WO1990005043A1

WO1990005043A1 - Linear motion apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1990005043A1
Application number: PCT/AU1989/000473
Authority: WO
Inventors: Keith Yarker
Original assignee: Keith Yarker
Priority date: 1988-11-04
Filing date: 1989-11-06
Publication date: 1990-05-17

Abstract

A linear motion apparatus (10) includes an elongate rectangular supporting shaft (13) and a carriage (16) slidable along the supporting shaft (13). The carriage includes opposed roller bearings (26) which are arranged at opposite sides of the supporting shaft and are in contact with the respective surfaces of the supporting shaft (13). The roller bearings are carried by the carriage (16) about the rectangular supporting shaft (13).

Description

J

"LINEAR MOTION APPARATUS"

This invention relates to linear motion apparatus whic is particularly suited for mounting tools and the like and tool mounting apparatus.

Linear motion machines are used in many applications such as for guiding saws, drills and routers to perform straight-line machining operations. Typically, such machine are made either in a very rudimentary form in which low accuracy of movement is achieved or in a sophisticated form using machined slides and the like in which high accuracy of movement is achieved. The latter types of machines are ofte expensive and cumbersome.

This invention aims to alleviate the above disadvantage and to provide linear motion apparatus which will be reliabl and efficient in use. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in linear motion apparatus including:- an elongate supporting shaft; a carriage slidable along said supporting shaft and including opposed carriage portions arranged at opposite sides of said supporting shaft and having respective shaft contacting members which engage respective longitudinal face portions of the supporting shaft, and connector means for connecting the opposed carriage portions to one another about said supporting shaft. In the preferred form the supporting shaft is a polygonal shaft and said contacting members are constituted by rollers which roll along said longitudinal face portions and which are preferably arranged in opposed pairs on the respective carriage portions. Of course, if desired one carriage portion could support a single contacting member fo maintaining the opposite carriage portion in its operative position and the other carriage portion could include sufficient contact members for maintaining lateral and elongate stability with respect to the supporting shaft.

In the preferred form each carriage portion supports a pair of rollers at each end for rotation about respective axis whereby opposed ones of each pair of rollers engage adjacent faces of a polygonal supporting shaft. It is also preferred that the connector means for connecting the carriage portions together includes opposed tension members located intermediate the respective pairs of rollers and able to be selectively tensioned to apply balanced engagement forces between the rollers and the supporting shaft. Suitably the tension members are in the form of bolts arranged at opposite sides of the supporting shaft and adapted to be tightened to draw the carriage portions together about the supporting shaft.

It is also preferred that the linear motion apparatus be in the form of a metal fabrication in which the supporting shaft is a rectangular hollow section and the carriage portions are plate-like mounting members provided with brackets for supporting roller or ball bearing rollers with their axes parallel to their respective engagement faces of the shaft. Suitably the brackets are formed by welding angle members to the mounting members in spaced parallel relationship and the roller bearings are secured to the respective outermost faces of the spaced angle members.

In a further aspect this invention resides broadly in a radial arm type mounting assembly including a mounting post or shaft and a radial arm or shaft connected to said mounting post by a carriage which combines with the mounting post to form a linear motion apparatus of the type described above and there being provided a further carriage assembly on said radial arm which combines with the latter to form a further linear motion apparatus of the type described above.

Preferably the radial arm is connected to the respective carriage assembly such that it may be pivoted about and selectively locked in any angular position with respect to its longitudinal axis. It is also preferred that height adjustment means are provided for supporting the radial arm at selected position along the mounting post and that the further carriage assembly on the radial arm be adapted to support machining apparatus and the like for selective pivotal movement about an axis transverse to the radial arm and the mounting post.

Preferably the mounting post extends upwardly from a table assembly having a platen which is pivotable about an axis disposed parallel to the axis of the mounting post and positioned in line with the machining head or bit of the machining apparatus. Preferably the pivot axis passes through a fence extending along one side of the platen. It is also preferred that there be provided locking means for locking the platen in a pivotally adjusted position.

In order that this invention may more readily understo and put into practical effect, reference will now be made t the accompanying drawings which illustrate typical embodiments of the present invention and wherein:-

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of the inventio adapted for supporting a router;

FIG. 3 illustrates the components of the carriage assemblies for the mounting post and the radial arm; FIG. 4 is a front view of a tool mounting.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the tool mounting.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an adaptor for mounting a router to the tool mounting, and;

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate in side and plan views an adaptor for mounting a drill to the tool mounting.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 it will be seen that there i illustrated a radial arm supporting assembly 10 adapted for supporting a router 11 (illustrated in Fig. 2) whereby the router 11 may be manipulated to perform selected operations. The radial arm supporting assembly 10 includes a mounting post 13 formed of rectangular hollow section material and mounted in a socket welded to a supporting base assembly 14 so as to extend at right angles to the lower surface. This arrangement enables the mounting post 13 to be released from the base 14 for storage or transport.

A radial arm 15 formed of rectangular hollow section material is supported on the mounting post 13 by a carriage assembly 16 which is connected to the mounting post 13 by a height adjusting mechanism 18. The latter comprises a threaded shaft 19 supported for rotation only on the post 13 and engageable with a complementary threaded portion 17 on the carriage assembly 16. A hand wheel 20 is provided to rotate the shaft 19.

As shown in Fig. 3 the carriage assembly 16 comprises a pair of opposed mounting plates 22 on each of which are secured two elongate angle members 23 in spaced parallel relationship whereby their inner faces extend at right angles to one another and substantially parallel to the adjacent side faces of the mounting posts 13. The outermost faces 25 of the angle brackets 23 extend at right angles^' to the adjacent faces of the mounting posts 13 and support respective rollers in the form of roller bearings 26 at each end thereof.

The roller bearings 26 are supported by axles 27 which are constituted by bolts which project at right angles from the outermost side faces 25 of the angle brackets 23 so that the roller bearings 26 are supported with their outer faces parallel to the adjacent faces of the mounting post 13. The plates 22 are apertured so that four retaining bolts can pas therethrough to clamp the carriage assembly 16 about the mounting post 13. In this respect the tension. of the bolts may be selectively adjusted so as to maintain the desired contact pressure between the roller bearings 26 and the supporting post 13. An apertured flange 28 extends from one side of one mounting plate 22 to support a stud 28 which projects from the inner end of the radial arm 15. This connection permit the radial arm 15 to be supported by the flange for rotatio about its longitudinal axis. The stud 28 is threaded so th a nut may be mounted thereon and tightened to lock the radi arm 15 in any selected rotational position about its longitudinal axis.

A further two-part carriage assembly 30 is supported o the radial arm 15. This carriage assembly 30 is similar to the carriage assembly 16, however it utilises a single pair of bolts 31 passing between the mounting plates 32 intermediate the bearings to secure the carriage assembly 30 to the radial arm 15. Adjustment of the bolts 31 will effe a balanced engagement force between the rollers 33 and the adjacent side faces of the arm 15. A central aperture 34 is formed through one mounting plate 32 so that a turntable 35 (illustrated in Fig. 1) can be adjustabiy bolted thereto for rotation about its mounting bolt.

Suitable mounting apparatus, such as the router mountin assembly 40 as illustrated in Fig. 6, may be connected to th turntable 35 to support the appropriate tool with its machining bit either vertically disposed or disposed at any selected angle relative to the supporting base assembly 14. This is achieved by pivoting the tool mounting 40 or 50 with the turntable 35 and or the radial arm about its pinned connection to the mounting flange 28.

The supporting base assembly 14 includes a fenced plate 41 disposed at right angles to the mounting post 13 and pivotable about a supporting pin 42 offset from the post 13 and extending through the fence 43 at a position in alignmen with the tool bit of the supported tool, which in this embodiment is the router 11. This arrangement enables the platen to be pivoted to move the workpiece relative to the radial arm while at the same time maintaining the fence at a position at which it will be engaged centrally by the tool bit irrespective of the positioning of the platen 60. Thus in use the fence will not be machined at various positions along its length and will thus maintain its structural rigidity and ability to guide workpieces and the like. The router mounting assembly 40 includes an apertured turntable mount 51 which is adapted to be securely bolted to the turntable or direct to carriage assembly 30 and locked thereto at any desired angular rotational position. The turntable mount 51 is provided with a pair of spaced parallel passages 52 which slidably receive guide bars 54. The latter extend from an upper headpiece 55 to a lower replaceable mounting yoke 56 which is formed in two pieces and is adapted to be clamped about the lower ends of the guide bars 54 by through bolting as illustrated. The mounting yoke 56 may be a mounting for a router, as shown in FIGS. 4,5 and 6, or it may be a mounting yoke for a drill as shown in FIGS 7 and 8. In the latter case the mounting yoke is provided with a split clamp portion 57 which clamps about the neck of a drill and in the former case the mounting yoke is provided with a pair of upstanding pins 58 which are received in sockets provided in the router.

A hand operated linkage assembly is provided to reciprocate the mounting yoke 50/56 and associated guide bars

54 through the turntable mounting 51. The linkage assembly includes a hand lever 60 pivotally connected to the headpiec

55 and to an upper pivot mounting 63 at. the upper end 61 of an actuating link 59 which is pivotally connected at its lower end 62 to the turntable mounting 51. The upper pivot mounting 63 is in the form of a split mounting threadedly engaged with the lower end of the lever 60 and neatly accommodated about a pin 64 fixed to the upper end of the link 59.

The split mounting 63 is adapted to be tightened to clamp about the pin 64 by rotation of the hand lever 60 abou its longitudinal axis. For this purpose the hand lever 60 i rotatably received in the pivot mounting 65 and circlips 66 are located at opposite sides of the pivot mounting 65 to retain the hand lever 60 in its operative position.

The lower end of the hand lever has a reduced diameter end portion 67 which is threaded to engage with the split mounting 63. The collar 68 formed above the threaded end portion 67 engages with a complimentary collar formed internally of the split mounting 63 such that rotation of th hand lever 60 will urge the spaced parts of the split mounting 63 towards one another and clamp the latter about the pin 64. In this position the hand lever 60 cannot be pivoted and the mounting yoke 56 is disposed in fixed relationship to the turntable mounting 51.

An adjustable stop 70 is provided on one guide bar 54 such that it may be moved to an adjusted position to limit the movement of the mounting yoke 56 away from the turntable mounting 51 and thus it may be set to control the depth of cut of the tool supported by the mounting 50.

From the above it will be seen that a radial arm mounting assembly for a machine tool utilises linear motion apparatus which may be fabricated from inexpensive materials while maintaining accuracy of operation. Of course if desired components of the apparatus may be cast or fabricate in a different manner to that described such as by utilising pressed metal members in lieu of the fabricated members illustrated. Furthermore, if desired the platen could be a fixed platen and the supporting posts could be mounted on a suitable bearing to enable it to pivot about its longitudinal axis. Additionally, angular position indicators may be provided on the various arms and posts so as to provide and indication of a zero reference point or an angular adjustment from the reference point. The posts and arms could be formed from triangular or polygonal members having faces disposed at greater than 90 degrees to one another. In such installations the rollers may engage only selected ones of the faces of the post or arm and sufficient to maintain stability between the carriages and their mounting posts or arms.

The supporting assembly 10 may be used as a copying machine, either for copying two or three dimensional articles. For this purpose the carriage assemblies 16 may b adjusted for free movement along their supporting shafts and the radial arm 15 may be counter-balanced such as by a weigh suspended within the mounting post by a cable passing about pulley at the top of the, mounting post and to the carriage. A suitable follower means may be associated with the radial arm, either directly or indirectly as desired. Of course th tool mounting can be of any desired form and adapted for mounting any suitable tool. In a further embodiment of the invention the radial arm is provided with a split clamp at one end with is pivotable about the axis of the radial arm and adapted to clamp to a column such as the column- of a drill press. Thus the invention may be utilized to modify a drill press to accept radial arm drill and/or a radial arm, saw or router or the like.

It will of course be realised that the above has been given only by way of illustrative example of the invention and that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed t fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as is defined in the appended claims.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THIS INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS;-

1. Linear motion apparatus including:- an elongate supporting shaft; a carriage slidable along said supporting shaft and including opposed carriage portions arranged at opposite sides of said supporting shaft and having respective shaft contacting members which engage respective longitudinal face portions of the supporting shaft, and connector means for connecting the opposed carriage portions to one another about said supporting shaft.

2. Linear motion apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact members are constituted by rollers.

3. Linear motion apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said supporting shaft is polygonal and said rollers are arranged in opposed longitudinally spaced pairs on the respective carriage portions.

4. Linear motion apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said connector means includes tension members arranged at opposite sides of said supporting shaft and extending betwee said carriage portions intermediate the respective said pair of rollers.

5. Linear motion apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said tension members may be tensioned to draw said carriage portions together about said supporting shaft.

6. Linear motion apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said supporting shaft is a rectangular hollow section and said carriage portions are angle members provided with brackets for supporting rollers in the form of rolling element bearings disposed with their axes parallel to respective faces of supporting shaft.

7. A radial arm type support assembly including:- a mounting post assembly; a radial arm in the form of linear motion apparatus as defined in any one of the preceding claims and mounted on said mounting post assembly; a carriage which combines with the mounting post to for a linear motion apparatus of the type described above and there being provided a further carriage assembly on said radial arm which combines with the latter to form a further linear motion apparatus of the type described above.

8. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein said radial arm is mounted on said mounting post assembly by a mounting assembly whereby said radial arm may be pivoted about its longitudinal axis and selectively lockable in any angular position about said longitudinal axis.

9. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein said mounting post assembly is constituted by linear motion apparatus as defined in any one of claims 1 to 6 and said mounting assembly is secured to one said carriage portion of said mounting post assembly.

10. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in any on of claims 7 to 9, wherein said mounting post assembly extend upwardly from a table assembly having a platen which is pivotable about an platen axis disposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of said mounting post.

11. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in any on of claims 7 to 10, wherein the carriage assembly on said radial arm is adapted to support machining apparatus for selective pivotal movement about an axis transverse to said radial arm.

12. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in claim when appended to claim 10, wherein said platen axis is positioned in line with the machining head or bit of the machining apparatus supported by the carriage assembly on said radial arm.

13. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in claim

12, wherein said platen axis passes through a fence extendin along one side of said platen.

14. A radial arm type support assembly as defined in claim

13, wherein there is provided locking means for locking said platen in a selected position about said platen axis.

15. Linear motion apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said supporting shaft and or said radial arm are formed from rectangular hollow steel sections.

16. Tool mounting apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.