JP3141798B2 - Method and apparatus for manufacturing ball storage resin retainer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer, and more particularly, to a method for collectively inserting aligned balls into a mold and performing resin molding, and a manufacturing apparatus therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ball bearings as one type of bearings perform important functions as mechanical parts, and can be said to be basic mechanical parts. Ball bearings utilize the fact that the rolling friction of balls is small. In recent years, ball bearings are generally housed one by one in one type of frame called a retainer to prevent metal contact between the balls. It has become.

[0003] When manufacturing such a ball bearing with a retainer, a retainer made of metal or resin is manufactured in advance, and balls are mounted one by one in a ball accommodating portion therein.

In particular, a ball bearing for a small device is manufactured by molding the entirety of a resin retainer in advance, and mounting one ball at a time in a small ball accommodating portion provided on the resin retainer is also laborious. This is an operation that will increase costs in terms of time.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple method and apparatus for manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer. More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a simple method and apparatus for manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer in which a ball mounting operation can be omitted by integrally molding a ball and a resin retainer.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventor has conducted various studies in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and focused on integrally molding the ball and the resin retainer.
With the method of inserting balls directly one by one, automation is very difficult.Even if automation is successful, the ball insertion takes time, so the operation time of the mold is reduced and productivity is sufficient. To solve these problems, found that the ball batch insertion method, in which balls separately aligned in advance and collectively inserted into the mold, was effective, and repeated improvements, Completed the invention.

Here, the present invention is as follows. (1) A method for manufacturing a ball storage resin retainer, comprising the following steps (i) to (iv): (i) supplying a ball to a ball storage hole provided at a predetermined position of a moving block; The position corresponds to the position of the ball insert in the mold. (Ii) The balls aligned on the moving block are accommodated in the conveying means while maintaining the aligned state on the moving block. (Iii) The ball maintained in the aligned state was inserted from the transfer means into the ball insert position in the retainer mold, and (iv) resin was supplied into the mold in which the ball was inserted to accommodate the ball. Perform resin molding of the retainer.

(2) Using a motor as a drive source, for example, a rack
The method for producing a ball storage resin retainer according to the above (1), wherein the ball is supplied to the ball storage hole while moving the moving block at a constant speed by a mechanism such as an AND pinion.

(3) The method for manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer according to (1) or (2), wherein the ball is supplied by its own weight through a pipe into a ball-receiving hole of the moving block.

(4) The method for manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer according to the above (1), wherein the ball is supplied to the ball-receiving hole by inserting the moving block from below into a container for storing a large number of the balls.

(5) An apparatus for manufacturing a ball storage resin retainer characterized by comprising the following means (a) to (d): (a) a moving block having a position corresponding to a ball insert position in a mold; Means for supplying a ball to a ball receiving hole provided at a predetermined position, (b) conveying means for storing the balls aligned on the moving block while maintaining the aligned state on the moving block, and (c) setting the balls in an aligned state. Moving means for bringing the maintained conveying means to the ball insert position in the retainer mold; and (d) molding for supplying resin into the mold in which the balls are inserted and performing resin molding of the retainer containing the balls. means.

[0012]

Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 (a) to 1 (c) are process diagrams of the method according to the present invention. FIG. 1A shows the above-mentioned step (i). The balls 14 are automatically supplied to the ball receiving holes 12 provided at predetermined positions of the moving block 10. The position of the ball receiving hole corresponds to the position of the ball insert in the mold described later. Of course, the number also corresponds to the number of ball insert positions in the mold, but when balls are inserted into a plurality of molds at the same time, it is assumed to correspond to the total number of those positions.

In this case, as the ball supply means 16 at this time, in the illustrated example, a pipe structure in which balls continuously packed in a pipe 18 are dropped one by one into a receiving hole 12 may be used. As long as the same goal is achieved,
Available as well.

In supplying the ball, ball supply means
Although 16 may be moved, in the illustrated example, the motor is used as a drive source, and the moving block is moved in the direction of the arrow in the drawing at a constant speed by a mechanism such as a rack and pinion, for example. Supply the ball. In the figure, the moving block 10 is shown as a single body corresponding to one mold, but if the interval between the ball insert positions in the mold is always constant, the moving block 10 may be a continuous block body. Alternatively, although the position accuracy is a problem, an endless belt may be used.

The balls aligned in a predetermined position on the moving block in this manner are preferably brought together as they are by the transfer means 22 having the vacuum valve 20 in step (ii) of FIG. It is held by suction. This transport means 22
The suction holding position of each ball corresponds to the above-mentioned ball receiving hole 12 and the ball insert position in the mold relatively accurately.

Here, the transfer means is shown as having a vacuum valve, but this is exemplified as a simple means, and as another example, a means using the attractive force of a magnet may be used. Good. Although not shown, the transfer means is provided with a suitable moving means, and may be moved to the mold position to transfer the ball. Alternatively, the mold may be moved relatively by moving. Specifically, for example, the holding mechanism may be a holding mechanism of the transporting unit 22 that travels along the guide.

Next, in step (iii) of FIG. 1 (c),
As described above, the ball 14 sucked by the vacuum valve is brought to the position of the mold 30 by the transfer means 22,
Then, by opening the vacuum valve 20 (not shown), the balls are collectively inserted into the respective ball insert positions provided in the mold.

Since the rest time of the mold is only the ball insertion period, it can be completed in an extremely short time, and if the insert can be immediately sent to the resin molding stage,
The availability of the mold is improved.

After the insertion into the mold has been completed, the conveying means 22 returns to the position of the moving block 10, while the mold 30 in which the balls are inserted is combined with the upper mold 32, and FIG.
In step (iv) shown in (d), resin molding is performed. The molding means at this time may be the same as the conventional molding means of the retainer alone. It is sufficient that the ball insert position is provided in the mold in advance.

The ball and the resin retainer formed integrally with the resin in this manner are removed from the mold by a magnetic force or the like after the molding. Such a ball storage resin retainer can be used for assembling a ball bearing as it is because the ball is already mounted in a predetermined position. At that time, it is not necessary to handle one ball one by one as in the conventional case. And the automation of the assembly of the bearing can be easily performed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing in detail the ball supply means 16 having the pipe structure of FIG. In the figure, pipe 18
The inner diameter is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the balls 14 so that the balls 14 are pushed one by one through the pipe 18. The speed of the ball falling under its own weight in the pipe 18 is changed by the angle α at which the tip of the pipe 18 contacts the moving block 10, and by changing the moving speed of the moving block 10 in accordance with this, optimal ball supply is achieved. Done. The angle α is, for example, an average angle of a pipe having a height of one ball with respect to the surface of the moving block.

As described above, the moving blocks provided with the ball receiving holes arranged in a line are moved one by one through the pipes into the ball receiving holes of the moving block by their own weights as the pipe moves on the surface. Supplied.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view showing another example of ball supply means. In the drawing, a ball receiving hole 12 is arranged in the moving block 10 in an aligned manner, and the moving block 10 is pushed upward through a pushing-up block 42 and inserted into a bucket container 40 that accommodates a large number of balls 14. Thus, the balls 14 are supplied to the ball receiving holes 13. In the example shown,
With the push-up block 42 pushed up, the ball is sucked and held by the above-described conveying means 22.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, conventionally, balls are mounted one by one on a preformed resin retainer, but such operations can be omitted by integrally molding. . Also, when inserting the ball into the mold, it is not necessary to manually supply the balls to the moving block one by one, and the balls can be automatically supplied, thereby efficiently performing the batch insert into the mold. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer capable of automating a resin alignment and an entire manufacturing line.

[0025]

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Moving block, 12: Housing hole, 14: Ball 16: Ball supply means, 18: Pipe, 20: Vacuum valve 22: Transport means, 30: Mold, 32: Upper mold

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 (a) to 1 (d) are process diagrams of a method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing in detail a ball supply means of the pipe structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view showing another example of ball supply means.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-158321 (JP, A) JP-A-63-39311 (JP, A) JP-A-62-62022 (JP, A) 61230 (JP, U) Fully open sho 61-133317 (JP, U) Fully open sho 61-81919 (JP, U) Fully open sho 60-131726 (JP, U) Tokiko Sho 45-34322 (JP, B1) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B29C 33/00-33/76 B29C 45/26 B29C 45/14

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for producing a ball-containing resin retainer, comprising the following steps (i) to (iv): (i) supplying a ball to a ball-receiving hole provided at a predetermined position of a moving block; Setting the predetermined position to a position corresponding to the ball insert position in the mold, (ii) accommodating the balls aligned on the moving block in the conveying means while maintaining the aligned state on the moving block, (iii) Inserting the ball thus maintained in an aligned state from the transfer means into a ball insert position in a retainer mold, and (iv) supplying resin into the mold in which the ball has been inserted to supply the ball. Perform resin molding of the retainer containing the. 2. A rack-and-drive system using a motor as a drive source.
The method of manufacturing a ball storage resin retainer according to claim 1, wherein the ball is supplied to the ball receiving hole while the moving block is moved at a constant speed by a mechanism such as a pinion. 3. The method of manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer according to claim 1, wherein the ball is supplied by its own weight through a pipe into a ball-receiving hole of the moving block. 4. The method of manufacturing a ball-containing resin retainer according to claim 1, wherein the ball is supplied to the ball-receiving hole by inserting the moving block from below into a container that stores a large number of the balls. 5. An apparatus for manufacturing a ball storage resin retainer comprising the following means (a) to (d): (a) a predetermined moving block which is a position corresponding to a ball insert position in a mold; Means for supplying the ball to the ball receiving hole provided at the position, (b) conveying means for storing the ball aligned on the moving block while maintaining the aligned state on the moving block, (c) maintaining the ball in the aligned state (D) a molding means for supplying a resin into the mold in which the balls are inserted and performing resin molding of the retainer containing the balls by transferring the conveying means to the ball insert position in the retainer mold; .