Tool changing – With means to condition or adjust tool or tool support
Patent
1993-12-17
1994-12-27
Briggs, William
Tool changing
With means to condition or adjust tool or tool support
21912174, 21912178, 483 16, 483 19, B23Q 3157, B23K 2600
Patent
active
053760611
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRTIPTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a compound machine tool that can alternately carry out a machining process and a laser beam process. More particularly, the present invention relates to a compound machine tool that comprises a fixed machine block; a table arranged movably along first and second axes being orthogonal to each other on the fixed machine block; a spindle arranged movably along a third axis being orthogonal to both of the first and second axes on the fixed machine block, the spindle including a straight through passage with a certain diameter extending along the third axis inside the spindle, and a tool supporting section disposed opposite to the table so as to detachably support a tool holder holding a cutting tool at one end of the straight through passage; a laser beam path means for directing a laser beam along the third axis from a rear end of the spindle into the straight through passage; a laser beam processing arbor detachably mounted on the tool supporting section of the spindle and having inside the arbor a lens for condensing and discharging the laser beam directed by the laser beam path means; and a tool changing means for automatically mounting and removing the tool holder and the laser beam processing arbor to the tool supporting section of the spindle so as to change the holder and the arbor.
2. Background Art
A laser beam processing unit which carries out cutting, welding or heat treating processes on materials, by utilizing energy of high power laser beam produced from, e.g., a CO.sub.2 gas, has recently been put to practical use. In the laser beam processing unit, the energy for processing can be adjusted merely by suitably controlling the laser beam power, so that various processes, such as cutting, welding or heat treating, can be carried out by a single unit. However, the laser beam processing unit can generally act with a laser beam only at a point near to the focus point, and is expensive regarding power requirements, thus the laser beam processing unit is unsuitable for cutting thick plates or complex three-dimensional workpieces. Therefore, it has been difficult to sequentially carry out a cutting process and a surface treating process such as heat treating on such three-dimensional workpieces by a single laser beam processing unit. When the sequential processes including the surface treating process by a laser beam processing unit would be carried out on three-dimensional workpieces, it has been necessary to first cut the workpieces by a separate machine tool. In this respect, to save the trouble of transporting the workpieces from the machine tool to the laser beam processing unit, to facilitate the programming of working processes, and to reducing the equipment scale, attempts have been made to incorporate a machine tool and a laser beam processing unit into a single compound machine.
The compound machine tool capable of a laser beam processing, of the type mentioned at the beginning of this document, is disclosed, e.g., in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP92/00314. According to this compound machine tool, a three-dimensional machining process by a cutting tool and a two-dimensional surface treating process by a laser beam can be alternately and subsequently carried out by a single machine, and thus it is possible to reduce the work time and the equipment scale.
However, in the above-mentioned compound machine tool, the laser beam is directed along a Z-axis in a spindle and a laser beam processing arbor, so as to be condensed by a lens and discharged onto a workpiece disposed on a table, therefore, from the viewpoint of the processing energy mentioned above, a laser beam surface treating process can be carried out only on a flat surface crossing the right angle to the discharging direction of the laser beam, i.e., to the Z-axis. Accordingly, to subsequently carry out the laser beam process, such as a surface treating, on variable inclined surfaces of the workpiece which is machined to a complex three-dimensional shape by a c
REFERENCES:
patent: 4794222 (1988-12-01), Funayama et al.
patent: 4855565 (1989-08-01), Thomas et al.
patent: 4951376 (1990-08-01), Grund
Briggs William
Fanuc Ltd.
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