Gear cutting – milling – or planing – Milling – Process
Patent
1995-10-05
1997-07-15
Howell, Daniel W.
Gear cutting, milling, or planing
Milling
Process
409189, 409199, B23C 306
Patent
active
056477058
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a crankshaft miller and method of use thereof, for working a crankshaft of an engine and so forth.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, in a crankshaft miller for working a crankshaft, a work rest is provided so that a work (crankshaft) can be supported without causing displacement during working.
The work rest is normally secured on a saddle of a cutter unit supported on a bed of the crankshaft miller and a distance between the work rest and the cutter in a longitudinal direction of the bed cannot be adjusted. Therefore, when there are a plurality of kinds of works (or workpieces), portions of the works to be supported become different. Therefore, in recent years, the work rest has been provided movably in an axial direction (longitudinal direction of the bed), independently of the cutter unit and is moved by its own drive means provided within the bed.
However, the crankshaft miller which is designed to move the work rest by the own drive means, such as the above-mentioned conventional crankshaft miller, is difficult to design and produce so as to install the drive means, since the installation space for the drive means is originally quite small. In addition, since the drive means is frequently provided within the bed, difficulty may encountered in discharging chip generated during working.
The present invention improves the foregoing drawbacks. Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a crankshaft miller and method of use thereof which can facilitate design and production thereof and smoothly discharge chips.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned objects, according to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a crankshaft miller, including a pair of work heads for supporting both ends of a work (or workpieces), a cutter unit for processing the work and a work rest for supporting the work during processing.
The cutter unit and the work rest are provided separately, but the cutter units and the work rest are coupled by a separable link mechanism for moving the work rest together with the cutter unit as necessary.
With the construction as set forth above, by coupling the cutter unit and the work rest by means of the link mechanism provided therebetween, indexing of the work rest (positioning in the longitudinal direction of the bed) can be performed by utilizing the drive motor of the cutter unit. Therefore, the independent drive means for moving the work rest as required in the prior art, becomes unnecessary.
Accordingly, a space to provide the drive means becomes unnecessary thereby facilitating design and production. Also, since the drive means is not present within the bed, the discharging of chips can be done smoothly.
Preferably, the link mechanism is provided between a saddle of the work rest and a saddle of the cutter unit.
On the other hand, the link mechanism may include engaging claws provided on the saddle of the work rest, a drive cylinder for driving the engaging craws provided on the saddle of the work rest, and an engaging member provided on a saddle of the cutter unit and engageable with the engaging claws.
Also, a rotary shaft extending perpendicularly to the moving direction of the saddle may be rotatably supported on the saddle of the work rest, the engaging claws may be fixed at two portions of the rotary shaft, and the rotary shaft may be connected with the drive cylinder via a lever fixed on one end thereof so that the engaging claws may be engaged to and released from the engaging member by rotating the rotary shaft by means of the drive cylinder.
On the other hand, according to another aspect of the invention, a method of use of a crankshaft miller comprises the steps of: work, a cutter unit for processing the work and a work rest for supporting the work during processing; the work rest being coupled by a separable link mechanism so that the work rest can be moved together with the cutter unit as necessary, wherein the work rest, indexing of the cutter unit being is by separating the
REFERENCES:
patent: 4171654 (1979-10-01), Kreucher
patent: 4180359 (1979-12-01), Khmid
patent: 4309134 (1982-01-01), Khmid
Howell Daniel W.
Kabushiki Kaisha Komatsu Seisakusho
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