.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show an example in which the automatic chuck exchanging device according to the present invention is installed in front of a numerically controlled lathe (hereinafter referred to as NC lathe) 1. NC lathe 1 is bet 2
A headstock 3 is provided on the top, and a chuck base 5 is fixed to the front end of a spindle 4 rotatably supported by the headstock 3, and a chuck body 40 described later is attached to and detached from the chuck base 5 via a clamp mechanism (not shown). Can be attached. The clamp mechanism is publicly known, and the description thereof will be omitted. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-231393 or Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63
The clamp mechanism described in JP-A-53606 is suitable.

A tailstock 6 is provided on the bed 2 so as to face the headstock 3. The tailstock 6 has a center 7 having the same axis as the headstock 4, and is attached to the bed 2 slidably in the Z-axis direction. Further, a tool rest 8 is provided on the bed 2. The turret 8 is a bed 2
On the other hand, it is slidably mounted in a direction parallel to the axis of the headstock 4 and in a direction orthogonal thereto.

The moving table 10 is installed at a position near the front of the NC lathe 1 and is fixed to the floor by a linear guide 11.
Is attached so as to be movable in a direction parallel to the axis of the main shaft 4. The moving table 10 is rotatably provided with a pinion 13 which is arranged in parallel with the linear guide 11 and meshes with a rack 12 fixed to the floor surface. The pinion 13 is mounted on the moving table 10 on a tower. By rotating and driving the table drive motor 14, the moving table 10 can be moved to an arbitrary position along the linear guide 11 and the positioning can be stopped. Note that stoppers 15 are provided at both ends of each linear guide 11. Further, a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) linear guides 16 extending in a direction orthogonal to the linear guides 11 are fixed on the moving table 10, and stoppers 17 are provided at both ends of each linear guide 16. Has been. The chuck magazine 20 is movably attached to each linear guide 16.

The chuck magazine 20 is a linear guide 1.
6, a magazine body 21 movably provided along with 6,
A drive sprocket 22 and a driven sprocket 23 rotatably supported on both front and rear ends of the magazine body 21,
Endless chain 2 hung on both sprockets 22 and 23
4 and a large number of holding plates 25 connected and fixed to the endless chain 24 at a fixed pitch, and a pair of fingers 26, 26 attached to each holding plate 25. The electric motor 27 attached to the magazine body 21. By rotating the drive sprocket 22 with, the fingers 26, 26
The chuck main body 40 grasped by the user is positioned on a predetermined exchanging device A and stopped. In order to position and stop each chuck body 40 in the exchange position, the drive sprocket 22
An indexing disk 27 is fixed to the. The indexing disc 27 has a plurality of indexing grooves 28 extending in the central direction on the outer peripheral portion, while a positioning air cylinder 29 is attached to the magazine body 21 toward the center of the indexing disc 27. The rod 30 is engaged with the index groove 28 to stop the drive sprocket 22 at the index position,
The chuck body 40 grasped by both fingers 26, 26 of each holding plate 25 is indexed to a predetermined replacement position A, positioned, and stopped. Both fingers 26, 2
6 is swingably attached to the holding plate 25 via pins 31 and 31, and is biased toward the closing side by a pressing spring 32. The opening dimension L of the tip is the valley of the engaging groove 42 of the chuck body 40. The diameter is made slightly smaller than the diameter so that the chuck body 40 can be gripped easily and surely. That is, by engaging the chuck body 40 with the engagement grooves 42 aligned with the tips of the fingers 26, 26, the fingers 26, 26
26 is opened along the engaging groove 42 to ensure that the chuck body 4
Hold 0.

On the other hand, the magazine body 21 includes the hydraulic cylinder 3
3 reciprocates on the linear guide 16. The hydraulic cylinder 33 is arranged parallel to the linear guide 16 and attached to the moving table 10, and its rod 34 is connected to a connecting piece 35 fixed to the magazine body 21. When the magazine body 21 moves forward to the NC lathe 1 side in association with the extension of the rod 34 and comes into contact with the stopper 17, both fingers 26, 2 indexed to the exchange position A are reached.
The grip center of 6 is positioned on the axis of the spindle 4 and stops.

The chuck body 40 is provided with a claw 41 which is machined in advance according to the shape of various workpieces machined by the NC lathe 1 and has a V-shaped engagement with which both fingers 26, 26 engage with each other on the outer peripheral portion. A mating groove 42 is provided. Further, a clamp member (not shown) for clamping the chuck base 5 on the machine side is incorporated in the chuck body 40. In the figure, reference numeral 45 denotes a gantry loader for exchanging works, which is movable along a transfer rail 46 arranged above the NC lathe 1.

Next, the exchanging operation by the automatic chuck exchanging device having the above construction will be described. FIG. 3 shows the procedure of the chuck replacement operation. First, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the fingers 26 of the chuck magazine 20 containing the chuck main body 40 having the claws 41 matching the shape of the workpiece to be processed,
The moving table 10 is moved so that 26 faces the engaging groove 42a of the chuck body 40a mounted on the chuck base 5 of the main shaft 4 and is located on the same plane. At that time, both fingers 26a, 26 indexed to the exchange position A
Leave a empty.

On the other hand, the work held by the chuck body 40a after the machining by the NC lathe 1 is completed is discharged by the gantry loader 45. Further, the tailstock 6 and the tool rest 8 are moved to positions where they do not interfere with each other when the chuck magazine 20 enters the NC lathe 1.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the hydraulic cylinder 3
When the magazine main body 21 is advanced toward the NC lathe 1 side by 3 to the predetermined position where it abuts against the stopper 17, both fingers 2
6a and 26a engage the engaging groove 42a of the chuck body 40a to grip the chuck body 40a. Subsequently, the clamping of the chuck body 40a by the chuck base 5 is released, the moving table 10 is slightly moved to the tailstock 6 side,
The chuck body 40a is separated from the chuck base 5 (see FIG. 3 (c)). At this time, the headstock 3 may be moved in the Z-axis direction so as to be separated from the chuck body 40a without moving the moving table 10.

Next, the endless chain 24 is rotated by the electric motor 27, and the chuck body 40b to be replaced is indexed to the replacement position A and positioned. Subsequently, the chuck body 40b is moved to the headstock 3 side by moving the moving table 10, or the headstock 3 is moved closer to the chuck body 40b, whereby the chuck body 40b is mounted on the chuck base 5 and clamped. (See FIG. 3 (d)).

After the chuck body 40b is clamped on the chuck base 5 and the magazine body 21 is retracted by the hydraulic cylinder 33, the fingers 26b, 26b holding the chuck body 40b are automatically separated from the chuck body 40b. , Chuck exchange is completed (Fig. 3
(See (e)).

When the replacement of the chuck body 40b is completed,
The work to be processed next is supplied to the chuck body 40b by the gantry loader 45, and the processing is restarted. Hereinafter, the above operation is repeated.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which two of the three chuck magazines 20 shown in FIG. 2 are used as work magazines 50. In this case, it is preferable that the fingers 51, 51 attached to the holding plate 25 are replaced with those suitable for holding the work W. As described above, when the chuck magazine 20 and the work magazine 50 are mounted on the moving table 10 in parallel, the chuck exchange and the work exchange can be efficiently performed by repeating the above-described exchange operation. It is possible to omit the robot. Further, the chuck body 40 and the work W may be mixed and held in one chuck magazine 20. In this case, if the chuck body 40 and the work W to be gripped by the chuck body 40 are paired and held by the adjacent fingers, the work efficiency can be further improved.

In the above embodiment, the chuck magazine 20 is used.
Was installed in front of the machine tool 1, but the chuck magazine 2
0 may be installed behind or above the machine body.

Although the movable table 10 is movable in the direction parallel to the axis of the main shaft 4, the movable table 10 is movable only in the direction orthogonal to the axis of the main shaft 4 to move the main shaft 4 in the axial direction. Chuck body 4
0 and the work W may be exchanged.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
With a simple structure, a chuck magazine that can move in a direction parallel and / or orthogonal to the axis of the spindle is installed near the machine tool, and the chuck body can be exchanged with respect to the spindle very efficiently. The production cost is also low.

Further, it is easy to add a chuck magazine,
Not only the number of chucks to be accommodated can be easily increased, but also a part of the magazine can be used as a work magazine so that the works can be exchanged at the same time, which is optimal for high-mix low-volume production.

Furthermore, since the chuck exchanging device of the present invention is independent of the machine tool body, it does not adversely affect the machine body such as vibration and can be easily attached to existing machine tools. The effect of is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an automatic chuck changing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the sequence of the chuck exchange operation.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Numerical Control Lathe 3 Headstock 4 Spindle 5 Chuck base 10 Moving table 11 Linear guide 16 Linear guide 20 Chuck magazine 21 Magazine body 25 Holding plate 26 Finger (holding member) 40 Chuck body

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A machine tool in which a chuck is detachably attached to a front end of a spindle, and a chuck magazine movable in a direction parallel and / or orthogonal to an axis of the spindle is installed near the machine tool. In the chuck magazine, a plurality of holding members for detachably holding the replacement chuck are connected at a constant pitch to an endless chain arranged in the magazine body, and the holding member can be indexed to a predetermined replacement position. By relatively moving the spindle and the chuck magazine,
An automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool configured to directly exchang a chuck between the holding member indexed to the exchanging position and the spindle. 2. The automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool according to claim 1, wherein the holding member is a pair of fingers urged toward the closing side by spring means. 3. The automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool according to claim 1, wherein a chuck and a work are mixedly held by a holding member of the chuck magazine. 4. A machine tool in which a chuck is detachably attached to a front end of a spindle, a movable table that is movable in parallel with an axis of the spindle is installed near the machine tool, and the movable table includes: A chuck magazine that is movable in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the main shaft is mounted on the tower, and the chuck magazine has a plurality of holding members that detachably hold the replacement chucks arranged at a fixed pitch on an endless chain arranged in the magazine body. The holding member and the spindle are coupled to each other and the holding member can be indexed to a predetermined replacement position, and the holding member and the spindle that have been indexed to the replacement position by relatively moving the spindle, the moving table, and the chuck magazine. An automatic chuck changer for a machine tool configured to directly change the chuck between the chuck and the machine. 5. The automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool according to claim 4, wherein the holding member is a pair of fingers urged toward the closing side by spring means. 6. The automatic chuck exchanging device for a machine tool according to claim 4, wherein a chuck and a work are mixedly held by a holding member of the chuck magazine. 7. The chuck magacidin is mounted on the moving table in a plurality of columns, and at least one of the magazines has a work held by a holding member thereof. Automatic chuck changer for machine tools.