JPS63176B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a pallet changer that sequentially changes pallets on a table of a machine tool.

[Prior art]

In order to prevent a decrease in the operating rate of a machine tool due to workpiece setup work, a pallet changer that sequentially changes pallets on a machine tool table is widely used.

Conventionally, this pallet changer uses a hydraulic cylinder to reciprocate a hook or arm that is shaped to engage with the pallet, and pulls out the pallet from the table of the machine tool and transfers it for replacement. In this case, when the pallet is moved between the pallet changer and the table of the machine tool, it overhangs, making it difficult to place and move heavy workpieces due to problems such as deflection and strength. becomes. Furthermore, if the distance between the pallet changer and the machine tool becomes large, it becomes difficult to move the pallet itself.

[Purpose of the invention]

By placing the rails of the pallet changer near the table of the machine tool, heavy pallets can be moved stably, and by placing two pallets on the pallet changer, pallet exchange can be shortened. To provide a pallet changer for a machine tool that increases productivity by processing in a short time.

[Structure of the invention]

The pallet changer for a machine tool according to the present invention includes a rail A which is provided on a support so as to be slidable in its longitudinal direction toward the table of the machine tool, and is also movable up and down, with a fixing plate provided in the middle; A fixed rail B divided into two parts perpendicular to A, a cylinder A that moves rail A up and down, and a cylinder B that moves rail A in its longitudinal direction.
, a hook A that is attached to a chain that engages with a pair of sprockets rotatably supported in the longitudinal direction of the fixed plate and engages and disengages from the pallet, and a pair of sprockets provided in the longitudinal direction of the rail B in the middle of the rail B. The hook B is attached to a chain meshing with the pallet and moves perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the hook A to engage and disengage from the pallet.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below with reference to figures showing one embodiment. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a machine tool 11 and a pallet changer 12, and a gate-shaped column 15 that moves up and down is placed on a guide rail 14 on a bed 13 of the machine tool 11. A spindle head 16 that moves in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper is attached to the column 15, and a tool (not shown) is attached to the tip of the spindle head 16. Below the spindle head 16 is a table 18 that moves in the left and right direction.
These are the main components of the machine tool 11. A pallet 21A is placed on the table 18, and a workpiece (not shown) is mounted on the pallet 21A. Note that when referring to palettes in general, it is referred to as palette 21.

The pallet changer 12 is provided with a rail A22 for exchanging pallets 21 with respect to the table 18 of the machine tool, and a rail B23 perpendicular to the rail A22 is divided into two by the rail A. It moves in the vertical direction. Rail A22 and Rail B23
In order to prevent mutual interference, the rails A22 are designed to move up and down, and this will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The pair of rails A22 are each slidably supported by a support body 32 via a rail receiver 31, and the support body 32 is connected to the pallet changer 1.
Since it is attached to the piston rod 35 of the cylinder A34 attached to the main body 33 of the rail A
When the pallet 21 is exchanged between the pallet changer 12 and the table 18, the rail A22 is raised, and when the pallet 21 is moved up and down within the pallet changer 12 by the rail B23, the rail A22 is lowered.

A fixing plate 36 is provided between the rails A22, and a cylinder B37 attached to the lower surface of the fixing plate 36
The tip of the piston rod 38 is fixed to the support 32, and the fixed plate 36 is placed on the rollers (none of which are shown) of the movable receiver attached to the support 32, so the rail A22 is not shown in FIG. Access to table 18 is provided. When the rail A22 approaches the table 18, the pallet 21A on the table 18 is pulled onto the rail A22, or the pallet 21A on the rail A22 is
The fixing plate 36 is provided with a hook mechanism in order to push it onto the table 18. This will be explained below with reference to FIG. A pair of sprockets 41 and 42 are rotatably supported on the fixed plate 36.
A hydraulic motor 43 (see FIG. 3) is connected to the sprocket 41 on one side, and a hook A45 having a protrusion at the tip is attached to a chain 44 that meshes with the sprockets 41 and 42. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
engages with or disengages from hook A45.

Pallet 21 in pallet changer 12
The vertical movement of will be explained with reference to FIG. Two sets of moving mechanisms 51 are provided on the upper surface of the pallet changer 12.
The mechanism 51 is provided with a drive sprocket 5.
2, an idler sprocket 53, and a chain 54 that meshes with both sprockets 52 and 53, and one hook B55 is attached to the chain 54. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 showing the bottom surface of the pallet 21, the pallet 21 is provided with a groove 56 consisting of a long part and a short part broken off from the long part for engaging and disengaging from the hook 55. The hook 55 connects to the sprockets 52 and 53.
It has enough length and width to rotate.

Next, the operation of the embodiment described above will be explained. When processing of the workpiece mounted on the pallet 21A on the table 18 is completed, the table 18 moves to the right.

After moving, the rail A22 is raised by the cylinder A34 via the support 32, etc., and then moved up by the cylinder B3.
7 and reaches the forward limit, the tip of the rail A22 rests on a pedestal (not shown) attached to the table 18, thereby preventing the rail A22 from deflecting. Subsequently, by driving the hydraulic motor 43, the hook A45 moves forward. palette 21
A is attached to the table 18 via a clamp unit (not shown) provided on the underside of the table 18, and when the hook A45 advances to the forward limit, the pallet 21A is raised by about 20 mm by the clamp unit, and then the pallet 21A is placed on standby. The concave part of the piece 46 of the pallet 21A fits into the convex part of the hook A45, and the two engage, and the lower surface of the pallet 21A is connected to the rail A.
It corresponds to the top surface of 22.

When the hook A45 is moved backward by the hydraulic motor 43, the pallet 21A is located approximately at the center of the rail A22. Next, the rail A22 is moved backward by the cylinder B37, and when it has moved to the backward limit, the rail A22 is lowered by the cylinder A34, and a pallet is placed on the hook B55 of the moving mechanism 51 (for example, the lower side) of the pallet changer 12, which is already on standby. The long part of the groove 56 on the lower surface of 21A is inserted. Therefore, by driving the drive sprocket 52, the pallet 21A is moved to the lower side of the pallet changer 12.

At this point, the pallet 21B with the new workpiece attached is placed above the pallet changer 12, so the pallet 21B is moved onto the rail A22 by the upper moving mechanism 51.

At the end of the movement, hook B55 is on pallet 2.
It rotates in the groove 56 of 1B and automatically leaves the short part of the groove 56. Subsequently, when the rail A22 is raised, the hook A45 engages with the piece 46 of the pallet 21B, and when the rail A22 is advanced, it approaches the table 18, so that the pallet 21B is lifted up from the hook A.
45, the pallet 21B moves onto the clamp unit because the clamp unit on the table 18 has been raised at this point. Next, when the clamp unit is lowered, the hook A45 and the piece 46 are separated, and the pallet 21B is removed.
is clamped to the table 18, allowing the machine tool 11 to machine a new workpiece.

With this, the pallet 21 replacement work is completed. While a new workpiece is being machined, the machined workpiece on the pallet 21A is taken out and the next workpiece to be machined is attached to the pallet 21A. Therefore, when replacing the pallet 21B that is currently being processed, it is moved above the pallet changer 12, and thereafter used sequentially at the bottom and top of the pallet changer 12.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the pallet changer for a machine tool according to the present invention has a rail A that can be moved vertically and horizontally toward the table of the machine tool, and two rails that are perpendicular to the rail A. A separate fixed rail B is provided, and a hook B that is located between the hook A that moves along the rail A and the hook B that moves along the rail B is provided. With this configuration, a pallet that has been processed can be moved to one side of rail B using rail A and hook A, and then the next pallet to be processed on rail B on the other side can be moved to rail A using hook B. Then, this pallet was moved onto the table using rail A and hook A. This has the advantage of shortening the time required to move a new pallet to the table and increasing the operating rate of the machine tool. Furthermore, large workpieces are moved stably by rails that prevent bending.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pallet changer of a machine tool, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3-
4 is an enlarged plan view of the pallet changer, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the lower surface of the pallet. 11...Machine tool, 12...Pallet changer,
21...Pallet, 22...Rail A, 23...Rail B, 32...Support body, 34...Cylinder A, 36...Fixing plate, 37...Cylinder B, 41, 42, 52, 5
3...Sprocket, 45...Hook A, 55...Hook B.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rail A which is provided on a support so that it can freely slide in its longitudinal direction toward the table of a machine tool, and which is movable up and down and has a fixed plate in the middle, and a rail A which is provided in two in a direction perpendicular to the rail A. A fixed rail B and a cylinder A that moves the rail A up and down.
a cylinder B that moves the rail A in its longitudinal direction; a hook A that is attached to a chain that meshes with a pair of sprockets rotatably supported in the longitudinal direction of the stationary plate and that engages and disengages from the pallet; A workpiece consisting of a hook B that is attached to a chain that meshes with a pair of sprockets provided in the longitudinal direction of the rail B in the middle of the rail B, and that moves perpendicularly to the moving direction of the hook A to engage and disengage the pallet. Machine pallet changer.