TW201440930A - Vertical lathe with pick-up spindle movable along a circular path - Google Patents

Abstract

The vertical lathe (10) comprises: a base (12), a drum (14) supported by the base (12) rotatably about a vertical axis of rotation (z), at least one workpiece-carrying spindle (16) formed as an inverted vertical spindle, a plurality of tool-carrying devices (24) mounted on the base (12) so as to allow the respective tools to machine a workpiece carried by the workpiece-carrying spindle (16), and at least one machining unit (30) and at least one counter-head (26) which are mounted on the base (12). The workpiece-carrying spindle (16) is mounted on the drum (14) in such a manner that its axis of rotation (z1) is movable together with the drum (14) along a circular path having its centre on the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) and in such a manner that said workpiece-carrying spindle (16) is also movable in a vertical direction (z1). Each machining unit (30) comprises a tool-carrying turret or head (32), the axis (y) of which is oriented horizontally and is located at a distance from the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) smaller than the distance between the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) and the axis of rotation (z1) of the at least one workpiece-carrying spindle (16), and movement means (36, 38, 42, 44) designed to move the tool-carrying turret or head (32) relative to the base (12) and to the drum (14) at least along its axis (y). Each counter-head (26) comprises a clamping device (28) for clamping a workpiece to be machined, the axis (z2) of said clamping device (28) being oriented vertically and being located at a distance from the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) substantially equal to the distance between the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) and the axis of rotation (z1) of the at least one workpiece-carrying spindle (16), and motor means for rotationally driving the clamping device (28) about its axis (z2).

Description

Vertical lathe with pick-up shaft that can be moved along the graphical path

The present invention is directed to a vertical lathe that includes at least one workpiece carrying shaft that is formed as an inverted shaft (typically known as a pick-up shaft). More particularly, the present invention relates to a vertical lathe of the type described above, further comprising a base and a drum supported by the base for rotating about a vertical axis of rotation, wherein each workpiece carries a shafting system Fixed to the drum, such that its shaft can be moved along the circular path with the drum, the circular path having its center above the vertical axis of rotation of the drum, as claimed in the independent patent application Indicated in the preceding paragraph of item 1.

The above-mentioned vertical lathe is known from the international patent application No. WO2011/048483. According to such a known solution, each of the workpiece carrying shafts is rotatable about its axis (and thus about one of the axes of rotation parallel to the drum) and is also fixed to the drum for It can be removed in the vertical direction (and thus in one direction parallel to its axis of rotation and the axis of rotation of the drum). Each of the workpiece carrying shafts has a separate holding device for holding a workpiece to be processed. A plurality of tool carrying devices are secured to the base and can be formed as tool carrying turrets, in particular each tool carrying turret is configured with its axis of rotation disposed in a horizontal plane (and thus vertically) In the plane of one of the drum's rotating shafts, or formed as a tool carrying head, each tool carrying head can hold a single tool. The tool carrying device is disposed substantially along a circumference along which the axis of each of the workpiece carrying shafts moves along the circumference, that is, along a circumference having a center on the axis of rotation of the drum and equal to The radius between the axis of rotation of the drum and the axis of each workpiece carrying shaft. The rotation of the workpiece carried by the workpiece carrying shaft (or by a workpiece carrying shaft) is performed by the rotational movement of the drum, and thus the axis of the shaft, about its vertical axis of rotation and the axis in the vertical direction The translational movement is given to the depth in order to control the rotation operation. When the workpiece carries the shaft and the workpiece is machined, moving vertically downward or upward relative to the tool, it is also moved along a circular path having its center on the axis of rotation of the drum for the workpiece to contact the tool and Process it to the desired shape. The rotational movement of the workpiece carrying shaft about the axis of rotation of the drum thus replaces the translational movement along the X-axis of the conventional lathe. The tool carried by the tool carrying device can be a tool or a rotating tool that is equally well fixed, so that in addition to the rotation, the lathe can perform the machining operation.

One of the main advantages of such a form of vertical lathe is that a larger amount of space is available for the tool, which allows a larger number of tools to be fixed and thus a greater degree of flexibility than conventional vertical lathes. That is, a greater ability to perform different operations is to be obtained. Another advantage of such a form of vertical lathe is that it is less of a problem caused by heat drift, i.e., the reduction in variation in temperature is above the accuracy of the machining operation being performed.

The present invention basically employs the features detailed below in order to solve the above problems.

It is an object of the present invention to improve a vertical lathe of the above form, and in particular to increase its productivity and flexibility.

This object is achieved in accordance with the present invention by a vertical lathe having the features defined in the characterizing portion of claim 1 of the patent application.

Advantageous embodiments of the present invention form the subject matter of the independent patent application, the content of which is to be understood as forming an integral and complementary part of the description.

In summary, the present invention is based on the concept of providing a vertical lathe of this form, which is specified in the preamble of claim 1 having at least one processing unit and at least one counter head, which is fixed to the Above the base, wherein the machining unit comprises a tool carrying turntable or head, the shaft system is horizontally positioned and is located at a distance from the rotating shaft of the drum that is less than a radius of the circumference, the at least one workpiece carrying The shafting moves along the circumference, and the plurality of moving appliances are designed to move the tool carrying turret or head relative to the base and move the tool carrying turret or head to the drum at least along the axis thereof, and Wherein the counter head includes a clamping device for holding a workpiece to be processed, the shafting of the clamping device being vertically positioned and being located at a distance from the rotating shaft of the drum equal to the circumference A radius along which the at least one workpiece carrying shaft is moved and a motor assembly for rotating the clamping device about its axis.

Due to the existence of the processing unit and the counter head, the vertical lathe according to the present invention can be operated by the processing unit or by one of the processing units to perform a processing operation on the counter head or by the counter head Above the workpiece carried by one of the workpieces, when the workpiece carrying shaft (or one of the workpiece carrying shafts) picks up a new work When the piece is to be machined and when the lathe is used to perform one or more machining operations on the new workpiece using the tools carried by the tool carrying devices attached to the base. The vertical lathe according to the present invention can therefore be used as a two-axis lathe. Furthermore, due to the presence of at least one counter-head, the vertical lathe according to the present invention is capable of performing machining operations on one side of the workpiece, using the gripping of the workpiece carrying shaft (or one of the shafts) The device is mounted on the drum and as the tool carried by the tool carrying device on the base, and on the opposite side of the workpiece, used as the counter head (or the counter The gripping device of one of the heads is mounted on the base and as such tools carried by a suitable tool carrying device secured to the drum.

The above described objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the description of the appended claims.

10‧‧‧Vertical Lathe

12‧‧‧Base

14‧‧‧ drum

16‧‧‧Workpiece carrying shaft

18, 28‧‧‧ clamping device

20‧‧‧ Slider

22, 38, 44‧‧‧ motor equipment

24‧‧‧Tool carrying device

26‧‧‧Counter

30‧‧‧Processing unit

32‧‧‧Tools carrying turntables or heads

34‧‧‧Support structure

36‧‧‧ horizontal slider

40‧‧‧ Tools

42‧‧‧ vertical slider

46‧‧‧Rolling knives

C‧‧‧Circle

Z, z1, z2‧‧‧ rotating axis

y, z3‧‧‧ axis

1 and 2 are a partial cross-sectional side view and a top plan view, respectively, showing a vertical lathe according to an embodiment of the present invention in a schematic form, wherein the vertical lathe includes a tool carrying turntable A biaxial machining unit; and FIGS. 3 and 4 are a partial cross-sectional side view and a top plan view, respectively, showing a vertical lathe according to another embodiment of the present invention in a schematic form, wherein The vertical lathe includes a two-axis machining unit with a hob carrying head.

Referring to the drawings, it is shown that a vertical lathe according to the present invention is designated as 10. Vertical lathe 10 (refer to the next, for the sake of simplicity, only as a car The bed) includes a base 12, a drum 14 supported by the base 12 for rotating about a vertical axis z, and a motor assembly (not shown in the drawings, due to known forms and without regard to the purpose of the invention) ) for driving the drum 14 to rotate about the axis of rotation z. The drum 14 has a workpiece carrying shaft 16 formed as an inverted shaft or pick-up shaft, i.e., having its axis of rotation (z1) positioned vertically and having its holding device (18) guided downwardly. In the two embodiments shown in the drawings, the vertical lathe 10 has a single workpiece carrying shaft 16, but can have a plurality of workpiece carrying shafts, preferably configured at equally spaced angles and with individual The rotation axis z1 is disposed at the same distance from the rotation axis z of the drum 14. Due to the rotation of the drum 14 about the axis of rotation z, the workpiece carrying shaft 16 also rotates about this axis, and thus its axis of rotation z1, together with the drum 14, moves rigidly along a circular path with its center located The latter is above the axis of rotation z and a radius equal to the distance between the axis of rotation z and the axis of rotation z1. The workpiece carrying shaft 16 is also fixed to the drum 14 by a slider 20 so as to be removed in the vertical direction. The workpiece carrying shaft 16 further has a motor assembly 22 (shown only schematically in Figures 1 and 3) for rotatably driving the clamping device 18 for defining the cutting speed. A motor device (not shown) for controlling the displacement of the slider 20, and the workpiece carrying shaft 16, in the vertical direction, are coupled to the slider.

As shown in Figures 2 and 4, a plurality of tool carrying devices 24 are mounted on the base 12 and can be shaped as rotating tool carrying turrets, in particular each configured with its axis of rotation In a horizontal plane (and thus in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the drum), or as a tool carrying head capable of holding a single tool. The tool carrying device 24 is disposed substantially perpendicularly along a circumference (labeled C in FIGS. 2 and 4) and aligned to the workpiece The circumference along which the rotating shaft z1 of the carrying shaft 16 moves is moved. The rotation of the workpiece carried by the workpiece carrying shaft 16 is performed by the rotational movement of the drum 14, and thus the axis of rotation z1 of the shaft is moved in the vertical direction about its axis of rotation z and the transfer of the axis In order to control the feed and depth of the rotary operation. When the workpiece carrying shaft 16 and the workpiece being machined are moved vertically downward or upward relative to the tool, it also moves along a circular path having its center above the axis of rotation z of the drum 14 and the radius The phase is equal to the distance between the axis of rotation z and the axis of rotation z1 in order to bring the workpiece into contact with the tool and to machine it to the desired shape. The rotational movement of the workpiece carrying shaft 16 about the axis of rotation z of the drum 14 thus replaces the transfer movement along the X-axis of a conventional lathe. The tool carried by the tool carrying device 24 can be an equally well-fixed tool or a rotary tool, so that the vertical lathe 10 can perform machining operations in addition to rotation.

The vertical lathe 10 also includes a counter head 26 secured to the base 12 for carrying the workpiece to be machined and allowing it to be processed, carried by a tool carrying device (not shown) that is secured to the drum 14. Tool (not shown). In the two embodiments shown in the drawings, the vertical lathe 10 has a single counter head 26, but can also have a greater number of counter heads 26. The counter head 26 has a gripping device 28 for gripping one of the workpieces to be machined. The axis of rotation z2 of the gripping device 28 is vertically positioned, as shown in Figures 2 and 4, and is located at a distance from the axis of rotation z of the drum 14, equal to the movement of the workpiece carrying shaft 16 The radius of the circumference, that is, the distance between the axis of rotation z of the drum 14 and the axis of rotation z1 of the workpiece carrying shaft 16. The counter head 26 further includes a motor assembly (not shown) for urging the gripping device 28 to rotate about its axis of rotation z2. Due to the counter head 26, the vertical lathe 10 is capable of performing machining operations on one side of the workpiece, by clamping the clamping device 18 with the workpiece carrying the shaft 16. The workpiece is held, and on the opposite side of the workpiece, the workpiece is clamped by the clamping device 28 with the counter head 26.

The vertical lathe 10 also includes a processing unit 30 that is secured to the base 12. In the two embodiments shown in the drawings, the vertical lathe 10 has a single processing unit 30, but can also have a greater number of processing units 30. The machining unit 30 includes a tool carrying turret or head 32 having a shaft (y) that is horizontally positioned and located at a distance from the axis of rotation z of the drum 14 that is less than the circumference along which the workpiece carrying shaft 16 moves. The radius, that is, is less than the distance between the axis of rotation z of the drum 14 and the axis of rotation z1 of the workpiece carrying shaft 16. The tool carrying turret or head 32 is supported by a support structure 34 that is secured over a horizontal slider 36 for displacement in the direction of the axis y. The horizontal slider 36 has a motor fixture 38. The motor assembly 38 is designed to control the displacement of the horizontal slider 36 and the displacement of the assembly formed by the support structure 34 and the tool carrying turret or head 32, along the direction of the axis y relative to the base 12.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the tool carrying turret or head 32 is formed as a rotary turret that is rotatably supported about its axis y and carries a plurality of tools 40. Moreover, in the present embodiment, the tool carrying turret or head 32 is secured to the support structure 34 by a vertical slider 42 for displacement in a vertical direction (axis z3). The vertical slider 42 has a motor assembly 44 for controlling the translational movement of the vertical slider 42 and the tool carrying turret or head 32, along the direction of the axis z3 relative to the base 12. Alternatively, the tool carrying turret or head 32 can be vertically fixed and thus have a single degree of horizontal displacement freedom along one of the directions of the axis y.

In the embodiments shown in Figures 3 and 4, the tool carries the transfer The table or head 32 carries a hobbing cutter 46 whereby the vertical lathe 10 is capable of forming teeth on the workpiece carried by the workpiece carrying shaft 16 and on the workpiece carried by the counter head 26. on. In this case, as in the embodiments shown in Figures 1 and 2, the tool carrying turret or head 32 is secured to the support structure 34 by a vertical slider 42 for vertical sliding Block 42 is operated by motor unit 44 for movement in the direction of axis z3.

As mentioned in the introductory part of the description, the vertical lathe according to the invention can be used as a two-axis lathe due to the presence of the machining unit and the counter head, that is, two workpieces can be machined simultaneously. After the tool carried by the tool carrying device is machined on its bottom side, the machined workpiece can be transferred from the clamping device of the workpiece carrying shaft to the clamping device of the reverse head. When the workpiece is machined using a tool that is fixed to the drum and/or the processing unit, the drum can pick up a new workpiece, clamp it by the gripping device of the tool carrying device, and utilize the tool carrying device. The loaded tool performs machining operations on this workpiece.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in its preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and those skilled in the art can make some modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

10‧‧‧Vertical Lathe

12‧‧‧Base

14‧‧‧ drum

16‧‧‧Workpiece carrying shaft

18, 28‧‧‧ clamping device

20‧‧‧ Slider

22, 38, 44‧‧‧ motor equipment

26‧‧‧Counter

30‧‧‧Processing unit

32‧‧‧Tools carrying turntables or heads

34‧‧‧Support structure

36‧‧‧ horizontal slider

40‧‧‧ Tools

42‧‧‧ vertical slider

Z, z1, z2‧‧‧ rotating axis

y, z3‧‧‧ axis

Claims (4)

A vertical lathe (10) comprising: a base (12); a drum (14) supported by the base (12) and vertically positioned about a rotating shaft (z) in rotation; at least one workpiece The carrying shaft (16) is formed as an inverted shaft, wherein the at least one workpiece carrying shaft (16) is fixed on the drum (14) such that its rotating shaft (z1) can The drum (14) moves along a circular path having a center located above the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) such that the at least one workpiece carrying shaft (16) is also Moving along a vertical direction (z1); and a plurality of tool carrying devices (24) secured to the base (12) to allow individual tools to be machined by the at least one workpiece (16) Carrying a workpiece, characterized in that it further comprises at least one processing unit (30) fixed to the base (12) and at least one counter head (26), wherein each processing unit (30) comprises A tool carries a turret or head (32) whose axis (y) is positioned horizontally and is located at a distance from one of the axes of rotation (z) of the drum (14) less than at the drum (14) Rotating axis (z) with the at least The distance between the rotating shaft (z1) of a workpiece carrying shaft (16), and a plurality of moving appliances (36, 38, 42, 44) are designed to move the tool carrying turntable relative to the base (12) Or the head (32) and moving the tool carrying turntable or head (32) to the drum (14) at least along its axis (y), and wherein each counter head (26) includes a clamping device ( 28) for holding a workpiece to be processed, the clamping device The axis (z2) of the set (28) is vertically positioned and is located at a distance from the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) substantially equal to the axis of rotation (z) of the drum (14) and the At least one workpiece carries the distance between the axis of rotation (z1) of the shaft (16) and a motor assembly for rotating the clamping device (28) about its axis (z2). The vertical lathe according to claim 1, wherein the moving device (36, 38, 42, 44) is designed to move the tool carrying turntable or head (32) relative to the base (12) And moving the tool carrying turret or head (32) to the drum (14) also in a vertical direction (z3). A vertical lathe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tool carrying turntable or head (32) is formed as a rotary turntable, and the rotary turntable is rotated about its axis ( y) is supported and carries a number of tools (40). A vertical lathe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tool carrying turret or head (32) carries a hobbing cutter (46) by means of the hobbing cutter (46) The lathe is capable of forming a plurality of teeth on a plurality of workpieces carried by the at least one workpiece carrying shaft (16) and carried by the clamping device (28) of the at least one counter head (26) Above multiple workpieces.