JPS64176B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for exchanging tools by applying reciprocating motion and rotational motion to an exchange arm that grips tools at both ends that are supplied to the main spindle from a tool magazine and tools that are returned from the main spindle to the tool magazine. The present invention relates to an automatic tool changer configured to operate.

Automatic tool changers of the above type are well known in the art.

By the way, a conventional automatic tool changer is provided with a cylinder device that reciprocates an exchange arm to attach and remove a tool, and a cylinder device that rotates an exchange arm to exchange old and new tools. Tools are exchanged by alternately operating two cylinder devices.

In this structure, two cylinder devices are required, and these two cylinder devices must be operated alternately, which complicates operation control, limits speedup, and takes a long time to change tools. When this happened, a problem occurred.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and its basic purpose is to provide an automatic tool changer that can cause an exchange arm to perform a tool exchange operation using a single cylinder device. The purpose is to

For this purpose, in the present invention, a single tool exchange cylinder is provided, an exchange arm is integrally attached to the piston rod of the cylinder, and a grooved cam and a guide body that follow this are provided between the cylinder and the piston rod. In addition, a route selector is provided to select the route for the grooved cam of the guide so that the exchange arm can perform tool extraction, rotation, and tool insertion operations. The basic feature is that the tool exchange operation can be completed during the process.

That is, in the present invention, there are two front and back cams formed in a direction parallel to the axis with a phase of 180 degrees in the circumferential direction, which guides when the tool is removed or inserted from the holding part at the exchange position. The grooved cam is constituted by a groove and a swing cam groove that connects the rear end of one front and rear cam groove and the middle of the other front and rear cam groove with a lead angle in the circumferential direction. It is arranged at the intersection of the swing cam grooves, and is always biased by the biasing means so that the middle of the front and rear cam grooves and the swing cam groove are continuous, and the guide body moves from the swing cam groove to the rear end of the front and rear cam grooves. The route selector is configured so that when the user wants to position the guide body in one of the front and rear cam grooves, the route selector is engaged with the guide body against the biasing means and connects the rear part of the front and rear cam grooves with the swing cam groove. Make the replacement arm perform a removal operation with a stroke that guides it from the front end toward the rear end, then use the route selector to guide the guide body to the swing cam groove to swing the replacement arm, and then remove the other arm from the swing cam groove. By switching the route selector with a guide body that moves relative to the rear end of the front and rear cam grooves, and using a stroke to relatively guide the guide body from the rear end of the other front and rear cam groove to the front end side, the tool is inserted into the exchange arm. This is what I did.

Note that the grooved cam may be provided on either the cylinder side or the piston rod side. For example, when the grooved cam is provided on the piston rod side, a guide body may be provided on the cylinder side.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained based on the illustrated embodiments.

In the automatic machine tool shown in Fig. 1, 1 is a main shaft equipped with a chuck 2, 3 is a main shaft head supported by a column 7a so as to be able to move up and down in the vertical direction, and 5 is a turntable 4 supported on the upper surface and parallel to the drawing. The X-direction moving table 6, which is moved in the X direction, guides the X-direction moving table 5 in the This is a Y-direction movable table that moves in the Y direction.

On the other hand, 9 is the tool magazine, 10 is the carrier,
As is well known, the tool magazine 9 holds the shank portions of individual tools 11 inserted into the cartridge 12 and held in each holding portion 13, and when the next tool 11 to be replaced is specified, the tool The magazine 9 is accordingly rotated through the required angle, the carrier 10 takes out the designated tool 11 and holds the removed tool 11 in the exchange position Q by a pivoting movement about the vertical axis.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an exchange arm for exchanging the tool 11 to be exchanged held on the carrier 10 and the tool (not specifically shown) held on the chuck 2 of the used spindle 1; The center part is supported so as to be pivotable and reciprocating in the front and rear directions, and both ends are provided with lock parts 15 and 15' that can lock and hold the tool 11.

Next, a drive mechanism for causing the exchange arm 14 to perform the exchange operation will be explained with reference to FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, inside the device fixing part 16,
A relatively thick base 17a of the cylinder 17 is supported by a pair of bearings 18 and 19.

The base 17a of the cylinder 17 is provided with a rack 21 that meshes with the pinion 20 between the pair of bearings 18 and 19 so that the pinion 20 can co-rotate in one direction. The mechanism locks the cylinder 17 against rotation.

At the tip of the cylinder 17 that extends forward from the device fixing part 16, there is a cylindrical part 22 of a plug 22 for closing.
a is fitted and fixed, and a cylinder 17 is fitted into the cylindrical portion 22a.
The piston rod 24 extending forward from the piston 23 sliding inside is inserted, and the closing plug 22 is inserted.
A mounting disk 25 is fitted into the small diameter portion 24a at the tip of the rod protruding forward from the rod and fixed with a nut 25a.

The front end of a cylindrical grooved cam member 26 that rotatably fits on the outer periphery of the cylinder 17 is fixed to the mounting disk 25 with a bolt 27.
A bolt 2 is attached to the flange portion 26a provided at the rear end.
8 is used to fix the middle part of the exchange arm 14, thereby attaching the exchange arm 14 to the piston rod 24.
is combined with

The cylindrical grooved cam member 26 is provided with a grooved cam 29 which will be described in detail below, and inside the grooved cam 29 is a cam follower 30 which is screwed and fixed to the flange portion 22b of the closing plug 22 from the outer diameter direction. In this state, the cover cylinder 31 is fitted to the cylindrical grooved cam member 26, and the piston rod 24 is connected to the front and rear sides of the cover cylinder 31.
The grooved cam 29 is held by a cap member 32 that covers the tip thereof, and the grooved cam 29 is covered from the outside by a cover cylinder 31.

Further, a tool lock cam 34 is interposed between the intermediate portion of the exchange arm 14 connected to the cylindrical grooved cam member 26 and the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder 17, and is prevented from being removed by a retaining ring 33 bolted to the intermediate portion. ing.

Note that oil is supplied to the cylinder rear chamber 35 partitioned by the piston 23 from an oil hole 36 provided by passing through the fitting part 16a of the device fixing part 16 with the cylinder 17 in the axial direction. In the front chamber 37, an oil hole 39 is provided in the wall of the cylinder 17 along the axial direction so as to communicate with another oil hole 38 provided in the fitting portion 16a. The oil can be supplied through the

Next, the grooved cam 29 provided on the cylindrical grooved cam member 26
The route selectors 40 and 41 for selecting the route of the grooved cam 29 will be explained using the developed plan view shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the grooved cams 29 are connected to the cylindrical grooved cam member 29 at angular intervals of 180 degrees from each other in the circumferential direction.
first and second front and rear cam grooves 4 extending parallel to the axial direction of the
2, 43, a first swing cam groove 44 which is circumferentially set at a predetermined lead angle from the middle of the rear end 42a of the first front and rear cam groove 42 toward the rear end 43a of the second front and rear cam groove 43; It is constituted by a second swing cam groove 45 that is circumferentially provided at a predetermined lead angle from the middle of the rear end 43a of the second front and rear cam groove 43 toward the rear end 42a of the first front and rear cam groove 42.

More precisely than the rear end 42a of the first front and rear cam groove 42, the intersection between the first front and rear cam groove 42 and the second swing cam groove 45 and the intersection between the second front and rear cam groove 43 and the first swing cam groove 44 are provided with first and second route selectors 40 and 41, respectively.

The first and second route selectors 40 and 41 are
As shown in the figure, each pair of guide pins 4
The first and second springs 5
0,51, it is always biased downward in FIG.

The first and second route selectors 40 and 41
As shown for the route selector 40, when the cam follower 30 relatively moves from the front end 42b to the rear end 42a of the first front-rear cam groove 42, a swing cam guides the cam follower 30 halfway to the first swing cam groove 44. The cam follower 30 moves from the first pivoting cam groove 44 to the second pivoting cam groove, as shown by the curved guide surface 40a to the groove and also by the guide surface 41a for the route selector 41, and as shown for the second route selector 41. When reaching the rear end 43a of the cam follower 30, the second spring 5
The cam follower 30 is displaced against the spring force of 1.
from the rear end 43a of the second front and rear cam groove 43 to the front end 43
Similarly, the linear guide surface 41b in the front and rear cam groove direction that guides toward
0 is provided with a guide surface 40b.

In this embodiment, the cylindrical groove cam member 26 is coupled to the piston rod 24 side, while the cam follower 30
Since the cam follower 30 is connected to the cylinder 17 side, the cam follower 30 is actually fixed at a fixed position, and the cylindrical groove cam member 26 is connected to the cam follower 30.
You will be guided by.

In FIG. 3, for convenience of illustration, the cam follower 30
is shown moving. Therefore, in FIG. 3, the movement of the cam follower 30 in the first front and rear cam grooves 42 from the front and back 42b toward the rear end 42a means that the cam follower 30 moves in the cylinder rear chamber 3 in FIG.
This means that oil is supplied to the piston 5 from the oil hole 36 and the piston 23 is moved forward. When the piston 23 moves forward, the cylindrical grooved cam member 26 is moved forward via the piston rod 24 and the mounting disk 25, and the exchange arm 14 coupled to this cylindrical grooved cam member 26 moves forward.

In Fig. 2, the exchange arm 1 is shown as a virtual line showing the main shaft 1 part whose phase is actually 90 degrees different.
4 pulls out the tool 11 together with the cartridge 12 as it moves forward. Needless to say, this removal of the tool 11 is performed for both the new tool held on the carrier 10 and the old tool held on the spindle 1.

This extraction is performed while the cam follower 30 is displaced from point A to point B in FIG.
Further, when the piston 23 is moved forward, the cam follower 30 moves toward the guide surface 40 of the first route selector 40.
a from point B to point C via the first swing cam groove 44
The route is changed to , and the cam follower 30 moves in the first swing cam groove 44 . This actually means that the cylindrical grooved cam member 26 and therefore the exchange arm 1
4 and rotate the tool 180 degrees, thereby exchanging the old and new tools, positioning the new tool on the spindle 1 side and the old tool on the carrier 10 side. At the final stage of this turn, the cam follower 30 hits the guide surface 41b of the second route selector 41, resisting the spring force of the second spring 51, and moves the second route selector 41 as shown in the lower part of FIG. Push up to reach the rear end 43a (point D) of the second front and rear cam groove 43.

At this stage, the oil supply to the cylinder 17 is switched, oil is supplied to the cylinder front chamber 37 through the oil holes 38 and 39, and the piston 23
to retreat.

Regarding FIG. 3, the cam follower 30 is connected to the second front and rear cam grooves 4 by the second route selector 41.
3 toward the front and reaches the frontmost point E point 43b.

In accordance with the retraction of the piston 23, the exchange arm 14 is also retracted, and with this retraction, the exchange arm 14 sets the new tool on the spindle 1 and the old tool on the carrier 10, completing the exchange. As shown in FIG. 1, if the tool gripping part of the exchange arm 14 is opened on one side, it is necessary to align the gripping part with the tool center.
1. A pinion 20 is provided. This device is a gripping device having a pair of gripping fingers.
There is no need to provide it.

Then, when a new tool is set on the spindle 1, the automatic machine tool starts machining. Further, the carrier 10 that has received the old tool returns the old tool to the tool magazine 9, then takes out the tool to be used next and sets it in the replacement position.

When completing the work and performing the next exchange,
Second front and rear cam groove 43, second swing cam groove 45, first
Using the route of the front and rear cam grooves 42, the exchange arm 14 is moved forward to extract, rotate, and inserted and retreated.

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the entire exchange operation of the exchange arm can be performed by operating a single cylinder device, and all operations can be performed continuously. This provides the advantage of simplifying control and speeding up the exchange operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of an automatic machine tool equipped with an automatic tool changer according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an axial vertical sectional view of the tool change cylinder, and Fig. 3 is a developed plan view showing the shape of the grooved cam. , FIG. 4 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of the route selector in the direction of the X-X line in FIG. 3. 1...Spindle, 9...Tool magazine, 10...Carrier, 11...Tool, 14...Exchange arm, 1
6...Device fixing part, 17...Cylinder, 24...
Piston rod, 26... Cylindrical groove cam member, 29
...Groove cam, 30...Cam follower, 40, 44
... Route selector, 42, 43 ... Front and rear cam grooves, 44, 45 ... Swivel cam groove, 50, 51 ...
spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tool that is supplied from the tool magazine to the main spindle and a tool that is returned from the main spindle to the tool magazine are held at both ends of an exchange arm, and the exchange arm is given reciprocating motion and turning motion. An automatic tool changer that performs a tool change operation includes a tool change cylinder held on a fixed part of the device, a change arm integrally attached to a piston rod of the tool change cylinder, and an axis centered on the piston rod. A grooved cam that is integrally provided with a piston rod or cylinder for tool exchange and has a cam groove formed on its circumferential surface; a route selector that is movably supported in the circumferential direction of the grooved cam; a guide body attached to the cylinder or piston rod and fitted to the grooved cam;
Two front and rear cam grooves are formed in a direction parallel to the axis with a phase of 180°, and a lead angle is formed in the circumferential direction between the rear end of one front and rear cam groove and the middle of the other front and rear cam groove. The route selector is arranged at the intersection of the front and rear cam grooves and the swing cam groove, and is configured by a biasing means so that the middle of the front and rear cam grooves and the swing cam groove are continuous at all times. While being biased, when the guide body attempts to move from the swing cam groove to the rear end of the front and rear cam grooves, it is stopped by the guide body against the biasing means and moves between the rear part of the front and rear cam grooves and the swing cam groove. An automatic tool changer configured to continuously