JPS585142B2 - Tool positioning mechanism within the magazine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a mechanism for positioning a stored tool inserted in an arbitrary direction with its keyway in a tool magazine of a machine tool equipped with an automatic tool changer in a fixed direction within the magazine. Regarding.

Conventionally, when inserting a tool into the spindle that has been inserted into the magazine with the keyway in any direction, a method of matching the key position of the spindle with the keyway position of the tool was to There are tools that position the tool by using a cam, and tools that have a cam member inside the spindle so that the tool that is inserted with the keyway position in an arbitrary direction is aligned in a certain direction by the cam to match the key position of the spindle.

However, the former requires a drive unit to determine the position of the tool keyway during tool transport, and the latter requires the tool itself to be specially shaped to follow the cam member in the spindle, making it impossible to use standard tools. There was a drawback that there was no such thing.

In view of the above drawbacks, the present invention attempts to align tool key grooves in arbitrary directions in a fixed direction by using rotational movement of the magazine for tool indexing, and uses standard tools. This eliminates the need for a special drive source.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a base on which a magazine having the mechanism of the present invention is placed; 2 is a magazine provided on the base 1 and configured by connecting links 3 with pins 4 in an endless chain shape; Each link 3 has a pot 5 for storing tools rotatably attached to its center.

The pot 5 has a tapered hole at its outer end for accommodating the shank of a tool 6, and a hole 8 at its opposite end for accommodating a tool gripping sleeve 7, which will be described later.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a tool stored in the pound 5 with the keyway direction being an arbitrary direction. Reference numeral 9 is rotated four times by a well-known driving means, and engages with a roller 10 attached to the end of the bin 4 of the chain-shaped magazine 2 to move the magazine. The rotating sprocket rotates the magazine 2 in response to a command to index and position the tool at the index position A.

Reference numeral 11 denotes rollers 12 which are pivotally mounted on the same circumference of the outer end surface of the sprocket 9 at equal intervals with the same pitch as the connection pitch of each link 3 constituting the magazine 2, and contact the flange portion of the tool 6. with a swinging arm attached to the tip.

When the tool 6 rotates together with the pot 5, the roller 1
2 fits into the keyway of the tool and prevents the pot from rotating.

Reference numeral 13 designates the swing arms 11 on the same circumference of the outer end surface of the sprocket 9 so as to support the compression springs 14 that constantly press the back surface of each swing arm 11 opposite to the side facing the tool keyway. The spring receiver 13 is fixed at the same pitch interval as the spring receiver 13. The spring receiver 13 also acts as a stopper that limits the amount of rotation of the swing arm 11 when the roller 12 is fitted into the keyway of the tool 6.

A large gear 15 has the same center line as the sprocket 9 and is fixed to the upper surface of the base 1, and has a plurality of teeth from the index position A to the right in FIG. The right half has no teeth at all.

Numeral 16 is a gear fixed to the end face of the pot 5 on the side where the hole 8 is bored and has a through hole in the center, and a plurality of holes are bored radially in the inner boss part, and a steel ball 17 is inserted into each of the three holes. is accommodated.

The inner opening of each of these holes has a diameter smaller than that of the steel ball 17, so that the steel ball 17 will not fall into the inner through-hole.

A sleeve 7 is accommodated in the hole 8 of the bond 5 so as to cover the outer periphery of the inner boss portion of the gear 16, and is always urged toward the mounting side of the gear 16 by a compression spring 18 installed between it and the pot 5. has been done.

Further, the end of the sleeve 7 that comes into contact with the steel ball 17 is formed into a slope, and the steel ball 17 is constantly pressed inward by the bias of the compression spring 18.

The pull stud portion 19 of the tool 6 inserted into the pound 5 is supported by the steel ball 17 to prevent the tool from falling off naturally.

A gear 20 is rotatably fitted around the outer periphery of the outer boss portion of the gear 16, and has the same tooth profile and number of teeth as the gear 16. The magazine 2 is rotated by the sprocket 9, and the required tool is loaded. When the tool is brought near the indexing position A, the gear 20 attached to the pot containing the tool comes into mesh with the large gear 15.

The number of teeth between the large gear 15 and the gear 20 is such that the gear 20 rotates by 180 degrees or more while the gear 20 rolls to the index position A after the meshing starts.

Reference numeral 21 indicates a plurality of movable teeth among the teeth of the large gear 15 at a position where they start meshing with the gear 20.
is slidable in the radial direction with respect to the main body of the gear, and when the gear 20 starts meshing with the large gear 15 and the crests of the teeth come into contact, the movable teeth 21 move to enable meshing. Close.

22 always meshes with the gear 16, and the gear 16 and the gear 20 are connected by a compression spring 23 installed between the pot 5 and the gear 16.
This internal gear has a collar on the outer periphery and is arranged so as to straddle and mesh with the two gears of and transmitted to the tools stored in the pot.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a lever whose central position is pivotally connected to the outer circumferential portion of the link 3, whose upper end extends near the tip of the swing arm 11, and whose lower end engages with the outer circumferential collar of the internal gear. When the tool is inserted into the keyway of the tool, the tip of the swinging arm 11 presses the upper end of the lever 24, causing the lever 24 to pivot clockwise in FIG. The internal gear 22 is moved upward against the internal gear 22 to disengage the internal gear 22 and the gear 20 and release the connection.

Next, the effect will be explained.

It is assumed that a tool is inserted into the pot 5 of the magazine 2 with the keyway direction being an arbitrary direction.

When sprocket 9 is rotated by a command, magazine 2
starts rotating, and the pot 5 containing the necessary tools moves to the first position.
It is sent clockwise toward index position A in the figure.

The gear 20 attached to the bottom of the pot 5 is at index position A.
It starts to mesh with the large gear 15 near , and begins to rotate.

The rotation of the gear 20 is caused by the internal gear 22. It is transmitted to the tool 6 stored in the pot 5 via the gear 16 and the pot 5,
The tool 6 is rotated.

At this time, a roller 12 attached to the tip of a swing arm 11 is pressed against the outer periphery of the flange portion of the tool 6 by a spring 14.

When the tool 6 rotates as the magazine 2 rotates and the keyway position of the tool comes to the position of the roller 12, the roller 12 fits into the keyway of the tool and rotation of the tool is prevented.

As the roller 12 fits into the tool keyway, the tip of the swinging arm 11 acts to push the upper end of the lever 24.
Lever 24 is pivoted clockwise in FIG.

As a result, the lower end of the lever 24 that is engaged with the outer peripheral collar of the internal gear 22 moves the internal gear 22 upward, and the gear 2
0 and the internal gear 22 are released.

After this, the magazine 2 rotates and indexes the required tool to position A.
Only the gear 20 meshing with the large gear 5 rotates idly while the tool is being fed to the index position A while the direction of the keyway is held constant by the rollers 12.

When the tool stops at the indexed position A, a tool changing arm (not shown) comes to the tool position to receive the indexed tool, but at this time the tip of the tool changing arm touches the swinging arm 11.
The roller 12 is pushed out from the key groove of the tool, the movable key of the replacement arm is engaged with the key groove of the tool, and the tool is removed from the pot 5.

At this time, the lever 24 is in a free state, and the compression spring 23
The internal gear 22 is lowered and the gears 16 and 2
It will mesh as it straddles the two 0 gears.

If the internal gear 22 does not descend because the phases of the gear 16 and the gear 20 do not match, the next time the magazine 2 starts rotating, the gear 20 will rotate and the internal gear will move when the phases match. The gears are lowered and connected.

As described above, the present invention uses the tool indexing operation within the magazine to align and position tools stored in a magazine with the keyway direction in an arbitrary direction, so that the keyway direction can be aligned and positioned in a fixed direction. No special drive source is required for positioning.

Furthermore, since the tool can be stored in the pot with the key groove in any direction, there is no need for a key to position the tool in the pot.
Tools can be freely installed inside the pot, making installation easy.

Furthermore, since the pull stud portion of the tool housed in the pot is supported by a steel ball, the magazine of the present invention can be installed at any angular position.

It has the following characteristics.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line -■ in FIG. 1...Base, 2...Magazine, 3...
...Link, 5...Pot, 9...
・Sprocket, 11...Arm, 15...
...Large gear, 20...Gear, 22...
・Internal gear, 24... Lever.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A base, a tool storage magazine rotatably provided on the base with links connected in an endless chain shape, and a tool storage magazine rotatably attached to the base and engaged with the connecting portions of the links. a sprocket for rotating the magazine; a large gear concentrically with the sprocket and fixed on the base; a pot for storing tools rotatably supported at the center of each of the links; a gear that is rotatably attached to the rear end surface and is rotated by meshing with the large gear when the magazine rotates; a means for disconnecting transmission of the rotation of the gear to the pot; and a same circumference on the upper surface of the sprocket. a swinging arm having a protrusion that is pivoted on the top at equal intervals at the same pitch as the link and is constantly biased so as to fit into a flange key groove of a tool stored in the pot; and an outer peripheral part of the link. 1. A mechanism for positioning tools in a magazine in an automatic tool changer, characterized in that the mechanism comprises a lever pivotably supported by the swing arm and connecting and releasing the connection/disconnection means by the operation of the swing arm.