JPH10138074A - Machining center - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve workability by eliminating a support column to support a tool magazine from around a work zone, and secure tool replacement actuation by stabilizing support to the tool magazine. SOLUTION: A support base 8 supported in an overhang condition at a back end part by a support column 7 provided to stand on a bed 1 is disposed to be fixed above a movable column 2, and a tool magazine 9 to rotate plural tools to the support base 8 to be divided to a stand-by position, and a transfer mechanism 10 to transfer the devided tool outside the tool magazine 9 to a delivery position forward are provided, so the tool at the delivery position is replaced by the tool on a main shaft 5 provided on the movable column 2 by a replacement arm 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a support base fixedly disposed above a movable column, a tool magazine for rotating a plurality of tools on the support base and indexing to a standby position. The present invention relates to a machining center for exchanging a tool indexed to a tool on a spindle provided on a moving column.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional machining center of this type is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-149232 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-30260.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-260, is known. In the former machining center, a fixed frame supported by four front and rear, left and right columns is arranged above the moving column,
On the fixed frame (support base), a tool magazine for horizontally rotating the tool is installed, and the tool indexed by the tool magazine is transferred to a lower delivery position, and the tool is moved with the tool at the delivery position. The tool on the spindle provided on the column is exchanged by an exchange arm provided on the movable column. In the latter machining center, a fixed frame (support base) supported by four front, rear, right and left columns is disposed above the moving column, and a tool magazine for vertically rotating a tool is provided on the fixed frame. It is installed so that the tool indexed by the tool magazine is transferred to the lower delivery position, and the tool at the delivery position and the tool on the main spindle provided on the moving column are exchanged by the exchange arm provided on the fixed frame. Has become.

[0003]

According to the above-mentioned conventional machining center, the fixed frame for supporting the tool magazine is supported by four front, rear, right and left columns.
The left and right columns on the front side are located on the side or front of the processing area,
There is a problem in that the work in the processing area is hindered, for example, the work of exchanging the work or the inspection work, and the working area is restricted. Further, in the conventional machining center, the tool at the index position of the tool magazine is moved downward in the horizontal state and moved to the delivery position for tool change. There is a problem that chips and the like easily enter the indexing position and cause troubles.To solve the problem, it is necessary to provide an opening / closing door and add a cleaning device, There was a problem of getting high. In addition, it is conceivable to simply omit the front support in the conventional machining center, but since the indexing position of the tool magazine is located above the delivery position for tool exchange, the installation position of the tool magazine is rearward. There is a problem that the tool is not able to support the tool magazine because it is shifted far forward from the side column, and it is necessary to increase the number of rear columns and increase the size of the fixed frame to support the tool magazine. Therefore, there is a problem that the cost becomes high and the tool changing operation becomes unstable.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to stably support a support base for disposing a tool magazine in a cantilever state by a rear support, and to support a support frame support from a side or a front of a machining area. Eliminating it greatly improves workability in the machining area, and even if the support base is supported in a cantilevered state by the rear support, the tool magazine can be supported stably and the tool change operation can be ensured and the cost can be reduced. To provide a machining center.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems,
According to the present invention, a support base is fixedly disposed above a movable column, and a tool magazine for rotating a plurality of tools to a standby position (also referred to as an indexing position) is provided on the support base. In a machining center that replaces a tool indexed to a position with a tool on a main spindle provided on a moving column, a rear end of a support base is supported in a cantilever state by a column erected on a bed, and a tool magazine is mounted on the support base. And a transfer mechanism for taking out the tool indexed by the tool magazine to the outside of the tool magazine and transferring it to a delivery position in front.

Further, according to the present invention, a support base is fixedly disposed above a movable column, and a tool magazine for rotating a plurality of tools and indexing to a standby position is provided on the support base.
In a machining center that replaces a tool indexed to a standby position with a tool on a spindle provided on a movable column, a support base is supported in a cantilevered state by a column erected on a bed behind a movable area of the movable column. The supporting base is provided with a tool magazine and a transfer mechanism for taking out the tool indexed by the tool magazine to the outside of the tool magazine and transferring the tool to a front delivery position. Further, the present invention provides a shielding plate for partitioning a space forward and backward near a delivery position halfway between a tool magazine indexing position and a delivery position, opening a tool insertion window in the shielding plate, and moving a tool forward by a transfer mechanism. The tool is moved horizontally toward and the tool faces forward from the tool insertion window.
Further, in the present invention, the rear end of the support base is supported in a cantilever state by only a pair of right and left columns.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the overall configuration of the machining center will be described with reference to FIGS. In this machining center, a moving column 2 is mounted on a bed 1 so as to be movable back and forth, left and right, and a tool changing device 3 is installed on a support base 8 fixedly disposed above the column 2. The movable column 2 is provided with a spindle head 4 so as to be able to move up and down, and a spindle 5 is provided on the spindle head 4 so as to be rotatable around a horizontal axis by a motor 6. Behind the moving area of the moving column 2, the bed 2 has a pair of right and left two columns 7.
The rear end of the support base 8 of the tool changing device 3 is horizontally fixed to the upper end of the support 7, and the support base 8 is
Is supported in a cantilevered state. The connecting portion between the support base 8 and the column 7 is reinforced by a reinforcing piece 7A.
The reinforcing piece 7A is also located outside the moving area of the moving column 2 so as not to interfere with the moving column 2. Support base 8
Is supported in a cantilevered state by a support post 7 behind the movable column 2, so that there is no support post on the side or front of the processing area ahead of the movable column 8 as shown in FIG. Except for the surrounding area, which is largely open. The tool changing device 3 includes a tool magazine 9, a transfer mechanism 10, and a change arm 1.
The entire apparatus is supported by a support base 8 in a state of being separated from the movable column 2 above the moving space of the column 2. In order to reduce the overall height of the machining center, the tool changer 3 is installed at a position very close to the column 2 so that the distance between the lower end of the change arm 11 and the upper end of the column 2 is, for example, 10 mm. I have.

Next, the configuration and operation of the tool changing device 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG.
A vertical shaft 14 is erected on a support 13 fixed to the support base 8, and a magazine main body 12 of a tool magazine 9 is fixed to an upper end thereof via a fastening member 15. An annular rail 16 protrudes downward from the magazine body 12, and a plurality of pots 17 are hung on the rail 16, and a tool 18 is horizontally held by each pot 17. The pot 17 has a hole 20 for accommodating the shank portion 19 of the tool 18 and the rail 1.
A pair of inner and outer suspension arms 21 facing the peripheral surface of the arm 6 and a plurality of rolling elements 22 are provided. The rail 16 has a horizontal guide groove 23 in which the rolling element 22 is fitted on the inner peripheral surface, the outer peripheral surface and the lower surface.
And constitutes a guide member that holds the pot 17 in a horizontal position via the rolling elements 22 and guides the pot 17 along a horizontal annular path.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the pot 17 of this embodiment is provided with five rolling elements 22. The two rolling elements 22A supported by the suspension arms 21 outside the pot 17 fit into the guide grooves 23A on the outer peripheral side of the rail 16,
One rolling element 22B supported by the inner suspension arm 21 is fitted into the guide groove 23B on the inner peripheral side, and these three rolling elements 22B are fitted.
A and 22B hold the pot 17 in a fixed position in the vertical direction,
In addition, it is securely held in a horizontal posture in a two-sided state. Two rolling elements 22C supported on the upper surface of the pot 17 between the suspension arms 21 are provided with guide grooves 23C on the lower surface of the rail 16.
And holds the pot 17 at a fixed position in the magazine radial direction. Therefore, it is possible to take a thorough load-preventing measure when indexing the tool 18 in a horizontal plane in a horizontal posture, and to guide the rolling of the pot 17 under a much smaller frictional force as compared with the sliding guide method, so that the tool 18 is moved. It can be determined smoothly.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the driving means of the pot 17 includes a motor 25 installed on the upper part of the magazine body 12, and an indexing disk 26 which rotates around the same axis as the annular path. And a gear mechanism 27 for transmitting the rotation of the motor 25 to the indexing disk 26. The indexing disk 26 is rotatably supported at the lower end of the vertical shaft 14 via a bearing 28, and a notch formed on the outer periphery thereof is provided with an engaging pin 29 protruding from the lower surface of the pot 17 in a radial direction. 30 are provided. The tool magazine 9 is composed of a plurality of tools 18
Is held in a horizontal posture by the pot 17, and the pot 17 is smoothly and horizontally turned by the indexing disk 26 via the rolling elements 22 so as to be sequentially indexed to the standby position A. The standby position A is set directly above the main spindle 5 when the column 2 is moved to the tool change position (see FIG. 1) in the tool magazine 9, and the rail 16 is provided with a pot 17 at a position corresponding to the standby position A. The outlet 31 is notched. The driving method using the indexing disk 26 requires a smaller driving force than the chain method, and the pot 17 is guided by rolling, so that a small motor 25 can be used as an indexing driving source, and The thickness of the exchange device 3 can be reduced.

Above the standby position A, a support frame 33 of the transfer mechanism 10 is disposed so as to protrude forward of the tool magazine 9, and is fixed to the upper surface of the tool magazine 9 with bolts 35 at base feet 34. ing. Two rods 37 are mounted horizontally and in parallel between the vertical plates 32 in front and behind the support frame 33. The rods 37 are provided with a shifter 38 for transferring the pot 17 and a delivery position in the axial direction ahead of the outlet 31. B is supported so as to be able to move linearly. The shifter 38 has substantially the same cross-sectional shape as the rail 16, and has a holding groove 39 formed in the front, back, and lower surfaces thereof.
When the shifter 38 is disposed at the outlet 31, the holding grooves 39 of the respective parts are aligned with the respective guide grooves 23 of the corresponding portions of the rail 16 (see FIG. 4), and the rolling elements 22 are moved from the guide grooves 23 to the holding grooves 39. The pot 17 is placed and is held horizontally by the shifter 38 via the rolling elements 22.

A rodless cylinder 36 is horizontally mounted on the upper plate 33a of the support frame 33. A connecting piece 40 protrudes from the upper surface of the shifter 38.
Is connected to a slider 42 of the rodless cylinder 36 via a pin 41. Then, the transfer mechanism 10 drives the shifter 38 back and forth by the rodless cylinder 36,
When the shifter 38 moves forward, the pot 17 at the standby position A is horizontally taken out of the tool magazine 9 and is transferred to the transfer position B. When the shifter 38 is retracted, the pot 17 is transferred from the transfer position B to the standby position A. It is configured as follows. The vertical plate 32 on the base end side of the support frame 33 has a stopper 43 for stopping the shifter 38 at a fixed position of the outlet 31.
Is provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, a locking member 45 is rotatably mounted on a back surface of the shifter 38 by a shaft 47 via a bracket 46, and a pair of locking pieces 48 are protruded from a lower end thereof. I have. During the transfer of the pot 17 by the shifter 38, the locking member 45 is arranged at the operation position (the position indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 3) by the torsion spring 49, and the locking piece 48 is
7 is locked from both sides in the width direction to the suspension arm 21, the pot 17 is held at a fixed position of the shifter 38, and the rolling element 22 is prevented from falling out of the holding groove 39. Stopper 4
A release bolt 50 protrudes forward from the vertical plate 32 below the bottom 3, and when the shifter 38 returns to the outlet 31, the release bolt 50 causes the locking member 45 to act against the torsion spring 49. The locking piece 48 is released from the suspension arm 21 to the position (the position indicated by the dashed line in FIG.
Can be moved in the indexing direction of the magazine 9. In this case, the locking member 45 is disengaged by the torsion spring 49 and the bolt 50 by using the movement of the shifter 38, so that an expensive driving means such as an electric actuator is not required separately.

On the other hand, a positioning pin 52 is projected from the suspension arm 21 outside the pot 17, and a bush 53 into which the positioning pin 52 can be inserted is attached to the vertical plate 32 on the distal end side of the support frame 33. A positioning block 54 to which the engaging pin 29 of the pot 17 can be fitted is fixed to the upper surface of the front end of the support base 8. And these members 52-5
4 constitutes means for automatically positioning the pot 17 at the delivery position B as the shifter 38 moves. As shown in FIG. 1, the exchange arm 11 is supported by a support 56 fixed to the lower side of the support base 8 so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis and to be movable in the axial direction. The tool 18 at the delivery position B can be replaced with a tool on the spindle 5. Reference numeral 55 denotes a turning motor of the exchange arm 11.

The standby position A and the delivery position B of the tool magazine 9
In the vicinity of the transfer position B in the middle of the above, a shielding plate 60 that partitions the space back and forth is fixedly attached to the support base 8 and the support frame 33. The shielding plate 60 shields the installation space of the tool magazine 9 and the transfer mechanism 10 from the space above the processing area, makes them invisible from the front, improves the appearance, and covers them so that chips and the like do not enter them. I'm hiding. A tool insertion window 62 is opened in the shielding plate 60 at the movement locus of the tool 18 by the transfer mechanism 10. The tool insertion window 62 is formed by an insertion hole such as a circular hole or a polygonal hole provided in the shielding plate 60, and the size thereof is formed as small as possible within a range in which the tool 18 can be inserted in the front-rear direction. In addition, it is possible to prevent chips from entering the tool insertion window 62 and prevent the appearance from being deteriorated. This tool insertion window 62
Alternatively, a plurality of rubber pieces or the like may be pushed and opened so as to be free to close the tool insertion window 62. The tool insertion window 62 is located immediately behind the arm gripping portion of the tool 18 located at the delivery position B, and positions the shielding plate 60 as far forward as possible without interfering with the exchange arm 11, and is moved forward. The pot 17 is covered and the chips 20 are prevented from entering the hole 20 of the pot 17.

In the above-described embodiment, the tool magazine in which the pot is turned horizontally by the indexing disk is shown. However, the tool magazine is changed to the tool magazine in which the pot is turned vertically by the indexing disk. Is also good. Further, the tool magazine may be one in which a tool is held by a rotating body that is indexed and rotated. In this case, the tool at the indexed position is extracted and moved forward. When the tool magazine is arranged so that the tool indexing position is located behind the tool delivery position, if the tool at the tool indexing position is not facing forward, the direction is changed so that the cutting edge faces forward. To move the tool forward to the delivery position. Further, it is preferable to provide a pair of right and left columns on the rear side, but three or more columns may be provided on the rear side, or one wide plate-shaped column may be provided. Further, in the present invention, the technical scope is not deviated even if the configuration of each unit is changed and implemented as exemplified below. (1) In FIG. 5, the rolling element 2 on the inner peripheral side of the rail 16
The number of rolling elements 22 is appropriately changed, such as increasing the number of rolling elements 2B to two or reducing the number of rolling elements 22A on the outer peripheral side to one. (2) The shifter 38 is driven by an air cylinder with a rod or a motor. (3) Provide a replacement arm at the top of the column.

[0017]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
Since the rear end of the support base that supports the tool magazine is supported by the columns that are erected on the bed, and the columns that support the support base from the side or front of the machining area are eliminated,
When working on the processing area, you can easily work from any side or front direction without being disturbed by the support,
Workability can be significantly improved and work efficiency can be improved. Also,
The tool indexed by the tool magazine is transferred forward and moved to the delivery position, so the tool magazine can be arranged near the rear end of the support base, and as a result, the weight of the tool magazine causes the tool base to move to the support base. Even when the tool magazine can be stably supported by a small acting moment and the support base is supported in a cantilever state, the tool changing operation can be ensured, the support structure can be simplified, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the supporting base is supported in a cantilevered state by the column standing on the bed behind the moving region of the moving column, the moving column is obstructed by the column. Even if the supporting base can be supported in a cantilevered state, the moving area of the moving column can be increased. According to the third aspect of the present invention, a shielding plate that partitions a space forward and backward is provided near the delivery position of the tool, and the tool that has been horizontally transferred forward by the transfer mechanism from the tool insertion window opened in the shielding plate is provided. The tool insertion window for moving the tool to the delivery position can be made smaller, the cutting mechanism can be prevented from entering the tool transfer mechanism and tool magazine with a simple configuration, and the front of the tool magazine can be prevented. Can be covered with a shielding plate, so that the appearance can be improved and safety can be achieved. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the rear end of the support base is supported in a cantilevered state by only the pair of right and left columns, the support structure of the support base can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a machining center showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the machining center.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a tool changing device of the machining center.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an arrangement of pots in the tool changing device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 1 for explaining a function of a rolling element.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Bet, 2. Column, 3. Tool changer, 4
..Spindle head, 5 ... Spindle, 7 ... Post, 8 ... Support base, 9 ... Tool magazine, 10 ... Transfer mechanism, 11
..Replacement arm, 12 magazine head, 16 rail, 17 pot, 18 tool, 22 rolling element,
23 guide groove, 26 index disk, 29 engagement pin, 30 notch, 31 outlet, 36 rodless cylinder, 37 rod, 38 shifter, 39
..Holding groove, 45..locking member, 50..release bolt,
52 .. positioning pin, 53 .. buge, 54 .. positioning block, 60 .. shield plate, 62 .. tool insertion window, A .. standby position, B ... delivery position.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A support base is fixedly arranged above a moving column, and a tool magazine for turning a plurality of tools to a standby position by providing a plurality of tools on the support base is provided. In a machining center that exchanges tools with tools on the main spindle provided on the moving column, the rear end of the support base is supported in a cantilevered state by a column erected on a bed, and the support base is indexed by a tool magazine and the tool magazine. A machining center provided with a transfer mechanism for taking out the set tool to the outside of the tool magazine and transferring the tool to a front delivery position. 2. A support base is fixedly disposed above the movable column, and a tool magazine for turning a plurality of tools to a standby position by providing a plurality of tools on the support base is provided. In a machining center that exchanges the tool with the tool on the spindle provided on the moving column, the support base is supported in a cantilevered state by a column erected on a bed behind the moving area of the moving column, and the support base has a tool magazine and the tool magazine. A machining center provided with a transfer mechanism for taking out a tool indexed by a magazine to the outside of a tool magazine and transferring the tool to a front delivery position. 3. A shielding plate which partitions a space forward and backward near a delivery position halfway between an indexing position and a delivery position of a tool magazine, a tool insertion window is opened in the shielding plate, and a tool is moved forward by a transfer mechanism. 2. The machining center according to claim 1, wherein the tool is horizontally moved toward the front so that the tool faces forward from the tool insertion window. 4. The machining center according to claim 1, wherein the rear end of the support base is supported in a cantilever state by only a pair of left and right columns.