JPH06208042A - Production of ceramic ferrule - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the process for production of the ceramic ferrule capable of producing the ceramic ferrule having good concentricity with good workability and enabling automation as well according to a requirement. CONSTITUTION:Chamfered parts 6 parallel with each other are formed on the outer periphery at one end of a ceramic blank 1. This blank 1 is subjected to hole lapping and is then freely rotatably supported in a double-center cylindrical grinder 100 by utilizing both ends of a central hole. The parallel chamfered parts 6 of the blank 1 are then loosely fitted into a long groove 16 formed in a work holding part 10B of a dog 10 of the cylindrical grinder. One end of the work holding part 10B is freely rotatably mounted to a supporting shaft 15 formed at the front end of a dog supporting part 10A provided parallel with both enters of the cylindrical grinder 100. This dog 10 is rotationally driven, by which the ceramic blank 1 is rotationally driven. Simultaneously, a grinding wheel 105 under rotation is pressed to the outer periphery of the ceramic blank 1, by which the blank is subjected to outside circumferential working.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to a precision ferrule of an optical connector used for connecting an optical fiber, and in particular, a ceramic ferrule having good concentricity can be obtained. In addition, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule that can be easily automated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ceramic ferrules have been frequently used as precision ferrules for optical connectors.
Since the precision ferrule is centered only by inserting an optical fiber into a minute hole formed in the center of the ceramic ferrule, it is important that the concentricity of the ceramic ferrule is good. In order to manufacture a ceramic ferrule with good concentricity, the center hole of an extrusion-molded or injection-molded blank is hole-lapped with high precision (hole grinding, polishing), and It is most effective to process the outer circumference of the blank based on the small holes.

Peripheral machining of a blank having precision holes is
Usually, it is carried out by both center cylindrical grinders, and an example thereof is shown in FIG.

The precision hole machined blank 1 is attached to the kelet 10 by inserting one end thereof into a mounting hole 11 of the kelet 10 and tightening a clamp screw 12, as will be better understood with reference to FIG. To be Then
In the blank 1, both ends of the minute holes 2 are supported by the main shaft 101 and the receiving shaft 102 of the two center cylindrical grinding machines 100, respectively.

[0006] The arm extending outward in the radial direction of the kelet 10 is engaged with a Keret wheel 104 provided on the rotating body 103 of the cylindrical grinder 100, and the rotating body 103 rotates to thereby produce a blank. 1 is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed.

On the other hand, the grindstone 105 of the cylindrical grinder 100, which rotates at a predetermined rotation speed, is pressed by the blank 1 at a predetermined pressure, and reciprocates in the axial direction of the blank 1 while processing the outer periphery of the blank 1. Eggplant

[0007]

As described above, in the outer peripheral processing of the ferrule blanks 1 by the conventional cylindrical grinder 100, it is necessary to attach and fix the blanks 1 to the kelet 10 one by one, and the workability is improved. There was a problem that was extremely bad. Further, with such a method, it is impossible to automate the outer peripheral processing of the ferrule blank 1.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2-214101 proposes a method of performing outer peripheral processing of a ferrule blank with a cylindrical grinder with good workability. In this method, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, at the time of molding, a recess 3 for kelet engagement is formed on the outer periphery of one end of the blank 1, and the recess 3 is provided on the rotating body 103 of the cylindrical grinder 100. The tips of the two kelets thus formed are locked and the blank 1 is rotated.

In this method, the work of attaching and fixing the keray 10 to the blank 1 is omitted, and workability in this respect is significantly improved. Further, in terms of design, the tip portions of the two kelets 10 simultaneously engage with the recess portions 3 for locking the kerets formed on the outer peripheral portion of the blank 1 to rotate the blank 1.

However, according to the results of the research and experiment conducted by the present inventors, as shown in FIG. 9, there are two kerays 10 in each of the recesses 3 for locking the keles formed in the outer peripheral portion of the blank 1. Although the tip portion is inserted, in actuality, only one of the two kelleys 10 is shown in FIG.
It has been found that the upper kere 10 engages in the kere locking recess 3 of the blank 1 and thereby drives the blank 1 substantially in rotation. Therefore, for this reason, one kere 10 engaged with the recess 3 for catching the kere is the blank 1
It has been confirmed that not only a rotational moment is applied to, but an eccentric force that presses the blank 1 in one direction is generated, which is one of the causes of deteriorating the concentricity in the blank outer periphery processing.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a ceramic ferrule which can manufacture a ceramic ferrule having good concentricity with good workability and can be automated as desired. Is.

[0012]

The above object can be achieved by the method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule according to the present invention. In summary, the present invention provides: (a) forming chamfers parallel to each other on the outer periphery of one end of a ceramic blank;
(B) Both ends of the center hole of the hole-lapped ceramics blank are rotatably supported by both center cylindrical grinders, and (c) parallel chamfered portions of the ceramics blanks of the cylindrical grinder. It is loosely fitted in a long groove formed in the work holding portion of the kelet, and (d) one end of the work holding portion is formed at the tip of a kelet supporting portion provided parallel to both centers of the cylindrical grinder. It is rotatably attached to a support shaft, and (e) the ceramic blank is rotated by rotationally driving the kelet, and at the same time, a rotating grindstone is pressed against the outer periphery of the ceramic blank to perform outer periphery processing. It is a method of manufacturing a characteristic ceramic ferrule.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule according to the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings. As the blank used to manufacture the ceramic ferrule in the present invention, a blank manufactured by extrusion molding or injection molding can be used, but in the present embodiment, a blank injection molded from zirconia ceramics is used. Shall be used.

FIG. 4 shows removal of burrs generated during injection molding,
1 shows the blank 1 after the outer diameter primary grinding processing for removing the bending and taper of the outer diameter of the blank and the high-precision hole lapping processing (hole grinding, polishing processing) of the blank have already been performed.

In this embodiment, the blank 1 has an outer diameter (D) of 2.65 mm and a length (L) of 15.5 mm, and the outer periphery of the tip is chamfered at 30 °. Met. Further, the center hole 2 is composed of a minute hole 2a and a larger diameter center hole 2b formed on the rear end side, and the minute hole 2a and the large diameter hole 2b are connected by a taper 2c of 30 °.

In particular, according to the invention, the blank 1 comprises:
During the injection molding, chamfered portions (hereinafter referred to as “parallel chamfered portions”) 6 are formed at the rear end portion on the side where the large-diameter central hole 2b is formed and are parallel to each other about the axis of the blank 1 at substantially equal distances. Is formed. The chamfering amount of the parallel chamfer 6 is
Although it can be designed arbitrarily, in this embodiment, the parallel chamfered portions 6, 6 are formed so that the distance (W) between them is 2.0 mm.

The outer diameter secondary grinding for obtaining the concentricity using the blank 1 which has been subjected to the hole lapping as described above is performed by the both center cylindrical grinding machine 100 as shown in FIG. Be implemented.

That is, in the blank 1, both ends of the center hole 2 are at both centers of the cylindrical grinder 100, that is, the spindle 10.
1 and the receiving shaft 102 are rotatably held, and at the same time,
A kelet 10 is attached to the parallel chamfer 6 of the blank 1.

According to the present invention, the kelet 10 is integrally attached to the rotating body 103 of the cylindrical grinder 100 and is provided with the support portion 10A extending parallel to the main shaft 101 and the support portion 10A. And a work holding portion 10B extending in the vertical direction. One end of the work holding part 10B is rotatably attached to a support shaft 15 formed at the tip of the support part 10A, and the other end of the work holding part 10B is provided with a long groove as shown in FIG. 2 (A). 16 is formed and the parallel chamfer 6 of the blank 1 is loosely fitted. Of course, as shown in FIG. 2B, the work holding portion 10B is formed in a bifurcated shape, and the parallel chamfered portion 6 of the blank 1 is loosely fitted in the long groove 16 formed by the bifurcated portion. It can also be configured.

With the above structure, when the rotating body 103 of the cylindrical grinder 100 is rotated, the blank 1 is moved to the Keret support part 10.
The rotational force is transmitted through A and the work holding unit 10B,
It rotates at a predetermined rotation speed. The grindstone 105 of the cylindrical grinder 100 that rotates at a predetermined rotation speed is the blank 1
The outer periphery is processed by being pressed with a predetermined pressing force. At this time, it is extremely preferable that the width (face length) of the grindstone 105 is set to a length that enables simultaneous grinding of the length in the longitudinal direction of the blank 1 that requires peripheral machining.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the work holding portion 10B and the parallel chamfered portion 6 of the blank 1 when the blank 1 is rotated by the keray 10. According to the present invention, the long groove 16 of the work holding portion 10B and the parallel chamfered portion 6 of the blank 1 are arranged.
There is a small gap between and. Usually, this gap is 0.10 to 0.25 mm on one side. Work holding part 1
When the KELEY 10 is rotationally driven by the rotating body 103, 0B is tilted by θ with respect to the central axis of the blank 1 and brought into a locked state with the blank 1. At this time, the work holding unit 10B
One end of the support shaft 15 formed at the tip of the support portion 10A.
Since the blank 1 and the work holding portion 10B are rotatably attached to each other, as shown in FIG.
0 and 20 come into contact with the long groove side wall portion of the work holding portion 10B. The two connecting edges 20, 20 are the blank 1
Since it is located symmetrically with respect to the rotation center axis line, the rotation moment is evenly applied to the blank 1, and no eccentric pressing force is generated.

According to the results of experiments conducted by the present inventors, instead of rotatably attaching one end of the work holding portion 10B to the support shaft 15 formed at the tip of the support portion 10A as in the present invention, when it is fixed, It was found that the concentricity (that is, eccentricity × 2) deteriorates by 0.5 to 1.0 μm.

The blank 1 after the outer peripheral processing is finished is shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), after the parallel chamfered portion 6 is cut off, various other finishing processes are performed to produce a ceramic ferrule. This ceramic ferrule is press-fitted into a stainless steel housing to complete a precision ferrule.

In the method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule of the present invention described above, the blank 1 is held on the kere 10 simply by the rear end parallel chamfered portion 6 of the blank 1 in the long groove 16 formed in the work holding portion 10B of the keray 10. Since it can be carried out by inserting, the automation is easy.

That is, in brief, in automation, after blanks 1 which have been hole-lapped are aligned with a parts feeder, they are gripped by a robot hand and, as shown in FIG. 101 and shaft 102
At the same time, both ends of the center hole 2 of the blank 1 are supported by and the parallel chamfered portion 6 of the blank 1 is inserted into the long groove 16 of the work holding portion 10B of the kelet 10. In this state, the blank 1 is rotated through the keray 10 and the grindstone 10
5 is rotated at high speed and the outer periphery of the blank 1 is ground.

After the grinding is completed, the ground blank 1 is taken out by the robot hand and a new blank is supplied to the grinding machine. By repeating this, fully automatic operation becomes possible.

In the above embodiment, the injection molding blank is used for explanation, but the method of the present invention can be suitably applied to the outer diameter processing of the extrusion molding blank as described above.

[0028]

In the method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule according to the present invention, the blank is held in the kere by simply inserting the rear end of the blank into the long groove formed in the work holding portion of the keray and loosely fitting the blank. Since this is achieved, the ceramic ferrule having good concentricity can be manufactured with good workability, and it can be automated as desired.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining the operation of both center cylindrical grinders for carrying out the method for manufacturing a ceramics ferrule according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1 showing the relationship between the work holding portion of the kelet and the blank.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a rotation drive mode of a blank by a work holding portion of a kelet.

FIG. 4 (A) is a front view of a blank, FIG. 4 (B).
Is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.
FIG. 4C is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the operation of both center cylindrical grinders for carrying out the conventional method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule.

FIG. 6 is a line VI in FIG. 5 showing the relationship between the kelet and the blank.
It is a figure taken in -VI.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of both center cylindrical grinders for carrying out another conventional method for manufacturing a ceramic ferrule.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ceramics blank.

9 is a line IX in FIG. 7 showing the relationship between the kelet and the blank.
-It is a figure taken in IX.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ceramics Blank 2 Center Hole 6 Parallel Chamfering Part 10 Kelet 10A Supporting Part 10B Work Holding Part 15 Supporting Shaft 16 Long Groove 100 Both Center Cylindrical Grinding Machine 105 Grinding Wheel

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. (a) Forming chamfers parallel to each other on the outer periphery of one end of a ceramic blank, (b)
Both ends of the center hole of the hole-lapped ceramics blank are rotatably supported by both center cylindrical grinders, and (c) parallel chamfered portions of the ceramics blanks are made of kere work of the cylindrical grinder. Loosely fit in a long groove formed in the holding portion, (d) one end of the work holding portion is attached to a support shaft formed at the tip of a Kerley support portion provided parallel to both centers of the cylindrical grinder. It is rotatably attached, and (e) the ceramic blank is rotated by rotationally driving the kelet, and at the same time, a rotating grindstone is pressed against the outer periphery of the ceramic blank to perform outer peripheral processing. Ceramic ferrule manufacturing method.