JPS6040341B2 - How to replace tools - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a tool replacement method commonly used in automatic machine tools.

Recently, many processing facilities (FMS) have been seen in which many machining centers and the like are installed side by side and these machine tools are collectively controlled by a computer.

As with any other tool, the tools used in this equipment must be replaced when they reach the end of their lifespan, break, or when the object of machining changes. The conventional tool replacement method is to stop the 'a' machine tool and manually replace the tools in the tool magazine.

'b} Make the tool magazine of the machine tool replaceable and replace the tools together with the magazine.

{c} Exchange tools between the machine tool tool magazine and another sub-magazine.

However, in the case of {a} above, the operating rate is low because it is necessary to stop the machine and replace tools, and the disadvantage is that unmanned operation is not possible because it requires human labor. There is.

In addition, in the case of legs, common tools and specialized tools are used depending on the process and target of the workpiece in general machining, but when storing them in one tool magazine, the replacement method of replacing the whole magazine is It is necessary to have a shared tool for each magazine, which is uneconomical, and requires equipment other than normal tool changing equipment, such as a loading machine to transport the magazine and load it onto the machine tool, as well as a counterfeiting and clamping device. It has the disadvantages of being expensive and requiring a large amount of space.

Furthermore, in the case of 'C', it is necessary to carry the sub-magazine, a loading device for the tool magazine of the machine tool, etc., which is expensive and takes up a lot of space as in the case of [b] above. There are drawbacks. The present invention involves attaching a replacement tool gripper to the main shaft of a machine tool, gripping a tool installed in the replacement tool magazine in an orientation different from the main shaft direction with the replacement tool gripper and removing it from the replacement magazine, and changing the orientation of the upper replacement tool gripper. After changing the posture of the tool gripped by the replacement tool gripper to the device, the attitude of the tool is changed toward the spindle direction by the operation of the posture conversion device, and the tool is gripped by the spindle and removed from the replacement tool gripper. The above conventional problems are solved by replacing the above tools between the tool magazine and the above spindle, and the drum chain engine (
We have created a tool replacement method that does not require large loading devices or drive devices like the magazine changer 5, and also makes tool replacement easier by simply adding a layer to an existing machine tool. The purpose is to provide.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 shows the related configuration of machine tool B and these related equipment. Machine tool B is equipped with a normal dedicated magazine 1 and a tool changer 2, and the tool changer 2 transfers one tool 3 from the dedicated tool magazine 1. The tool 3 can be taken out and mounted on the main spindle 4, and the tool 3 can be taken out from the main spindle 4 and returned to the dedicated tool magazine 1.

The table base 0' that supports the rotary table C of the machine tool B mentioned above is the attitude changing device A, which will be described in detail later.
Further, an auto pallet changer D is disposed in front of the rotary table C, and the work pallet F or tool pallet G carried by the automatic guided vehicle E is transferred to the rotary table C through the auto pallet changer D. It is now possible to send it upwards. Note that the machine tools B, automatic pallet changer D, and the like other than the posture changing device A mentioned above are well-known. Figures 2 to 5 show an example of the posture changing device A used when carrying out the present invention, and in these figures, 5a is fixed to the side of the table base 10 at a position away from the rotary table C. The support 5 of the temporary storage station is a vertical shaft supported by a support 5a and provided perpendicular to the upper surface of the tabletop base 10. This vertical ball 5 has a pinion 9 formed in its center.
is engaged with a rack 8 formed on a piston 7 of a hydraulic cylinder device 6 constituting a first rotation device provided on the support body 5a, and is configured to rotate in the circumferential direction as the piston 7 moves. A bracket 11 is fixed to the upper end of the vertical shaft 5, and a forehead oblique shaft 12 is rotatably provided on the bracket 11 with the forehead tilted at 45 degrees in all directions within a vertical plane. A pinion 19 formed on the oblique shaft 12 is engaged with a rack 18 formed on a piston 17 of a hydraulic cylinder 16 that constitutes a second rotating device provided on the bracket 11, and the movement of the piston 17 causes the pinion 19 to rotate. 12 rotates in the circumferential direction. In addition, since the two rotating devices 6 and 16 that rotate the vertical shaft 5 and the oblique shaft 12 in the circumferential direction have the same structure, the reference numeral of the second rotating device 16 is also shown in FIG. Although omitted, the types and sizes of the rotating devices 6 and 16 are arbitrary. The upper end of the inclined hammer 12 has an inverted T.
A fixing member 14 having a locking member 14a in which a letter-shaped iron-filled groove 13 is formed is attached, and a fixing cylinder 15 is attached to this fixing part village 14 so that a fixing piston 20 can freely move in and out of the iron-filled groove 13. The replacement tool gripper 22 can be fixed to the fixed member 14 by pressing the iron protrusion 21 provided on the replacement tool gripper 22 which is arranged and drilled into the formation groove 13 from the fixed piston 201. It looks like this.

The replacement tool gripper 22 has a frame 2 bent at a right angle.
A shank shaft 23 held by the main shaft 4 at one end of 2a
It also has a grip part 24 such as a well-known spring clamp at the end of the tool for gripping the grooved flange part 3a of the replacement tool 3. The shank shaft 23 has a tapered shaft portion 23 a that matches the tapered hole of the main shaft 4 and a grooved flange 23 b that is gripped by a gripper such as the tool changer 2 . It has a keyway that competes with the key. Further, the gripping portion 24 includes claws 2 that grip the grooved flange portion 3a of the replacement tool 3, as shown in FIG.
A pair of grippers 24b, 24b having grippers 4a at their tips and rotatably supported on the frame 22a;
a spring 24c which urges the claws 24a toward the closing side; a gripper 24b which is located between the grippers 24b and fixed to the frame 22a and which biases the claws 24a toward the closing side;
While regulating the rotation of the gripper 24b,
The locking portion 24e has a locking key 24d that fits into a keyway of the flange portion of the tool 3 held by the tool 24b. Further, the gripping portion 24 is placed on the marking line ○ of the inclined shaft 12 that intersects the marking line X of the shank shaft 23 at an angle of 45 degrees, and the axis Y of the tool 3 is aligned with the
The tool 3 is gripped perpendicularly to the tool 3. In addition, although the shank ball 23 and the tool 3 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the rut line 0 in the above, they do not necessarily have to be arranged symmetrically, and the shank axis 23 is arranged in one or two perpendicular planes.
and the tool 3 may be configured so that when one is horizontal, the other is vertical. Reference numeral 25 denotes a replacement tool magazine that is fixed on the tool pallet G and is transported, and a plurality of tool pots 26 arranged at appropriate intervals along the outer periphery of the drum 25a are used to store replacement tools. The tool 3 is removably mounted with its marking line perpendicular (perpendicular to the marking line of the main shaft 4).

27 is a stopper that is fixed to the fixed member 14 and stops the replacement tool gripper 22, which is iron plated in the insertion groove 13 of the locking tool 14a, at a predetermined position; 28 is the fixed piston 2;
The head of the rod 20a, which is fixed to the rear end of the fixed piston 20 and exposed to the outside of the fixed member 14, is sandwiched between the fixed member 14 and the head of the rod 20a by a zero return spring.

29, 3, the bracket 11, the inclined shaft 12, and the fixing member 14 are oil holes for supplying pressure oil to the fixing cylinder 15.

Next, the present invention will be explained step by step starting from transporting the tool.

Tool 3 prepared at the tool station is on tool pallet G
It is held in each tool pot 26 of a predetermined replacement tool magazine 25 placed on the .

The control unit that controls machine tools, etc., uses the tool pallet No. (Replacement tool magazine location.), the tools in the replacement tool magazine and the tool code (the tool is assigned an absolute code) are stored. The tool pallet G with the replacement tool magazine 25 set therein waits at a pallet storage location or the like until a replacement command is received from the computer. When a replacement order is issued according to the processing schedule,
The tool pallet G with the replacement tool magazine 25 set therein is placed on an automatic guided vehicle E and transported to the automatic pallet changer D of the machine tool B, where the replacement tool magazine 25 is placed on the tool pallet G.
At the same time, it is drawn into the auto parts changer D.

When machine tool B is machining, tool pallet G waits on automatic pallet changer D until machining is completed. When machining with machine tool B is completed, tool pallet G
is transferred to the rotary table C of the machine tool B, and the centers of the spindle 4 and the tool pallet G are aligned. In addition, in parallel to the above, the used tool 3 held in the spindle 4 is transferred to the dedicated tool magazine 1 by the action of the tool changer 2. Separately from the above, the main shaft 4 from which the used tool 3 has been removed removes the replacement tool gripper 22, which is held by the fixed member 14 with the shank shaft 23 in a horizontal state, from the fixed part village 14 by grasping its shank 23. is supported. In addition, in order to support the replacement tool gripper 22 on the main shaft 4,
From the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 in which the shank shaft 23 is vertical, the tilted shaft 12 is rotated 180 degrees by the second rotating device 16 to make the shank shaft 23 horizontal, and then the shank shaft 2
3 with the main shaft 4 and releasing the hydraulic pressure acting on the fixing cylinder 15, the elastic force of the return spring 28 is applied to release the fixing of the replacement tool gripper 22 by the fixing piston 20, and the main shaft 4 is raised. Then, pull out the replacement tool gripper 22 from the formation groove 13. The main shaft 4, which holds the shank shaft 23 in its mouth and supports the replacement tool gripper 22, moves up and down and left and right to position the grip part 24 in front of the tool 3 to be replaced, which is held vertically in the tool pot 26 of the replacement tool magazine 25. , just forward (
(to the right in Fig. 2) and attaches the above-mentioned replacement tool 3 to the gripping part 24.
After grasping, the tool 3 moves upward to pull out the tool 3 from the tool pot 26 and retreat.

Next, the main shaft 4 moves in the lateral direction (in the direction perpendicular to the paper in FIG. Insert iron into the iron-in groove 13. At this time, pressure oil is supplied to the fixing cylinder 15 through the oil holes 30 and 29, and the fixing piston 20 is moved against the elasticity of the return spring 28 to fix the replacement tool gripper 22 to the fixing part village 14.
Thereafter, the main shaft 4 opens the chuck therein and releases the shank ball 23. The posture changing device A, in which the replacement tool gripper 22 is attached to the fixing member 14, is connected to the second rotating device 16.
With the action of
is rotated 180 degrees to make the replacement tool 3, which was previously held vertically by the gripping part 24, horizontal.

Once this is done, the spindle 4 moves forward, grabs the replacement tool 3, ascends, and replaces the replacement tool 3 with the tool gripper 2.
2 from the grip part 24 to get to the tool exchange position. The tool changer 2 takes out the tool to be replaced from the special tool magazine 1 and waits until the spindle 4 reaches the tool changing position, and when the spindle 4 reaches the tool changing position, it replaces the tool that was held in the spindle 41 until then. , the replacement tool 3 is removed from the main spindle 4, and the tool to be replaced is held in the main spindle 4, and then the replacement tool 3 removed from the main spindle 4 is installed in the dedicated tool magazine 1. When the main shaft 4 receives the tool to be replaced from the tool changer 2, it moves to a position directly above the gripping part 24 of the replacement tool gripper 22, descends, attaches the tool to be replaced to the gripping part 24, releases the tool, and retreats.

Next, the second rotating device 16 is activated to rotate the replacement tool gripper 22 by 180 degrees together with the tilted mirror shaft 12, vertically changing the tool 3 to be replaced from the horizontal position, and moving the shank shaft from the vertical position. 23 is leveled.The main gripper 4, which has released the tool to be replaced and retreated above, moves forward again, this time grasps the shank shaft 23, holds the replacement tool gripper 22 again, and the fixed piston 20 moves the replacement tool against the fixed member 14. After waiting for the tool gripper 22 to be released, it rises and removes the replacement tool gripper 22 from the fixing member 14.The main shaft 4 holding the replacement tool gripper 22 moves sideways and forwards, and the gripping portion 24 of the replacement tool gripper 22 moves upward. Place the replaced tool 3 mounted on the tool directly above the empty tool pot 26 of the replacement tool magazine 25, lower the tool 3, insert the replaced tool 3 into the tool pot 26, and then move back and remove the tool from the grip 24. The above completes one tool exchange, but if multiple tools are to be exchanged, the above operation will be repeated.

In this case, the rotary table C is the tool pallet G.
Rotate with the tool on it to index the next tool. The main shaft 4, which has been retreated after inserting the tool into the tool pot, finally touches the fixing member 1.
Move to position 4 and lower to replace gripper 2.
2 to the fixed part village 14 and wait for the next command.

Note that when the tool is not to be replaced, the replacement tool gripper may be fixed to the fixing member 14 as described above, but it can also be stored in the dedicated tool magazine 1.

In this case, based on the replacement operation command, after the main spindle 4 holds the replacement tool gripper 22 in its mouth and moves to the normal tool changing position, the replacement tool gripper 22 held on the main shaft 4 by the tool changer 2 moves to its grooved flange portion 23.
b is gripped, pulled out from the spindle, and stored in a special tool magazine. During machining by operating the main shaft 4 or at other times, the vertical shaft 5 is rotated by the rotating device 6.
Rotate so that the replacement tool IJ bumper 22 and bracket 11 do not get in the way. The above description shows a case where the present invention is applied to a machine tool with an automatic tool changer that uses a tool changer 2 to perform normal tool changes between the dedicated tool magazine 1 and the spindle 4. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may also be applied to a machine tool with an automatic tool changer that performs normal tool change directly between the dedicated tool magazine 1 and the spindle 4 without using the tool changer 2. Applicable.

As explained above, the present invention includes mounting a replacement tool gripper on the main shaft of a machine tool, gripping a tool mounted on the replacement tool magazine in an orientation different from the main shaft direction with the replacement tool gripper, and removing the tool from the replacement tool magazine.
After replacing the above-mentioned replacement tool gripper with a posture conversion device and converting the posture of the above-mentioned tool gripped by the replacement tool gripper in the direction of the main axis by the operation of the posture conversion device, grasp the upper tool with the main shaft and remove it from the replacement tool gripper. , the tools are exchanged between a dedicated tool magazine installed in the machine tool and the spindle, so unlike the system in which the tool magazine installed in the machine tool is replaced with another tool magazine, a large loading device is required. It does not require a drive device or a drive device, and the overall scale is small, and there is no need for a dedicated conveyance device for the tool magazine, so it can be used in common with the workpiece conveyance device.

Moreover, it is easy to implement and economical because it is only necessary to attach a simple attitude changing device to an existing machine tool.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the related structure of a machine tool and related equipment, and Figs. is a cross-sectional view,
Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing how the replacement tool gripper is fixed to the fixed part, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the fixing member, and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the fixing member.
The figure is a sectional view of the rotary hawk, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway plan view of the replacement tool gripper. B...Machine tool, 1...Special tool magazine, 3...Tool, 4...Spindle, 22...Replacement tool gripper,
25...Replacement tool magazine. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Attach the replacement tool gripper to the main shaft of the machine tool,
A tool installed in the replacement tool magazine in a different orientation from the main axis direction is gripped by the replacement tool gripper and removed from the replacement tool magazine, and the replacement tool gripper is replaced with a posture changing device to change the orientation of the tool gripped by the replacement tool gripper. A tool characterized in that, after being changed in the direction of the main axis by the operation of a posture changing device, the tool is grasped by the main axis and removed from a replacement tool gripper, and the tool is exchanged between a dedicated tool magazine provided in the machine tool and the main axis. How to replace.