JPH10146739A - Tool service life control device of machine tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To instantly replace a tool by an operator when the service lift of the tool is completed by providing a display control means to control so as to display that the tool service life is almost completed to a display means when a preset tool service life previously announcing value and a value by an operation coincide with each other. SOLUTION: When judged that it is cutting moving time, the service life of a tool using at present is subtracted by using an internal timer. When judged that a work program finishes, the service life stored in a RAM 32 and the previously announcing service life are compared with each other with every tool, and tools whose service life reaches the previously announcing service life are all extracted. Afterwards, whether or not there is an extracted tool is judged, and when judged that there is the extracted tool, a warning message that the tool service life is almost completed is displayed on a CRT 6 together with its tool number.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool life management device for managing the life of a working tool of a machine tool.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The service life of a working tool is limited, and it is necessary to perform appropriate processing such as replacing the working tool when the working life has been reached. Therefore, conventionally, the life of a machining tool has been managed based on the use time or the number of times of use of the machining tool. The life management device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-295157 is an example of such a case, and the life of a processing tool is set according to the usage time when the processing tool can be used or the number of times the processing tool can be used. Accumulate the usage time or number of times and add the usage time or number of times required for a series of machining operations to the accumulated value before processing and compare with the life.If the result of the addition exceeds the life, the life has expired. (Exactly, the service life expires in the middle of a series of machining operations), and the machine is stopped and an alarm sound is generated in order to notify the worker of this. On the other hand, when the life is not exceeded, the life is still left, and it is determined that it is usable.

[0003]

However, in the above-described system, the operator recognizes that the life of the tool has expired after the machine stopped, and then the operator replaces the tool with the life with a new tool. I had to go get new tools from the warehouse to replace them.

[0004] Since the machine is still stopped during this time,
There was a problem that the production efficiency deteriorated.

[0005] In addition, when one operator is in charge of a plurality of machines, there is a tendency that the time during which a machine whose tool life has expired is stopped becomes longer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has a tool life management system for a machine tool in which an operator can immediately change a tool when the life of the tool has expired. It is intended to provide a device.

[0007]

To achieve this object, a tool life management device for a machine tool according to claim 1 is provided.
A tool life setting means for setting a tool life value such as a life time or a life count for each tool; a calculation means for calculating a value such as a time during which the tool is used or a number of times; and Tool life notice setting means for setting a value calculated by the calculation means as a tool life notice value, and a tool life notice value set by the tool life notice setting means coincides with the value calculated by the calculation means. And display control means for controlling the display means to display that the tool life is approaching.

Therefore, the value such as the time or the number of times of using the tool calculated by the calculating means is set by the tool life notice setting means before reaching the tool life value set by the tool life setting means. When the tool life notice value is reached, the display control means causes the display means to display that the tool life is approaching, so that the operator prepares for a tool change before the tool reaches the tool life. be able to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the display control means includes a tool life value set by the tool life setting means and a value calculated by the calculation means. Is displayed on the display means when the tool life has expired.

Therefore, after the display control means displays the tool which has reached the tool life notice on the display means, the tool life value set by the tool life setting means coincides with the value calculated by the calculation means. At this time, in order to display on the display means that the tool has reached the tool life by the display control means, the operator, after confirming that the tool life notice has been reached, prepares to replace the tool,
After confirming on the display that the tool has reached the end of its life,
The tool can be changed immediately.

Further, according to the tool life management device for a machine tool according to the third aspect, when the display control means displays the tool life on the display means, control is performed so that machining cannot be performed. Processing inhibition control means is provided.

Therefore, while the display control means displays the tool life on the display means, the processing is prohibited by the processing inhibition control means, so that the operator can confirm the tool life notice. Even if the tool has reached the end of its service life and it is not possible to change the tool even after the tool has reached the end of its service life, it is no longer possible to perform machining with the tool that has reached its end of life, thus preventing the occurrence of processing defects .

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a tool life management device for a machine tool according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine tool according to the present embodiment. In the machine tool 1 of the present embodiment, a spindle head and an XY-axis table (not shown) are provided in a housing 12 mounted on a base 10 and mounted on a spindle 4 (shown in FIG. 3) in the spindle head 3. The tool 2 performs a cutting process on a work arranged on the XY-axis table. The XY-axis table is configured to be movable in an XY plane by an X-axis motor 21 and a Y-axis motor 22, which will be described later. The spindle head 3 is configured to be vertically movable by a Z-axis motor 23 described later.

A tool magazine 68 capable of accommodating a plurality of tools 2 is provided above the XY-axis table in the housing 12.
Is rotatably supported by a magazine turning motor 25 in the direction of arrow a shown in FIG. The tool magazine 68
As shown in FIG. 3, 14 tool pots 10 are provided, and the tool 2 is detachably held by the tool pot 10. On the other hand, on the front right side of the housing 12, an operation panel 5 having a CRT 6 as a display means for displaying a tool life notice message and the like to be described later, a tool life setting means, and a keyboard 7 as a tool life notice setting means are provided. I have.

Next, the electrical circuit configuration of the machine tool according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a numerical control device that controls the machine tool 1.

The numerical controller is controlled by the CPU 30. The CPU 30 includes a ROM 31, a RAM 32, a CR
A T controller 33, a keyboard controller 34, and a motor controller 35 are connected via a bus 36.

The ROM 31 stores a program for controlling the numerical controller. The keyboard controller 34 is connected to the keyboard 7 and can recognize a key operation. The CRT controller 33 performs display on the CRT 6 according to the input from the keyboard controller 34. The motor controller 35 is connected to the X-axis motor 21, the Y-axis motor 22, the Z-axis motor 23, the main shaft motor 24, and the magazine turning motor 25, and can operate these shafts freely.

As shown in FIG. 5, the RAM 32 stores a tool number, a tool diameter, a method, an initial life, a notice life, a life, and the like for each tool. The tool length indicates the length of the tool, and the tool diameter indicates the thickness of the tool. The method is an item for determining whether to use time as a tool life value, to use a value of the number of machined holes, or to use the number of times of execution of a work program.
Indicates the number of machining holes, and 3 indicates the number of work program executions. The initial life indicates a tool life value set by the keyboard 7. The notice life indicates a tool life notice value set by the keyboard 7. The life indicates a result calculated by a calculation unit described later. When the initial life is set, the value is input. FIG. 6 is a diagram when the contents of the RAM 32 shown in FIG. 5 are displayed on the CRT 6.

The RAM 32 also stores a work program for processing a work, and the machine tool 1 can be operated unattended by automatically operating the contents of the work program.

Next, the operation of tool change will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, when the CPU 30 receives a tool change command, the CPU 30 drives the Z-axis motor 23 via the motor controller 35 so as to raise the spindle head 3. Then, the tool 2 mounted on the main shaft 4 is returned to the tool pot H. Further, the spindle head 3 is moved to the tool magazine 6
After raising to a position where it does not interfere with 8, the CPU 30 drives the magazine turning motor 25 via the motor controller 35 so that the tool magazine 68 turns in the short direction in the direction of arrow a to determine the tool to be attached to the spindle 4. And determine the desired tool pot. When the indexing of the tool magazine 68 is completed, the CPU 30 sends the Z through the motor controller 35 to lower the spindle head 3.
By driving the shaft motor 23, the tool in the tool pot is mounted on the main shaft.

Next, the operation of the tool life management apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 1 is activated when a program activation key (not shown) provided on the keyboard 3 is pressed.

First, if the current life message is a CRT
6 is determined (step 100,
Hereinafter, the step is represented by S), and when it is determined that there is a tool that has reached the end of its life (the life of which is 0) (S10)
If 0 (YES), the process is terminated. Further, when it is determined that there is no tool with a life (NO in S100), it is determined whether or not the cutting movement is currently being performed (S102). When it is determined that the cutting movement is being performed (YES in S102), an internal not shown is not illustrated. Using the timer, the life of the currently used tool is subtracted (S104), and thereafter, it is determined whether or not the work program has been completed (S106).

On the other hand, when it is determined in the processing step of S102 that the cutting movement is not being performed (NO in S102),
Control processing of each axis, such as positioning of the XY table or the spindle head or tool change, is performed (S120), and thereafter, the processing shifts to S106.

In the processing step of S106, when it is determined that the work program has been completed (YE in S106).
S), comparing the life stored in the RAM with the predicted life for each tool, and extracting all tools whose life reaches the predicted life (S108). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not there is an extracted tool (S110). If it is determined that there is an extracted tool (YES in S110), a warning message indicating that the tool life is approaching is displayed on the CRT 6 along with the tool number. (S112). Further, a tool whose life stored in the RAM 32 has become 0 is extracted (S114). Next, it is determined whether or not there is an extracted tool (S116). If there is an extracted tool (YES in S116), a warning message indicating that the tool life has expired is displayed on the CRT 6 together with the tool number. Then (S118), the automatic driving process ends. When it is determined in the processing step of S114 that there is no tool to be extracted (NO in S116), the automatic operation processing ends.

In the processing step of S110,
When it is determined that there is no extracted tool (N in S110)
O), the process proceeds to the processing step of S114, and it is checked whether there is a tool whose life has expired.

On the other hand, in the processing step of S106,
When it is determined that the work program has not been completed (S
NO in 106), and the process proceeds to S102.

Incidentally, the processing step of S104 functions as an arithmetic means, the processing steps of S112 and S118 function as a display control means, and the processing step of S100 functions as a processing inhibition control means.

As is apparent from the above description, the tool life management device for a machine tool according to the present embodiment subtracts the life time of the tool during cutting movement according to the usage time (S10).
4) When the service life reaches the notice life before reaching the initial service life value (S110), a message indicating that the tool life is approaching is output to the CRT 6 (S112).
Therefore, the operator can prepare for the tool change before the tool reaches the tool life.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the configuration is such that the life of the tool is subtracted according to the use of the tool as the calculating means, but 0 is set as the life and the life is added according to the use of the tool. In this manner, the tool life may be determined when the initial life value and the life value match.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, in the tool life management device for a machine tool according to the first aspect of the present invention, the time or the number of times of using the tool calculated by the calculating means is used. When the value reaches the tool life notice value set by the tool life notice setting means, which is before reaching the tool life value set by the tool life setting means, the tool life is displayed on the display means by the display control means. To indicate this, the operator can prepare for a tool change before the tool reaches the end of its tool life.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a tool which has reached a tool life notice is displayed on the display means by the display control means and then set by the tool life setting means. When the calculated tool life value matches the value calculated by the calculation means, the display control means displays on the display means that the tool has reached the tool life. After confirming that the tool has been
After confirming on the display that the tool has reached the end of its life,
The tool can be changed immediately.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, while the display control means displays the tool life on the display means, the processing is prohibited by the processing prohibition control means. Since it is not possible to execute the tool, after the operator confirms the tool life notice, it takes time to prepare for the tool change, and even if the tool has reached the tool life and the tool can not be changed yet, the tool that has reached the life is reached In such a case, there is no need to perform machining, and effects such as the occurrence of machining defects can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a tool life management device of a machine tool.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine tool.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a tool changing operation of the machine tool.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of a numerical control device used in a machine tool.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a RAM that stores tool life and the like.

FIG. 6 is a screen view of a CRT displaying tool information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Machine tool 2 Tool 6 CRT 7 Keyboard 10 Tool pot 30 CPU 31 ROM 32 RAM

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Tool life setting means for setting a tool life value such as life time or life number for each tool; computing means for calculating a value such as time or number of times a tool is used; A tool life notice setting means for setting a value calculated by the calculating means as a tool life notice value before the value, a tool life notice value set by the tool life notice setting means and calculated by the calculation means. Display control means for controlling the display means to display that the tool life is imminent when the values coincide with each other, and a tool life management device for a machine tool. 2. The display control means displays the tool life on the display means when the tool life value set by the tool life setting means coincides with the value calculated by the calculation means. The tool life management device for a machine tool according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a processing prohibition control means for controlling so as not to perform the processing when the display control means displays the tool life on the display means. Tool life management equipment for machine tools.