JPH03213239A - Change arm for tool changer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive shortening of a tool change time by providing a fluid pressure energizing means for energizing a retaining member in the advancing direction and for on-off controlling energizing force in the predetermined timing and a stopper means for fixedly stopping the retaining member press-returned by a tool when a change arm is reversely rotated. CONSTITUTION:When a change command is output to a change arm 1 in standby, it is normally rotated 90 deg. in the clockwise direction to hold a tool 6, but a space L is always surely maintained between the point end of a pressing metal 3 and the tool 6 because a pressing metal mounting shaft 11 is stopped in the most retracted end. The indexed tool 6, while it is positioned, is held simultaneously with an energizing means actuated by pressure fluid, and the pressing metal mounting shaft 11 is advanced by removing a stop by a stopper means 16, to strongly immobilize the tool 6 by the pressing metal 3, simultaneously locked by a lock mechanism 23. Since both the pressing metal and the tool are brought into no contact and prevented from violently colliding when the arm is rotated, a high speed of change action can be contrived while being possible to prevent generation of noise.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present application relates to a changing arm of a tool changing device, and addresses the current trend of increasing the speed of tool changing time.
The purpose is to prevent damage to machine tools.

Conventional technology and its problems The pushing member 100 in the conventional exchange arm IA is the 12th
As shown in the diagram, the member 1 is pushed by the spring 2A.
00 in the forward direction, and the pusher 3A of the pusher member 100 is always in a state of protruding by a predetermined amount. Therefore, the first
The presser metal 3A that protrudes when the spindle head 4A and the tool 6A (to be exact, the holder) on the tool pot 5A are gripped when rotated 90'' forward from the standby position shown in the figure for tool exchange.
collides violently with the tool 6A and is once pushed back, and then protrudes again to push the tool 6A in. Furthermore, even when the exchange arm IA is reversed after tool exchange, the pusher is pushed against the spring 2A. You have to reverse the rotation while pushing down 3A. As described above, in the conventional device, when the presser metal 3A collides with the tool 6A, it not only makes noise and worsens the working environment, but also there is a risk that the main shaft bearing will be damaged due to the vibration caused by the collision. Also, in all forward and reverse rotations, the pusher 3A is pushed back against the spring 2A, so
It has the disadvantage of high operating resistance.

These disadvantages are exacerbated as the tool change time becomes faster and the machine tool becomes larger.
This is a major obstacle in reducing tool change time.

Means for Solving the Problems The present application aims to improve the problems of the conventional device described above.
A fluid pressure urging means that urges the pushing member in the forward direction and controls the urging force to turn ON and OFF at a predetermined timing, and a pushing member that is pushed back by the tool when the exchange arm reverses. , and the locking means for locking and fixing are provided, thereby eliminating the drawbacks of the prior art.

Example The present application will be described in detail below with reference to drawings showing examples.

In Fig. 1, 7 is a machine tool, 4 is a spindle head, l is an exchange arm, and 5 is a tool pot. When a tool 6 attached to the spindle head 4 completes a predetermined work, the tool is exchanged as follows. will be carried out. The exchange arm 1, which is in the standby position shown in FIG. After holding the tool 6 to be used, it moves forward by a predetermined stroke in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 15 to remove the tool 6, then rotates forward 180', then retreats and attaches the tool 6, and then rotates 90 degrees in the opposite direction. It returns to the standby position and the tool exchange is completed. The used tool 6 attached to the tool pot 5 is transferred to the tool magazine 9 along with the tool pot 5 by the transfer means 8, and the tool 6 to be used for the next work is taken out from the tool magazine 9 along with the tool pot 5. All these steps are the same as those conventionally performed. In this embodiment, the tool pot 5 is moved between the tool magazine 9 and the spindle head 4, and the tools 6 are relayed between the tool magazine 9 and the tool pot 5. Its presence or absence does not affect the technical idea of the present application.

In the above description, the exchange arm 1 of the present invention is constructed as shown in FIGS. 2 to 5. Pusher mounting shaft 1 of pusher member 10
1 is housed in a storage hole 12 bored along the longitudinal direction of the exchange arm 1 so as to be able to move forward and backward, and the forward and backward stroke is regulated by a regulating pin 25 and also prevented from rotating. The pusher 3 is attached to the tip of the protruding pusher attachment shaft 11. In this embodiment, the pusher 3 has a triangular block shape, but the shape of the pusher 3 is not limited to this and may be changed to a roller shape or the like as necessary.

Next, reference numeral 13 denotes a fluid pressure urging means for urging the pushing member IO only in the forward direction, and one end of the fluid pipe 114 opens at the bottom of the storage hole 12, and the other side has an exchanger 41. is connected to a pressure fluid supply source (not shown) via the rotating shaft 15, and the biasing force is turned on at a predetermined timing as will be described in detail later.
The pressure fluid control mechanism is appropriately selected from conventionally used control mechanisms, and its configuration is not limited. The locking means 16 is 1
In this embodiment, a one-type ball plunger is adopted, and a spring 18 is press-fitted to a spring tube 17 attached to the exchange arm 1.
This spring 18 biases the locking edge 19 in the direction of protruding into the storage hole 12. - side 20 is a substantially V-shaped locking groove carved into the presser mounting shaft 11, and this locking groove 20 is as shown in FIG.

The push-back surface 21 has a gentle slope on the rear side (in the direction away from the pusher 3). In addition, 22 in the figure is a positioning bin,
It positions the indexed tool 6, and 23 is a locking mechanism that mechanically locks the presser mounting shaft 11 when the tool 6 is gripped, and since both are well known in the exchange arm 1, a description will be given here. Omitted.

When the locking means 10 is in the standby position shown in FIG. 1, the locking edge 19 enters the locking groove 20 and the pusher mounting shaft 11 is in the most retracted position, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. At this time, no pressure fluid is acting on the presser mounting shaft 11. When a replacement command is issued to the replacement arm 1 that is waiting in this state, the replacement arm 1 moves 90 degrees clockwise as described above.
``The tool 6 is gripped by normal rotation, but since the pusher mounting shaft 11 is locked at the rearmost end as described above, there is no space between the tip of the pusher 3 and the tool 6 as shown in FIG. There is an interval shown by L, so that the rotating pusher 3 and the tool 6 do not collide as in the conventional case, and the locked pusher mounting shaft 11 does not protrude due to centrifugal force during rotation. In this way, when the exchange arm 1 completes its predetermined rotation, it positions and grips the indexed tool 6, and at the same time applies a biasing force using pressure fluid. The pusher mounting shaft 11 is unlocked by the locking means 16 and moves forward to forcefully push the tool 6 in with the pusher 3.
At the same time, the locking mechanism 23 acts to lock the pusher mounting shaft 11. As shown in FIG. 6, the pressing of the tool 6 by the pusher 3 presses a pressing point P1 further down from the vertex P of the arc that intersects the center line S, and the pressing point P1 and the pressing point 21
There is a gap indicated by Ll between them. Also, locking groove 2
The locking edge 19 that has disengaged from the locking edge 19 is in pressure contact with the pusher mounting shaft 11 near the end of the push-back surface 21, as shown in FIG. Next, the exchange arm 1 moves forward by a predetermined stroke in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 15, extracts the tool 6 from the spindle head 4 and the tool pot 5, and then rotates 180 degrees forward, but since the tool 6 is gripped as described above, , it will not fall off no matter how large the centrifugal force or inertia is applied to it.

When the normal rotation of 180'' is completed, the exchange arm 1 retreats by the amount of advance mentioned above, and transfers the tool 6 to be used for the next operation to the spindle head 4.
The tool 6 that has completed the work is placed in the tool pot 5, and at the same time, the urging force by the pressure fluid is stopped, and the locking mechanism 23 is released to free the presser mounting shaft 11. The exchange arm 1 with the tool 6 attached at a predetermined position is
It is reversed 90 degrees and returns to the standby position shown in Figure 1. With this reversal, the pusher mounting shaft 11 is pushed back by the gear shown in FIG. 6 (FIG. 8), but in addition to this push-back action, as soon as the push-back is released, the pusher mounting shaft 11 is pushed back as shown in FIG. 7. As the edge 19 hits the push-back surface 21 and presses the slope as shown in FIG. 9, the pusher mounting shaft 11 is forcibly pushed back even slightly due to the spring force, and the locking groove 11 is pushed back as shown in FIG. The locking edge 19 is fitted into the locking edge 20 and locking is performed again, and during this time the pusher mounting shaft 11 is pushed back by a stroke corresponding to the interval shown in FIG. Since the pusher 3 and the tool 6 are pushed back by the stroke plus the gap L1 in FIG. 5, the distance between the pusher 3 and the tool 6 is always maintained even during the first tool exchange, and the two do not collide.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show another embodiment of the locking means 16. In this embodiment, the locking groove 20E is made into a simple 7-shaped shape, and the presser mounting shaft 11 is moved into the gap L without forcing the locking groove 20E back.
The locking is performed at a position retracted by 1, so that the gap becomes zero, but a collision between the pusher 3 and the tool 6 is prevented.

Effects of the Invention As described in detail above, the present application locks the pusher mounting shaft at a position where the distance between the tip of the pusher and the tool is always constant or zero, and the exchange arm is used to grip the tool. Since the pusher and the tool do not come into contact with each other when rotating and there is no chance of them colliding, it is possible to prevent the generation of noise, speed up the replacement operation, and prevent damage to the machine tool and tool due to collision. I can do it. Furthermore, the structure is extremely simple, and not only is it less likely to break down and is maintenance-free.
This is a useful invention that satisfies all desired requirements, such as being able to use the pressure fluid supply source that this type of machine tool already has as the operating source.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present application, and Fig. 1 is a front view showing the entire machine tool, Fig. 2 is a front view of the exchange arm, Fig. 3 is a side view, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial cutout. Figure 5 is the third
Partial view of the figure, Figure 6 is an enlarged view with a part cut away, Figure 7
The figure is a partial view of FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a partial enlarged view with a part cut away, FIG. 9 is a partial view of FIG. 8, FIGS. 10 and 11 are partial views of other embodiments, and FIG. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The pushing member advances and retreats along the longitudinal direction of the exchange arm,
In an exchange arm that exchanges tools while pushing the tool in, a fluid pressure biasing means that biases the pushing member in the forward direction and controls the biasing force to be turned ON and OFF at a predetermined timing is used. An exchange arm of a tool exchange device, which is provided with a locking means for locking and fixing a pushing member pushed back by a tool when the arm rotates in the reverse direction.