JPH0428495B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a machining center for a machine tool.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In various machine tools, machining centers that automatically attach and detach workpieces, take out and restorage tools from tool magazines, attach and detach tools to spindles, etc. are well known.

Since the cutting edge of a tool wears out as it is machined, if the same process is to be carried out continuously or repeatedly for a long period of time, it is necessary to prepare a large number of tools of the same type in the tool magazine. However, in order to reuse a worn tool, the tool must be removed from the magazine in order to re-sharpen the blade or coat it with hard alloy, etc.
It was necessary to perform these processes separately. Therefore, despite the development of automated equipment such as automatic tool changers (ATC) and NC devices for machining centers as described above, the problem of tool wear poses an obstacle that makes long-term unattended operation difficult. Ta.

In order to solve the above problems, a conventional machining center is equipped with a tool holding device that holds the tool removed from the machine tool in a desired position, and a hard alloy or ceramic material is attached to the blade of the tool held by the tool holding device. A machining center has been proposed that is equipped with a discharge coating device that performs a coating process such as the above, and a tool transport device that transfers tools between the machine tool, the tool holding device, and the tool magazine. Since a discharge coating power source must be provided for the purpose of the tool, the equipment becomes larger and the discharge coating process takes time, and depending on the tool, it may be difficult to apply the discharge coating process. had.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned viewpoints, and its purpose is to enable the device itself to be small and compact, and to provide a device that can reduce the blade portions of various tools housed in the device. We provide a machining center that allows polishing to be performed automatically and in a short period of time, and that allows complex machining to be performed unattended over long periods of time by preparing a variety of different tools in the tool magazine. This is what I am trying to do.

The gist of this is that: a tool holding device that holds various tools removed from a machine tool at desired positions; a polishing device that grinds the cutting edge of the tool held by the tool holding device; By being equipped with a tool transport device that transfers tools between the machine tool, the tool holding device, and the tool magazine, tools worn out during machining can be polished immediately after being removed, and can be reused. This is to ensure that you are prepared.

In such a case, one tool can be recycled and used several times, thus eliminating the need to prepare a large number of tools of the same type in the tool magazine.

Hereinafter, the details of the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to the drawings.

The drawing is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of a machining center according to the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a plurality of tools 2a, 2 necessary for machining.
3 is a tool holding device that holds worn tools in a predetermined position for polishing the tools; 4 is a tool magazine that stores tools such as b, 2c, etc. in a predetermined arrangement; 5 is a polishing device for polishing the surface of the blade portion 2d' of the tool 2d held in the tool holding device 3; 6 is a grindstone; 7 is a robot hand for handling the polishing device 5; This is a cross slide table that moves in the X and Y axis directions on the table 8.

Therefore, the tool attached to the main shaft of the machine tool main body, etc., which is omitted in the figure, is detected when the tool finishes machining a predetermined machining area or when wear of the tool is detected by a known tool wear detection device. At this point, the tool magazine 1 is removed by a known automatic tool changer (not shown in the figure), and the tool magazine 1 is removed.
Replaced with another tool provided above.

The removed tool is temporarily mounted on the tool magazine 1, but if the tool is worn out, the tool magazine 1 rotates according to a predetermined program and the tool can be taken out by the robot hand 4. move it to a certain position.

The robot hand 4 consists of a rotating part 4b that is rotatably provided with respect to the body 4a, an arm 4c that extends and contracts from the rotating part 4b, and a grip part 4d attached to the tip of the arm 4c. , a worn tool is taken out from the tool magazine 1 and transferred to the tool holding device 3 according to a predetermined program.

The tool holding device 3 has a chuck 3a that firmly holds the tool passed from the robot hand 4, and this chuck 3a is rotatable within a range of at least 360 degrees and can be rotated in the vertical direction in the figure. It is fixed to a shaft 3d that can reciprocate.

The entire polishing device 5 is mounted on a cross slide table 7 and is movable within the X and Y planes, and its main body 5b is rotatable around a rotation shaft 5c attached thereto. It's summery. That is, the tooth profile carved on the outer periphery of the sector 5d fixed to the rotating shaft 5c meshes with the worm gear 5f attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 5e, and the sector 5d is rotated by a predetermined amount by rotating the motor 5e.
rotates, thereby causing the main body portion 5d of the polishing device 5 to rotate by a predetermined amount. With the above configuration, the telescopic shaft 5 of the main body portion 5b
This allows the grindstone 6 attached to the tip of b' to be placed close to and opposite to the desired position of the blade portion 2d' of the tool 2d taken out from the tool magazine 1 and to be polished.

When the tool 2d is fixed to the chuck 3a of the tool holding device 3, the shaft 5 of the main body 5b
b' is extended, and the grindstone 6 attached to the tip of the shaft 5b' has appropriate strength, and the tool 2d is
Thereafter, the motor 5e rotates by a predetermined amount, and the main barrel 5b rotates by a predetermined amount via the worm gear 5f and the sector 5d. The grindstone 6 attached to the tip of the tool 2d grinds the blade 2d' of the tool 2d.

As a result, the worn blade part 2d' of the tool 2d is polished in a short time, but the polishing is performed by NC.
Since the polishing process is performed while driving the cross slide table 7, the sector 5d, the chuck 3a, etc. minutely at a time using a control device, the surface of the worn blade part 2d' can be evenly polished. This is possible.

In addition to the motor for extending and retracting the shaft 5b', it is also recommended to provide a vibrator in the main body 5b, which generates minute vibrations in the axial direction of the shaft 5b' at a frequency of approximately 100 Hz. .

The tool after the polishing process is removed from the tool holding device 3 and returned to a predetermined location in the tool magazine 1 by the robot hand 4 for reuse.

The series of operations described above are performed according to a program input to a microcomputer that centrally controls the entire machining center.

The polishing process described above is performed when one tool has been used for a certain period of time, or when a wear detection device detects that a certain amount of wear has been reached. Tools that can be processed by the polishing device are not limited to bits, but also drills, boring tools, and various other tools.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, according to the present invention, worn tools can be recycled and used as many times as necessary, and there is no need to prepare many tools of the same type in the tool magazine. It can be said that it is a machining center with very high utility value as it can perform complex machining unattended over a long period of time.

Note that the configuration of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. That is, for example, in this example, a tool removed from the main shaft of a machine tool was temporarily stored in a tool magazine, and then the tool was taken out from the tool magazine and polished, but the tool was not stored in the tool magazine. It is also possible to immediately transfer the tool to the tool holding device 3 and perform the polishing process, or it is of course possible to configure the tool magazine so that the polishing process is performed within the tool magazine. Furthermore, it is also recommended that the blade portion of the tool that has been subjected to the above-mentioned polishing treatment be subjected to discharge coating treatment or plasma irradiation. In addition, it is possible to freely change the design of the tool conveyance means, the position adjustment means for the tool and the polishing device, the polishing method thereof, etc. using publicly known methods, and the present invention covers all of these modified embodiments. It encompasses the following.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of a machining center according to the present invention. 1... Tool magazine, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d
... tool, 3 ... tool holding device, 3a ... chuck, 4 ... robot hand, 5 ... polishing device, 5
b...Main body, 5b'...Shaft, 5d...Sector, 5e...Motor, 5f...Worm gear, 6
...Whetstone, 7...Cross slide table, 8...
...Machine stand.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tool holding device that holds various tools removed from a machine tool at desired positions, a polishing device that grinds the blade of the tool held by the tool holding device, and the machine tool. A machining center comprising a tool carrying device that transfers tools between the tool holding device and the tool magazine. 2. The machining center according to claim 1, wherein the tool holding device includes an adjustment device for changing the orientation and position of the tool. 3. Claims 1 to 2, wherein the polishing device is provided with an adjustment device for changing its processing position.
The machining center described in any one of the items. 4. The machining center according to claim 3, further comprising a control device that performs correlated control of the adjusting device of the tool holding device and the adjusting device of the polishing device.