JPH09248731A - Automatic tool changing tool magazine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic tool changing tool magazine in which chips or cutting oil are not stuck on a tool holder, and tool changing can be quickly performed by the simple operation. SOLUTION: In an automatic tool changing tool magazine in which a plurality of tool pots 12 are set in a magazine main body 11 so as to be indexed, and tool holders 7 are housed in the tool pots 12, the magazine main body 11 is arranged outside the operating part of a machine tool so that the tool holders may be housed in the tool pots 12 in the same direction as a machine tool main spindle. A tool pot conveying means 13 is provided, the tool pots 12 are conveyed from the magazine main body 11 to the tool changing position by the parallel movement, and automatic tool changing is performed between the tool pot 12 positioned in the tool changing position and a main spindle 9 of the machine tool.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic tool changing tool magazine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many conventional tool magazines accommodate tool holders in a direction perpendicular to the spindle of a machine tool.

In this case, since the tool is changed while changing the direction of the tool holder, it takes some time to change the tool. In the case of a general MC, it was configured to change the horizontal direction to the downward direction. Further, since the structure of the tool change arm is complicated, malfunction or failure may occur during automatic tool change.

[0004]

On the other hand, there is also used a tool magazine having a structure for accommodating a tool holder in parallel with the spindle of a machine tool.

However, in this type of tool magazine, since the magazine body for accommodating the tool holder is located within the operating range of the automatic tool changing arm, that is, within or near the operating range of the machine tool table, the tool of the magazine body is There was a problem that chips and cutting oil tended to adhere.

Further, when the distance between the tool magazine and the machine tool main body is increased to some extent, foreign matter can be prevented from adhering, but since a large replacement arm is required, smooth and quick tool replacement cannot be performed. There was a problem.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, to prevent cutting chips and cutting oil from adhering to the tool holder, and to perform a quick tool change with a simple operation. It is to provide a tool magazine for tool exchange.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a plurality of tool pots (12) are indexably set in a magazine body (11) and a tool holder (7) is housed in the tool pot (12). In the tool magazine for tool exchange, the magazine body (11) is arranged outside the working part of the machine tool so that the tool holder (7) is housed in the tool pot (12) in the same direction as the machine tool spindle.
A tool pot transfer means (13) is provided to transfer the tool pot (12) from the magazine body (11) to the tool exchange position (A) by parallel movement, and the tool pot (12) in the tool exchange position (A) and the tool pot (12) are machined. The gist is a tool magazine for automatic tool changing, which is characterized in that automatic tool changing is performed with a machine spindle (9).

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The magazine body is arranged outside the operating part of the machine tool, and is preferably arranged at a certain distance from the table and the spindle. The tool holder is housed in the magazine body in the same direction as the spindle of the machine tool. That is, it is not necessary to rotate the axis of the tool holder during automatic tool change.

The tool pot conveying means conveys the tool pot in parallel between the magazine body and the tool exchange position. The tool change position is located some distance from the magazine body.

Then, automatic tool exchange is performed between the tool pot at the tool exchange position and the spindle of the machine tool. That is, automatic tool exchange is performed by exchanging and exchanging the tool holders set in both.

It is preferable to provide an automatic opening / closing door between the tool changing position and the magazine body, in which case the tool holder can be kept cleaner.

If the tool pot transfer means is driven by the cylinder / piston mechanism, quick and reliable transfer can be realized at low cost.

[0014]

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

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a state in which a tool magazine 10 for automatic tool change of the present invention is set in a machining center (MC) 1. FIG. 2 is a top view showing the spindle head 4 and the tool magazine 10 shown in FIG.

The machining center 1 is provided with a base 2, a column 3, a spindle head 4, an XY table 5, a control device (not shown) and the like.

A spindle 9 is set on the spindle head 4, and a lubricating oil supply means 50 is arranged near the spindle 9.

A tool magazine 10 is arranged on the far left side of the machining center C1 when viewed from the front. The tool magazine 10 is located outside the operating range of the XY table 5. Moreover, the tool magazine 10 is separated from the main shaft 9 to some extent as shown in FIG. For this reason. The chips and cutting oil do not adhere to the tool holder of the tool magazine 10.

An automatic tool changing arm (ATC arm) 6 is arranged on the left side of the spindle head 4. ATC
The arm 6 performs parallel movement in the central axis direction, that is, vertical movement, and rotational movement about the central axis. ATC arm 6
Claw portions 6a for gripping the tool holder are provided at both ends of, and a well-known pressing protrusion 51 is arranged inside thereof. The pressing protrusion 51 is biased outward by a spring.

During processing, the ATC arm 6 is retracted above the table so that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the left wall surface of the spindle head 4.

FIG. 8 shows a tool holder 7 and a tool pot 1.
FIG.

The tool pot 12 is entirely cylindrical,
The tool holder 7 is inserted from the lower side.
A usual holding means (not shown) composed of a spring and a ball is arranged above the tool pot 12 to urge and fix the stud bolt of the tool holder 7.

A groove 12a is provided on the upper side of the outer circumference of the tool pot.
Are formed. The groove 12a can be formed, for example, as two parallel grooves running in the horizontal direction. This groove 12
The a is used as a guiding means when the tool pot 12 is housed in the magazine body 11 and when the tool pot 12 is conveyed to the tool exchange position.

Hereinafter, the tool magazine 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 are a side view, a front view, a sectional view taken along the carrying direction, and a sectional view taken in a direction perpendicular to the tool magazine 10.

The tool magazine 10 is composed of a magazine main body for accommodating the tool pot and a tool pot carrying means 13 for carrying the tool pot.

The tool magazine 11 has a housing 31 having an inverted cup shape as a whole, and the housing 31 is attached to a machine tool via a bracket 28.

The magazine plate 18 is rotatably attached to the housing 31 via a center shaft 25. The magazine plate 18 is fixed on the upper surface of the housing 31 and is rotationally driven by a reversible motor 19. An intermediate gear head is connected to the reversible motor 19.

Above the magazine plate 18, the boss 3
The index plate 17 is fixed via the two.

The index plate 17 has a plurality of cam means 17a corresponding to the storage positions of the tool pots 12. A slide bracket 26 having a cam follower 23 is arranged above the index plate 17. The slide bracket 26 is biased in a direction in which the cam means 17a and the cam follower 23 are engaged with each other. A proximity switch 27 is arranged near the slide bracket 26.

The cam means 17a, the cam follower 23 and the proximity switch 27 cooperate to perform the indexing operation of the magazine plate 18.

A series of recesses 18a corresponding to the grooves 12a of the tool pot 12 are formed on the outer periphery of the magazine plate 18 at equal intervals. When accommodating 15 tool pots 12, 15 recesses 18a are formed.

Each tool pot 12 is housed in the recess 18a such that the boundary portion of the recess 18a and the groove 12a of the tool pot 12 are engaged with each other. In an area other than the transport position described below, the tool pot 12 orbits such that the outer portion thereof abuts the inner circumference of the skirt portion of the housing 31, as shown in FIG.

At the tool pot transfer position B of the tool magazine 11, the skirt of the housing 31 is open, and the slide bracket 15 is movably arranged there. The slide bracket 15 is for reciprocating the tool pot 12 between the transfer position B and the exchange position A.

The slide bracket 15 has an h-shaped cross section. Then, as shown in FIG.
The tool pot 12 is sandwiched between the crotch portions of the mold to transmit the propulsive force in the carrying direction.

The tip of the piston of the cylinder mechanism 14 is fixed to the upper portion of the slide bracket 15. At the center of the slide bracket 15, the tips of two guide rods 21 are fixed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the housing 31 is provided with two plate support members 22 which protrude in the forward direction so as to sandwich the slide bracket 15. The slide plates 16 are fixed to the lower surface of the plate support 22 in parallel with each other. Tool change position A
Is located at the tip of the slide plate 16.

The two slide plates 16 form a transportation path for the tool pot 12 between the transportation position B of the magazine and the tool replacement position A. Both slide plates 1
The inner space of 6 is defined by the two grooves 12a of the tool pot 12.
It corresponds to. The tool pot, as shown in Figure 5,
The groove 12a is movable along the slide plate 16 while being guided by the inner portion of the slide plate 16.

When the piston of the cylinder mechanism 14 extends, the tool pot 12 engaged with the crotch portion of the slide bracket 15 slides forward of the housing along the transport path and is transported to the tool exchange position A. On the contrary, when the piston of the cylinder mechanism 14 contracts, the tool change position A
The tool pot located at is pulled back to the transport position B on the index track.

Thus, the tool pot transfer means 13
Is composed of a slide bracket 15, a cylinder / piston mechanism 14, and a slide plate 16.

An automatic opening / closing door 30 is provided in front of the tool magazine body to more completely block chips and cutting oil.
Is arranged. The door 30 is opened during automatic tool change and closed during processing.

Next, the automatic tool changing operation will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

1) On the tool magazine body side, a tool pot 12 equipped with a tool holder 7 used in the next step
Is indexed to the transport position B.

2) When the processing of the current process is completed, the door 30
Is opened, and the tool pot is transported to the tool exchange position A by the tool pot transporting means and made to stand by.

3) Move the spindle head 4 to a replacement position which is predetermined.

4) The ATC arm 6 is operated to pull out both the tool holder 7 used in the present process and the tool pot 7 used in the next process from the spindle 9 and the tool pot 12 (state shown in FIG. 6).

5) The ATC arm 6 is rotated 180 degrees to switch the positions of both tool holders 7, and these are inserted into the tool pot 12 and the spindle 9.

6) The storage place of the collected tool pot 12 is indexed, and the tool pot 12 is returned to the carrying position B on the magazine body side. At the same time, ATC arm 6
To the standby position to start the next step.

[0048]

According to the present invention, since the magazine body is outside the operating range of the machine tool, cutting chips and cutting oil do not adhere to the tool holder. Moreover, since the tool is exchanged between the tool pot and the spindle that are conveyed in parallel to the tool exchange position, the tool can be exchanged quickly and with high reliability by a simple operation.

Further, since the magazine body is outside the machine (for example, outside the movement range of the MC table), the operator can safely check the tools stored in the magazine and exchange the tools even when the machine is in operation. It can be done easily.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, instead of the cylinder / piston mechanism, the tool pot can be conveyed by a motor drive type as shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, reference numerals 63 and 64 are a feed screw and a nut,
The feed screw 63 is driven by the motor 61 via the pulley 62.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a state in which a tool magazine for automatic tool change of an embodiment of the present invention is set in a machining center.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing the spindle head and the tool magazine of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the tool magazine of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the tool magazine of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the tool magazine of FIG. 1 taken along the carrying direction.

6 is a cross-sectional view of the tool magazine of FIG. 1 in a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view schematically showing an automatic tool changing operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a tool pot into which a tool holder is inserted.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the conveying means.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing an engaged state of a tool pot and a guide plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Machining Center 4 Spindle Head 5 Table 6 Automatic Tool Change Arm 7 Tool Holder 9 Spindle 10 Tool Magazine 11 Magazine Body 12 Tool Pot 13 Tool Pot Transfer Means 14 Cylinder / Piston Mechanism 30 Automatic Open / Close Door

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An automatic tool change tool magazine having a structure in which a plurality of tool pots (12) are indexably set in a magazine body (11) and a tool holder (7) is housed in the tool pot (12). Body (1
1) is arranged outside the working part of the machine tool, and the tool holder (7) is oriented in the same direction as the machine tool spindle, and the tool pot (1
2) so that the tool pot carrying means (1
3) is provided and the tool pot (12) is attached to the magazine body (1
1) The tool is transferred by parallel movement from the tool change position (A) to the tool change position (A), and automatic tool change is performed between the tool pot (12) at the tool change position (A) and the spindle (9) of the machine tool. A tool magazine for automatic tool change. 2. The automatic tool changing tool magazine according to claim 1, further comprising an automatic opening / closing door (30) provided between the tool changing position and the magazine body (11). 3. Automatic tool change according to claim 1, characterized in that the tool pot transfer means (13) is driven by a drive device such as a cylinder / piston mechanism (14) or a feed screw mechanism (60). Tool magazine for. 4. A tool is provided by disposing a guide plate (16) between a magazine body (11) and a tool exchange position (A), and engaging a groove (12a) provided in a tool pot (12) with the guide plate. The tool magazine for automatic tool change according to claim 1, wherein the tool magazine is configured to guide the pot (12).