JPS62832Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a tool changing device installed in an automatic machine tool.

Recently, many machining systems (FMS) have been seen in which many machining centers are installed side by side and these machine tools are collectively controlled by a computer. As with any other tool, the tools used in this equipment must be replaced when they reach the end of their service life, break, or when the object of processing changes.

Conventional tool replacement methods include: (a) Stopping the machine tool and manually replacing the tools in the tool magazine.

(b) Make the tool magazine of the machine tool replaceable and replace the tools together with the magazine.

(c) Changing tools between the machine tool tool magazine and another sub-magazine.

However, in the case of (a) above, the operating rate is low because it is necessary to stop the machine and replace tools, and the disadvantage is that unmanned operation is not possible because it requires human labor. There is.
In the case of (b), common tools and dedicated tools are used depending on the process and target of the workpiece in general machining, but when storing them in one tool magazine, it is necessary to replace the magazine with the tool. The replacement method requires a shared tool for each magazine, which is uneconomical, and requires equipment other than normal tool changing equipment, such as equipment to transport the magazine and load it onto the machine tool, as well as positioning and clamping equipment. It is necessary, expensive, and requires a large amount of space. There are some drawbacks. Furthermore, in case (c), a device for transporting and indexing the sub-magazine, a device for loading the tool magazine of the machine tool, etc. are required, which, like in case (b) above, is expensive and takes up a lot of space. There are some drawbacks.

In addition to the above, it has also been proposed that a tool pallet is equipped with a tool shelf and a tool changing device (robot), so that the tools placed on the tool shelf can be replaced by a robot (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1983-1993). −
No. 70579), when replacing a tool, other tools tend to get in the way, which places major restrictions on the number of tools and the arrangement of the tools.In addition, there is a disadvantage that the equipment becomes expensive due to the robot equipment.

In this invention, a frame is attached to a rotating shaft attached to the main shaft of a machine tool, which is locked to a stopper of the machine tool to prevent co-rotation, and the frame is also rotated by the rotation of the rotating shaft. By attaching a rotating arm that converts the tool holding mechanism at the tip to two orthogonal positions, the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional method are solved.The structure is simple, and it can be installed in existing machine tools. To provide a tool changing device which can operate reliably and at low cost. The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the related configuration of a machine tool B in which the tool changer A of the present invention is used and its related equipment. The machine tool B is equipped with a dedicated tool magazine 1 and a tool changer 2. This makes it possible to take out one tool 3 from the special tool magazine 1 and mount it on the main spindle 4, and also to remove the tool 3 from the main spindle 4 and return it to the special tool magazine 1. An automatic pallet changer D is installed in front of the rotary table C of the machine tool B, and the work pallet F or tool pallet G carried by the automatic guided vehicle E is passed through the automatic pallet changer D. It is designed so that it can be fed onto the rotary table C. Note that the machine tool B, rotary table C, auto pallet changer D, etc. mentioned above are well known, and the tool changing device A of the present invention can be used to replace a tool pallet G or a replacement tool magazine loaded on the tool pallet G. It can be detachably attached to H.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and numeral 5 in the figure indicates a frame. A rotating shaft 6 and a driven shaft 7 are pivotally connected to the frame 5 so as to be rotatable in the circumferential direction at an angle of 45 degrees in a vertical plane, with bevel gears 8 and 9 mutually meshing with each other. Machine tool B
A locking pin 11 is provided to be locked to a stopper 10 provided on the main shaft head 4a. This locking pin 11 is urged by a spring 11a in the direction of protruding from the frame 5, and normally the protruding piece 11b fixed to the locking pin 11 is connected to the engagement groove 6b of the locking ring 6a fixed to the rotating shaft 6. The rotary shaft 6 is engaged with the rotary shaft 6 to fix the rotary shaft 6 at a predetermined rotational position. The rotating shaft 6 has the main shaft 4 at its outer end.
A state in which the frame 5 is prevented from rotating together by inserting the locking pin 11 into the hole of the stopper 10, and the shank shaft 12 has a tapered shaft portion that matches the tapered hole of the main shaft, and a key groove that fits the key of the main shaft. The shank shaft 12 is held in the main shaft 4 of the machine tool B and supported horizontally, and rotates together with the main shaft 4 to drive the driven shaft 7.
It is designed to rotate. On the other hand, driven shaft 7
At the outer end of the rotary arm 14, a rotary arm 14 having a tool holding mechanism 13 such as a well-known tool pot or a spring clamp at its tip rotates about the driven shaft 7 in a plane inclined at 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. It can be installed freely. The rotating arm 14 is rotated by the driven shaft 7 around the driven shaft 7, and the tool holding mechanism 1
The tool 3 held in the frame 5 is changed from a vertical state to a horizontal state and from a horizontal state to a vertical state, and the center of the rotating shaft 6 and the driven shaft 7 is changed by touching the stopper 15 provided on the frame 5. It is designed to stop at two positions, upper and lower, in a vertical plane that includes the axis.

The replacement tool magazine H includes a main pillar _H1 erected on the pallet G, and a disk-shaped support plate _H2 horizontally fixed to the upper end of the main pillar _H1 .
and a plurality of tool holders 16 provided at appropriate intervals along the outer periphery of the support plate _H2 . Each holder 16 grips the flange groove 3a of the tool 3 through the elasticity of a spring with a pair of grippers rotatably supported on the outer periphery of the support plate _H2 , and the tool 3 is attached to the support plate. It is configured to be vertical, and a key is provided between the pair of grippers to fit into the keyway of the tool 3 in order to prevent the tool gripped by the grippers from rotating.

Next, the operation of the tool changing device of the present invention will be explained step by step, starting from tool removal.

The tools 3 prepared at the tool station are held in respective tool holders 16 of a predetermined replacement tool magazine H placed on a predetermined tool pallet G.
The computer that controls machine tools, etc., stores the tool palette number (replacement tool magazine number), the tool number in the replacement tool magazine H, and the tool code (tools are assigned absolute codes). be done. The tool pallet G with the replacement tool magazine H set therein waits at a pallet storage location or the like until a replacement command is received from the computer. The tool changer A of the present invention is removably stacked on the tool pallet G or the replaceable tool magazine H.

When a replacement command is issued according to the machining schedule, the tool pallet G with the replacement tool magazine H set is placed on the automatic guided vehicle E and transported to the automatic pallet changer D of the machine tool B, where the replacement tool magazine H is loaded. At the same time, it is drawn into the auto pallet changer D. When machine tool B is machining, tool pallet G waits on automatic pallet changer D until machining is completed.

When machining by machine tool B is completed, tool pallet G is transferred to rotary table C of machine tool B. In addition, in parallel with the above, the tool 3 held in the spindle 4 is transferred to the dedicated tool magazine 1 by the action of the tool changer 2. The main shaft 4 from which the tool 3 has been removed grips the shank shaft 12 and takes out the tool changer A of the present invention from the tool pallet G or the replaceable tool magazine H on which it is stacked.
At this time, the locking pin 11 of the frame 5 is
0 and fixes the frame 5 to the machine tool B (see Fig. 2). At this time, the locking pin 11
is pressed against the end surface of the hole and moved to the right in FIG. 2 against the elasticity of the spring 11a, and the protruding piece 11b
is disengaged from the engagement groove 6b of the locking ring 6a, so the rotating shaft 6 becomes free to rotate.

The main spindle 4 (spindle head 4a) supporting the tool changer A of the present invention in this way moves forward to the right from the state shown in FIG. 2 and is held vertically by the tool holder 16 of the replaceable tool magazine H. Replacement tool 3
Move the tool holding mechanism 13 directly below the tool holding mechanism 13, then go up and hold the replacement tool 3 in the tool holding mechanism 13, then retreat to the left in the same figure, remove the replacement tool 3 from the tool holder 16, and rotate the main shaft 4. The rotating shaft 6 is rotated, and the rotating arm 14 is rotated 180 degrees via the bevel gears 8 and 9 and the driven shaft 7. Due to the above-described rotation of the rotation arm 14, the replacement tool 3, which had been vertically held by the tool holding mechanism 13, becomes horizontal as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Immediately after the main shaft 4 finishes leveling the replacement tool 3, it moves up and down and left and right to bring the replacement tool 3 to the tool exchange position. In this tool exchange position, the axis of the replacement tool 3 held horizontally by the rotating arm 14 coincides with the axis of the spindle at the normal tool exchange position where tools are exchanged between the dedicated tool magazine 1 and the spindle 4. It's the location. The tool changer 2 takes out the tool to be replaced from the dedicated tool magazine 1 and waits until the main spindle 4 places the replacement tool 3 at the tool exchange position, and then takes out the replacement tool held by the tool holding mechanism 13 of the rotation arm 14. 3 reaches the tool exchange position as described above, grabs the replacement tool held in the tool holding mechanism 13 of the rotating arm 14 and removes it from the tool holding mechanism 13, and also removes the tool taken out from the special tool magazine 1. After being held in the tool holding mechanism 13 of the rotating arm 14, the tool removed from the tool holding mechanism 13 is mounted in the dedicated tool magazine 1.

The main shaft 4 is a tool holding mechanism 13 of the rotating arm 14.
When the tool to be replaced is installed by the tool changer 2, it rotates in the opposite direction to the previous direction, rotating the rotating arm 14 from the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 to the state shown by the solid line in the figure. After the replacement tool 3 is made vertical, it is moved from the tool replacement position to the replacement tool magazine H side, and the flange groove 3a of the replacement tool 3 is positioned at the height of the tool holder 16 of the replacement tool magazine H. After moving so that they match, it moves forward to the right in FIG. It is attached to the tool holder 16 and retreated.

One tool exchange is completed in the above manner, but if many tools are to be exchanged, the above operation is repeated. In this case, the rotary table C rotates with the tool pallet G on it to index the next tool.

The main spindle 4, which has moved back after attaching the tool to be replaced to the tool holder 16 of the replacement tool magazine 1, returns the tool changer A of the present invention to the tool pallet G or the replacement tool magazine H, and waits for the next command. .

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a movable nut 18 having a locking key 17 is mounted on a rotating shaft 6 configured as a screw shaft.
is provided so that it can move freely in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 6 by fitting the locking key 17 into a sliding groove 19 provided in the frame 5, and the rotating arm 14 equipped with the tool holding mechanism 13 is mounted on a pivot shaft. A link 23 is attached to the frame 5 at 20 so as to be able to rotate up and down, and between the movable nut 18 and the pivot arm 14, the link 23 has both ends connected to the movable nut 18 and the pivot arm 14 by connecting shafts 22, 24. are connected and installed. In this tool changer, when the main shaft 4 grips the shank shaft 12 and rotates the rotating shaft 6 in one direction, the movable nut 18 moves to the left in FIG. If you push it upward and make it stand up vertically as shown by the two-dot chain line in the same figure using the pivot 20 as a fulcrum, and rotate the rotating shaft 6 in the other direction,
The movable nut 18 moves to the right in FIG. 3, so that the vertically erected rotating arm 14 is tilted horizontally as shown by the solid line. Note that since the tool holding mechanism 13 of this embodiment is attached to the rotating arm 14 at right angles, it becomes vertical when the rotating arm 14 becomes horizontal, and becomes horizontal when the rotating arm 14 becomes vertical. In FIG. 3, 25 is a stopper attached to the frame 5, and 26 is a stopper attached to the locking pin 11. The former stopper 25 is a tool holding mechanism that horizontally stops the rotating arm 14. 13 is properly vertical, and the latter stop 26 is adapted to stop the pivot arm 14 vertically to properly level the tool holding mechanism 13. The stops 25 and 26 are usually bolts and are configured to allow fine adjustment. In the tool changing device of this example, the tool holding mechanism 13 is lowered from top to bottom by the main shaft 4, and the tool holding mechanism 13 is held in the tool holder 16 of the replacement tool magazine H with the taper shank facing upward, thereby holding the replacement tool. The tool held in the mechanism 13 and the tool to be replaced is held in the tool holder 16 of the replacement tool magazine H with the taper shank facing upward, and then the tool to be replaced is lifted and removed from the tool holding mechanism 13. Since it is exactly the same as that shown in FIG. 2, the explanation of its operation will be omitted.

In the case of this embodiment, it goes without saying that the tool holding mechanism 13 has a built-in appropriate locking mechanism (not shown) to prevent the held tool from falling due to its own weight.

Above, we have described the case where the present invention is applied to a machine tool with an automatic tool changer that performs normal tool exchange between the special tool magazine 1 and the spindle 4 using the tool changer 2. The present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to a machine tool equipped with an automatic tool changer that performs normal tool change directly between the special tool magazine 1 and the spindle 4 without using the tool changer 2. In this case, the replacement tool and the replaced tool are exchanged directly between the dedicated tool magazine and the tool holding mechanism 13 of the rotating arm 14.

As explained above, the tool changer of the present invention does not require a multi-functional robot, extracts power from the spindle to rotate the rotating arm, and changes the posture of the tool held in the tool holding mechanism from horizontal to horizontal. vertically,
In addition, since the tool can be changed from vertical to horizontal and the indexing function of the rotary table and the feed mechanism of machine tool control axes such as the spindle (spindle head) are effectively used to change the tool, it is possible to There is no need to provide a power source to the machine, the structure is simple, the operation is reliable, it is inexpensive, and it has the advantage of being able to be used with existing machine tools.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a machine tool and its related equipment in which the tool changing device of the present invention is used, Fig. 2 is a front view showing one embodiment of the tool changing device of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is the same; FIG. 7 is a front view showing another embodiment. B... Machine tool, 4... Main spindle, 5... Frame, 6... Rotating axis, 10... Stopper, 13...
Tool holding mechanism, 14... Rotating arm.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A rotating shaft is attached to the main shaft of a machine tool, and this rotating shaft is supported rotatably in the circumferential direction, and when the rotating shaft is attached to the main shaft, it is locked to a stopper of the machine tool to rotate the rotating shaft. A frame that is rotatably attached to the frame and is rotated by the rotation of the rotating shaft to convert the tool holding mechanism provided at the tip into two orthogonal positions. A tool changing device characterized by comprising a movable arm.