JPH01284493A - Automatic evacuation device for work clamp in laser processing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic work clamp retracting device that prevents interference between a processing head of a laser processing machine and a work clamp.

[Conventional technology]

In a laser processing machine that performs welding or cutting using a laser beam, a workpiece to be processed is positioned on the upper surface of a table and then fixed with a clamp to perform the processing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

For this reason, machining cannot be performed near the clamp where the machining head that irradiates the laser beam toward the workpiece interferes with the clamp, resulting in poor material yield and when pressing the workpiece carried onto the table top surface against the reference surface for positioning. If the workpiece was large, there were problems such as difficulty in checking whether the workpiece was in close contact with the reference surface in the loading direction.

This invention was made for the purpose of improving the above-mentioned problems, and is a workpiece in a laser processing machine that can process the entire area of the workpiece and also makes it easy to check whether the workpiece is in close contact with the reference surface in the carrying direction. The present invention aims to provide an automatic clamp retracting device.

[Means and operations for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a clamping mechanism that clamps a workpiece to be processed by a laser beam, and a system that detects when the clamping mechanism reaches the interference area of the processing head. In addition to providing a detection means for detection, the clamp arm of the clamp mechanism is retracted from the interference area by a signal from the detection means, thereby making it possible to process the interference area.
The present invention aims to provide an automatic retracting device for a work clamp in a laser processing machine that improves material yield.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, 1 is a work carried in from the direction of arrow a onto the table of a laser processing machine (not shown), 2 is a plurality of clamp mechanisms, for example, three clamp mechanisms, which clamp the end of the carry-in side of this work 1, and 3 is these clamp mechanisms 2. 4 indicates a detection mechanism.

The clamp mechanism 2 cuts the clamped workpiece 1 by a laser beam emitted from a processing head 5 that moves in the direction indicated by the arrow while moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction indicated by the arrow. An air cylinder 8 is attached to a bracket 7 that is movably provided along the air cylinder 8, and the back of a holder 9 having a substantially U-shape is fixed to the tip of a piston rod 8a that projects from the air cylinder 8. There is. The holder 9 is movable back and forth along guide members 10 provided on both sides, and a roller 11 is rotatably supported at the tip of a vertically spaced branch 9a.

Further, a pair of clamp arms 13 whose base ends are pivotally supported on the bracket 7 side by pins 12 are provided between these branch parts 9a.

These clamp arms 13 are provided in the vertical direction, and pads 13a for clamping the workpiece 1 are fixed to mutually opposing surfaces of the tip portions, and rollers attached to the holder 9 are attached to the back surface of each clamp arm 13. a pressing surface 13b that is pressed by 11 to generate a clamping force;
Recessed portion 13c and each clamp arm 13 for releasing pressure
The recessed portion 13
In c, the upper clamp arm 13 side is longer than the lower clamp arm 13 side, and when each clamp arm 13 is opened and closed, the lower clamp arm 13 becomes horizontal first, so that the workpiece 1 is kept horizontal. It is designed to perform directional positioning.

Further, at the rear of the air cylinder 8, a limit switch 14 for detecting when each clamp arm 13 has clamped the workpiece 1 and a proximity switch 15 are provided. When the dog 16 approaches the interference area, the dog 16 is activated to detect the interference area.
This signal causes a retraction operation of the clamp arm 13, which will be described later.

On the other hand, the carry-in direction positioning mechanism 3 and the position detector 4
As shown in the figure and FIG.
One end of an operating rod 21, which is slidably supported by the bracket 7, is connected to 0a.

The other end side of the operating rod 21 projects toward the workpiece 1 side, and a reference piece 22 is attached to the tip, and a connecting plate 23
It is connected to one end side of a movable rod 24 provided parallel to the operating rod 21.

The movable rod 24 is also slidably supported on the bracket 7 side, and has a piston 26 inside thereof which is projected toward the workpiece 1 by a compression spring 25, as shown in FIG. 5, and one end of this piston 26. The more protruding piston rod 26a projects toward the work 1 side from the end of the moving rod 24, and has a tip portion that slightly protrudes toward the work 1 side from the reference piece 22 provided at the end of the operating rod 21. A detection piece 27 is attached.

Further, the tip of the detection rod 26b protruding from the other end of the piston 26 is connected to a detection switch 28 provided at the other end of the movable rod 24.
The detection piece 27 is pressed by the workpiece 1, so that the workpiece 1 is detected.

Next, to explain the operation, the workpiece 1 to be machined is carried onto the table in the direction of arrow a, and is positioned by the carry-in direction positioning mechanism 3 and the longitudinal reference surface 18. The workpiece 1 contacts the detection piece 27 before the workpiece 1 contacts the reference piece 27, and the detection switch 28 can detect that the workpiece 1 has contacted the reference piece 22. can be easily checked. When the positioning of the workpiece 1 is completed, the air cylinder 8 is activated by the clamp signal to move the holder 9 forward from the position shown by the imaginary line in FIG.

As a result, the roller 11 attached to the tip of the holder 9 first reaches the pressing part 13b of the lower clamp arm 13, and the lower clamp arm 13 is moved from the upright position shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 3 to the horizontal position shown by the solid line. The pad 13a at the tip comes into contact with the lower surface of the workpiece 1 to position the workpiece 1 in the horizontal direction, and then the upper clamp arm 1
3 is rotated to a horizontal position, and one end of the work 1 is clamped between the upper and lower clamp arms 13.

In this state, the workpiece 1 is moved by the clamp mechanism 2 in the direction indicated by the arrow, and the processing head 5 is moved in a direction perpendicular to this, and the workpiece 1 is processed by the laser beam irradiated from the processing head 5. When the dog 16 approaches the interference area of the processing head 5, the proximity switch 15 detects the dog 16 and sends an interference signal to the control section.

As a result, the air cylinders 8 and 21 of the clamp mechanism 2 and the carry-in direction positioning mechanism 3 are operated to move the holder 9 and the operating rod 21 backward, so that the clamp arm 13 is opened vertically and removed from the interference area of the processing head 5. evacuate,
Since the reference piece 22 and the detection piece 27 provided on the operating rod 21 and the moving rod 24 are also retracted from the interference area, interference with the machining head 5 can be prevented, and the workpiece 1 can be removed from the multiple machining heads 5 that are not in the interference area. Since the clamping mechanism 2 is clamping, there is no fear that the position will shift or that it will become impossible to move.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, in this invention, when the clamp arm reaches the interference area of the processing head, it is automatically retracted, so processing in the interference area is also possible, and the material yield is improved. In addition to being able to significantly improve
It took a lot of man-hours to accurately ascertain the position of the clamp mechanism and create a program for the NCN device in advance so that it would not interfere with the processing head, but since there is no need to take interference into account, the program creation time is now shorter. You can do it easily.

In addition, since the detection mechanism detects when the workpiece has contacted the reference surface, it is now possible to easily confirm that the workpiece has contacted the reference surface even in the case of large workpieces, and it is now possible to easily confirm that the workpiece has contacted the reference surface. Positioning time can be shortened.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is an overall plan view, Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the vicinity of the clamp mechanism, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the clamp mechanism, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing positioning in the loading direction. An enlarged plan view of the vicinity of the mechanism, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V in FIG. 4. 1 is a workpiece, 2 is a clamp mechanism, 3 is a carry-in direction positioning mechanism, 4 is a detection mechanism, 5 is a processing arm, 13 is a clamp arm, 15 is a proximity switch, and 16 is a dog. Applicant Komatsu Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Masaaki Yonehara

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) The clamping mechanism 2 that clamps the workpiece 1 to be processed by a laser beam is provided with a detection means for detecting when the clamping mechanism 2 reaches the interference area of the processing head 5, and a signal from the detection means is An automatic retracting device for a work clamp in a laser processing machine, which retracts the clamp arm 13 of the clamp mechanism 2 from an interference area. (2) A carry-in direction positioning mechanism 3 that positions the work 1 in the carry-in direction near the clamp mechanism 2 and the work 1
2. The automatic work clamp evacuation device according to claim 1, further comprising a detection mechanism (4) for detecting when the reference piece (22) comes into contact with the reference piece (22). (3) The automatic work clamp retracting device according to claim 1, wherein the carry-in direction positioning mechanism 3 that has reached the interference area together with the clamp mechanism 2 is retracted from the interference area by a signal from the detection means. (4) The automatic work clamp evacuation device according to claim 1, wherein the detection means is constituted by a proximity switch 15 which is activated by a dog 16 when the clamp mechanism 2 reaches the interference area.