JPH06246572A - Tool magazine device for machine tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store many tools and perform dividing rapidly by a magazine body with a limited space, and improve freedom in the installation place of a device. CONSTITUTION:An endless guide groove 13 is noncircularly provided at a magazine body 10, and numerous tool pots 7 are supported to the guide groove 13 in such a way as to be movable in mutual contact. The tool pot 7 is provided with a pair of head part 24 and guide roller 25 so as to regulate the rotation of the tool pot 7. A sprocket 15 engaged with the tool pot 7 in the dividing position P1 is intermittently rotated by a dividing motor 30 through a Geneva gear 29 so as to feed each tool pot 7 along the guide groove 13. A slider 46 for receiving the tool pot 7 from the guide groove 13 is provided in the dividing position P1 and moved between the dividing position P1 and a changing position P2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool magazine device mounted on a machine tool such as a machining center.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a tool magazine device of this type, a circular guide groove is formed in a magazine body, a plurality of tool pots are suspended in the guide groove, and each tool pot is regulated by sprockets at equal intervals. There is known a technique of turning a sprocket to index a tool pot to a replacement position (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-52945). Also, fix many tool pots on the chain at equal intervals,
A technique for orbiting a chain along a track to index a tool pot to a replacement position is also known (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-
No. 263637).

[0003]

However, according to the former conventional device, when the number of tools to be stored is increased, the diameter of the guide groove and the sprocket is increased, the installation space of the device is expanded, and the tool magazine device is installed. When installed on the side of the column, the machine width became large, and there was a problem that the installation location on the machine tool side was limited.

According to the latter conventional device, it is necessary to provide a path for guiding the chain straightly and a member for preventing the tool pot from collapsing, which complicates the device, and maintenance work such as tension adjustment of the chain is very troublesome. there were. Also, since the tool pot cannot be taken out from the orbit of the chain, not only is the replacement position restricted, but an intermediate mechanism for changing the orientation of the tool at the index position depending on the installation location of the chain is a tool magazine device. Had to be provided between the switch and the exchange device.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a tool magazine device capable of accommodating more tools in a small space and improving the degree of freedom of the installation location of the device.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a tool magazine device of the present invention supports a magazine main body having an endless guide groove, and a magazine body movably supported in contact with each other. And a feeding mechanism for feeding the tool pot along the guide groove.

Preferably, the guide groove is arranged in the magazine body in a non-circular shape. The tool pot is moved by a pot take-out mechanism between a position aligned with the guide groove and a tool exchange position separated from the guide groove. Further, the tool pot is fed along the guide groove by the feeding mechanism while being restricted in rotation by the regulating means. The guide groove may be provided in a curved state or a twisted state. The feed mechanism is provided with a sprocket capable of rotating in the forward and reverse directions, which engages with a part of the tool pot.

[0008]

According to the tool magazine device of the present invention, a large number of tool pots are supported in the guide groove without any gaps, so that a large number of tools can be stored in the magazine body in a limited space. Also, since the tool pot is sent in the contact state,
There is no need for a member that determines the distance between tool pots,
The feed mechanism is easily configured. Moreover, since the arrangement shape of the guide groove can be arbitrarily changed to an elliptical shape or the like, the degree of freedom of the installation location of the device is improved, such as utilizing the spare space of the machine tool.

Particularly, when the guide groove is arranged in a non-circular shape,
There is an advantage that the device can be installed compactly by utilizing the narrow space of the machine tool. Further, by providing the pot removing mechanism, the exchange position is separated from the indexing position, and the exchange device can directly deliver the tool between the tool pot at the exchange position and the spindle without the intermediate mechanism. When the regulation means for regulating the rotation of the tool pot is provided, there is no possibility that the orientation of the tool will change during the transportation, and the mistake of replacement can be prevented.

Further, by providing the guide groove in a curved state, the conveying passage can be three-dimensionally formed, and the space on the machine tool side can be effectively utilized. When the guide groove is provided in a twisted state, it is possible to freely change the direction of the tool pot so that the tool points the changing device. When the feed mechanism is provided with a sprocket that can be rotated in the normal and reverse directions, the required tool pot can be quickly conveyed to the indexing position through the shortest path and accurately indexed by controlling the number of rotations and the rotation direction.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a vertical machining center will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, 1 is a main machine frame of a machining center, 2 is a column installed in the main machine frame 1 so as to be movable back and forth, left and right, 3
Is a spindle head supported by a column 2 so as to be able to move up and down, and 4 is a spindle provided downward on the spindle head 3. Reference numeral 5 is an exchange device arranged near the main shaft 4, 6 is a tool magazine device installed on the side of the column 2, 7 is a tool pot suspended from the tool magazine device 6, and 8 is a tool pot 7 which is attachable to and detachable from the tool pot 7. It is a freely inserted tool.

Then, the tool magazine device 6 is used by the next tool 8
The tool pot 7 in which is stored is indexed, and when the spindle head 3 is raised to a predetermined tool replacement height position, the next tool 8 is replaced by the replacement device 5 with a front tool (not shown) of the spindle 4. ing. Any device can be used as the exchanging device 5, for example, a double-arm swing type device having two pairs of exchanging arms that can be swung 180 ° (for details, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-52945). Can be used.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the magazine body 10 of the tool magazine device 6 is horizontally arranged in a narrow space on the side of the column 2, and its base end is a supporting arm projecting from the column 2. It is fixed to 11 via a bracket 12.
An endless non-circular guide groove 13 having a footprint shape is provided on the lower surface of the peripheral edge portion of the magazine body 10, and a large number of tool pots 7 are movably supported in the guide groove 13 in contact with each other.

A feed mechanism 14 for feeding the tool pot 7 along the guide groove 13 is installed at the tip of the magazine body 10, and a forward and reverse sprocket 15 that engages with a part of the tool pot 7 is provided here. Has been. Feeding mechanism 14
A pot removing mechanism 16 is disposed in the vicinity of, and by this, the tool pot 7 is moved between an indexing position P1 aligned with the guide groove 13 and an exchange position P2 separated from the indexing position P1 to the spindle 4 side. It is like this.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the pot main body 18 of the tool pot 7 has a taper shank 8a of the tool 8 attached thereto.
There are provided a tapered hole 19 into which the tool 8 is inserted, a positioning projection 20 that fits into the recess 8b of the tool 8, a ball 21 and a spring 22 that hold the pull stud 8c of the tool 8. On the upper surface of the pot main body 18, two rods 23 made up of mounting bolts are erected, and each rod 23 has a circular head portion 2.
4, a guide roller 25, a pair of contact plates 26 and 28, an engagement roller 27, and spacers 29a and 29b are attached. The guide roller 25 and the engagement roller 27 are rotatably provided via bearings. The fitting cylinder 28 a provided on the lower surface of the contact plate 28 constitutes a seat for the spring 22.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the head 24 is fitted in the wide portion 13a of the guide groove 13 to suspend and support the tool pot 7 in the guide groove 13, and the guide roller 25 is provided in the guide groove 13. The tool pot 7 is moved and guided by engaging with the narrow portion 13b. Then, the pair of heads 24 and the guide roller 2 are respectively provided.
A regulating means for regulating the rotation of the tool pot 7 is constituted by 5. The contact plate 26 slidably contacts the lower surface of the magazine body 10 to restrict the swinging of the tool pot 7, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the engagement roller 27 engages with the sprocket 15 and connects the tool pot 7 to the feed mechanism 14.

The head 24 and the guide roller 25 as the regulating means need not necessarily be provided in a pair. If both side surfaces of the head 24 are formed in a flat shape, the tool pot 7 can be formed by one head 24. Rotation can be regulated. In addition, the restriction means may be arbitrarily changed, such as providing a flat surface portion which is joined to the side surface of the abutting plate 26 of each tool pot 7 or a separate flat surface portion which engages with the guide groove 13 in the pot body 18. Can be configured.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the feed mechanism 14 includes a Geneva gear 29 that intermittently rotates the sprocket 15 and a forward / reverse indexing motor 30 that drives the Geneva gear 29. A bearing 32 is provided on the boss portion 31 of the magazine body 10.
A rotary shaft 33 is vertically provided via the sprocket 15, a sprocket 15 is fixed to the lower end thereof, and a Geneva gear 29 is fixed to the upper end thereof. The indexing motor 30 is a support base 34 of the magazine body 10.
The transmission shaft 36 is mounted on the output shaft 35 and is mounted on the output shaft 35. The transmission shaft 36 is rotatably supported by a support base 34 via a bearing 37, and a lower end thereof engages with a stopper 38 that engages with an outer peripheral recess 29 a of the Geneva gear 29 and a radial groove 29 b of the Geneva gear 29. A drive roller 39 is provided.

As a result, the Geneva gear 29 and the sprocket 15 are intermittently rotated integrally with the rotation of the indexing motor 30, and the sprocket 15 drives the tool pot 7 at the indexing position P1 via the engagement roller 27. The tool pots 7 are sequentially pushed while being in contact with each other and fed along the guide groove 13. The Geneva gear 29 is rotated by one pitch and the sprocket 15 is rotated by two pitches per rotation of the transmission shaft 36, and one tool pot 7 is fed. In order to count the number of feeds of the tool pot 7, a non-contact type counting sensor 40 is attached to the support base 34.
Are mounted so as to face the lower part of the transmission shaft 36.

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the frame 42 of the pot take-out mechanism 16 is attached to the magazine body 10 with bolts 44. A space 42a is formed in the frame 42 so as to open toward the outer side of the main shaft 4, and two guide rods 45 are provided in the space 42a.
It is fixed horizontally so as to project toward the outside of 0. A slider 46 is attached to the guide rod 45 at an index position P1.
And the exchange position P2 are slidably supported. The lower portion of the slider 46 is located in the cutout portion 10a provided in the lower surface of the magazine body 10, and the lower portion of the slider 46 is provided with a support groove 47 having the same cross-sectional shape as the guide groove 13, and at the indexing position P1 the tool pot 7 Is received from the guide groove 13. In addition, the storage hole 4 of the slider 46
A ball 49 that engages with a locking recess 48 formed of a wrench hole provided in the rod 23 of the tool pot 7 is housed in the 6a together with the spring 50 in a state where the ball 49 is retained.
The tool pot 7 is positioned and held by the support groove 47 so as not to fall off.

A take-out motor 52 is installed on the cylindrical base portion 51 of the frame 42, and a rotating body 54 is connected to an output shaft 53 thereof. The rotating body 54 is rotatably supported inside the cylindrical base 51 via a bearing 55, and a roller 56 is attached to the lower end of the rotating body 54 at a position eccentric from the axis of the rotating body 54. The roller 56 is fitted in a long groove 57 formed on the upper surface of the slider 46, and reciprocally drives the slider 46 between the indexing position P1 and the replacement position P2 as the rotating body 54 rotates. In order to detect the two positions of the slider 46, a pair of non-contact type position sensors 58 are provided on the cylindrical base portion 51 at positions separated by 180 ° from each other.
It is installed so as to face 9.

Next, the operation of the tool magazine device 6 configured as described above will be described. Prior to the start of machining of the machining center, a predetermined tool 8 is inserted into each tool pot 7 of the tool magazine device 6. During the machining period of the spindle 4, the tool magazine device 6 performs the indexing operation of the next tool. Here, the sprocket 15 is intermittently rotated by the motor 30 via the Geneva gear 29, and each tool pot 7 is operated.
The upper and lower contact plates 26, 28 are fed along the guide groove 13 in a state of contacting each other. Each tool pot 7 is smoothly moved by being guided by two rotatable guide rollers 25. At this time, the control device (not shown) determines the rotation direction of the sprocket 15 based on the current position of the tool pot 7 accommodating the next tool 8, and the rotation speed of the indexing motor 30 based on the signal of the counting sensor 40. Control the required tool pot 7 at the shortest distance to index position P
Index to 1. The indexed tool pot 7 is inserted into the support groove 47 of the slider 46 and held by the ball 49 in the pot removal mechanism 16.

In this state, when a tool call command is output from the control device, the take-out motor 52 drives the slider 46 via the rotating body 54 to move the tool pot 7 from the indexing position P1 to the replacement position P2. , Its position is detected by the position sensor 58. Then, when a tool change command is output, the spindle head 3 is moved up to a predetermined tool change height position, the spindle 4 is moved to the vicinity of the change position P2, and the exchanging device 5 causes the front tool of the spindle 4 and the tool pot 7 to move. Next tool 8 is replaced. When the tool change is completed, the slider 4
6 is retracted, the tool pot 7 is returned from the replacement position P2 to the indexing position P1, and the position is confirmed by the position sensor 58. After that, the tool magazine device 6 again executes the indexing work in accordance with the next tool call command, and the next tool 8
After indexing the tool pot 7 in which the tool is stored at the indexing position P1, it is moved to the replacement position P2 to prepare for the next tool replacement.

As described above, according to the tool magazine device 6 of the present embodiment, since a large number of tool pots 7 are supported in the guide groove 13 without a gap, more tools 8 are provided in the magazine body 10 in a limited space. Can be stored,
The tool pot 7 can be fed in a beading state and quickly indexed to the indexing position P1. Further, unlike the case of using a conventional chain, a member or the like for determining the interval between the tool pots 7 is not required, so that assembly and maintenance can be easily performed,
Moreover, the feed mechanism 14 can be easily configured with the sprocket 15. Since the sprocket 15 has both functions of carrying and indexing the tool pot 7, the required tool pot 7 can be indexed through the shortest path of the guide groove 13 by controlling the number of rotations and the direction of rotation. It can be quickly conveyed to P1 and accurately indexed.

Further, in the tool magazine device 6 of this embodiment, since the guide groove 13 is arranged in a non-circular shape in the form of footprints, the tool magazine device 6 is used by utilizing the narrow space on the side of the column 2. It can be installed compactly. Further, by providing the pot take-out mechanism 16, the exchange position P2 is separated from the indexing position P1, where the exchange device 5 can directly deliver the tool 8 to and from the tool pot 7 without an intermediate mechanism. In this case, since the tool pot 7 is transported in a state where the rotation of the tool pot 7 is restricted by the pair of heads 24, there is no possibility that the direction of the tool 8 may change during the transportation, and a mistake in replacement can be prevented.

12 and 13 schematically show another installation example of the tool magazine device 6 according to the present invention.
The tool magazine device 6 of FIG. 12 is installed over both sides of the main machine frame 1 of the machining center with the corner portion 1a interposed therebetween, and the guide groove 13 at a portion corresponding to the corner portion 1a.
The curved portion 61 is provided in the. By doing so, the transport passage of the tool pot 7 can be three-dimensionally formed, and the space on the machining center side can be effectively used. By applying this technique, it is possible to support a horizontal machining center by holding the tool in a downward state on the side of the column and turning the tool forward at the tool exchange position.

In the tool magazine device 6 of FIG. 13, a twisted portion 62 is provided in a part of the guide groove 13, the tool pot 7 is supported downward by the twisted portion 62, and the tool pot 7 is turned sideways in the other portions. Supported by.
By doing so, the orientation of some of the tool pots 7 can be freely changed so that the tool 8 is directed to the exchange device, and therefore the installation location of the tool magazine device 6 is not restricted by the position of the exchange device, and the installation is performed. The degree of freedom of place can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the tool magazine device 6 is installed on the movable column 2, but it may be installed on a fixed column. In addition, the tool magazine device 6 may be installed in another machine tool such as a horizontal machining center or a boring machine, or the tool magazine device 6 may be separated from the main machine frame of the machine tool and configured separately. The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the shapes and configurations of the respective parts can be appropriately modified and embodied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the invention, since a large number of tool pots are movably supported in the endless guide groove in abutment with each other, a limited space is required. The magazine body can store a large number of tools, the tool pot can be quickly indexed, the mechanism for that can be easily configured, and the flexibility of the installation location of the device can be improved. .

According to the invention of claim 2, since the guide groove is arranged in a non-circular shape, there is an effect that the apparatus can be installed compactly by utilizing the narrow space of the machine tool.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the guide groove is provided in a curved state, there is an effect that the conveying passage can be three-dimensionally formed and the space on the machine tool side can be effectively used.

According to the invention of claim 4, since the guide groove is provided in a twisted state, there is an effect that the direction of the tool pot can be freely changed so that the tool is directed to the changing device.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the forward and reverse sprocket is provided in the feed mechanism, the required tool pot can be quickly conveyed to the indexing position through the shortest path and can be accurately indexed. effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a machining center showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of the machining center of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a tool magazine device equipped in the machining center of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the tool magazine device of FIG.

5 is a bottom view of the tool magazine device of FIG. 3. FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

7 is a sectional view of a tool pot equipped in the tool magazine device of FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

9 is a cross-sectional view showing a pot removal mechanism of the tool magazine device of FIG.

10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG.

11 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view schematically showing another installation example of the tool magazine device of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view schematically showing another installation example of the tool magazine device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ・ ・ Main body frame, 2 ・ ・ Column, 3 ・ ・ Spindle head, 4
..Spindles, 5 ... Exchange devices, 6..Tool magazine devices, 7..Tool pots, 8..Tools, 10..Magazine body, 13..Guide grooves, 14..Feeding mechanism, 15 ..
Sprocket, 16 ・ ・ Pot take-out mechanism, 24 ・ ・ Head, 25 ・ ・ Guide roller, 29 ・ ・ Geneva gear, 30 ・
・ Indexing motor, 46 ・ ・ Slider, 52 ・ ・ Extraction motor, P1 ・ ・ Indexing position, P2 ・ ・ Replacement position.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A magazine body having an endless guide groove, a large number of tool pots movably supported in contact with the guide groove, and a feed mechanism for feeding the tool pot along the guide groove. A tool magazine device for machine tools, which consists of 2. The tool magazine device for a machine tool according to claim 1, wherein the magazine body has a non-circular guide groove. 3. The tool magazine device for a machine tool according to claim 1, wherein the guide groove is provided in a curved state. 4. The tool magazine device for a machine tool according to claim 1, wherein the guide groove is provided in a twisted state. 5. A magazine body having an endless guide groove, a large number of tool pots movably supported in contact with the guide groove, and the tool pot engaged with a part of the tool pots. A tool magazine device for a machine tool, which comprises a feed mechanism that feeds along a guide groove by a sprocket that can be rotated in the normal and reverse directions.