Metal working – Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for... – Common reciprocating support for spaced tools
Patent
1983-11-09
1987-03-03
Bilinsky, Z. R.
Metal working
Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for...
Common reciprocating support for spaced tools
82 27, 414736, B23Q 3157, B23Q 704
Patent
active
046464220
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a machine tool suitable both for the use of rotary cutting tools, e.g. milling cutters, and the use of stationary cutting tools, e.g. turning tools.
British Pat. No. 1,448,749 shows a lathe which has a headstock spindle for the support of a workpiece, a slide linearly positionable relative to the headstock spindle, an indexable turret supported on the slide, a stationary tool, viz. a turning tool, secured to the turret at one index station thereof, and a rotary cutting tool, viz. a milling cutter, provided at another said station. The headstock spindle is continuously rotatable for performing a turning operation on the workpiece by said turning tool. Further, the headstock spindle is, optionally, rotationally positionable, i.e. it is rotatable about its axis into predetermined angular positions, so that, for milling operations, the workpiece can be presented to the milling cutter at different angles about said axis. Regarding driving of the milling cutter, it is known practice in machines such as the above, to provide the cutter on a mounting releasably securable to the turret and including a continuously rotatable spindle having the cutter secured to one end thereof and provided at the other end with a driven gear meshing with a driving gear provided on the turret. Different such mountings have to be provided for milling operations requiring different angles between the axis of the headstock spindle and that of the cutter spindle. Also mountings different from those of the milling cutters have to be provided for those of any said turning tools.
It is among the objects of this invention to avoid the need for different said mountings and thereby reduce the cost of tooling and improve the versatility of the machine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
According to this invention there is provided a method of operating a machine tool; the machine tool comprising two rotatable and relatively positionable spindles wherein a rotary cutting tool is securable to one of the spindles, a workpiece is securable to the other spindle, and at least said one spindle is rotatable for performing a cutting operation; the method comprising locking one of the spindles against rotation, securing a stationary cutting tool to the locked spindle, securing a workpiece to the remaining spindle, and rotating said remaining spindle for performing the cutting operation. The locking of one of the spindles makes it possible to change from an operation with the rotary cutting tool to an operation with the stationary cutting tool without the need for a turret. This, in turn, facilitates the relative positioning of the spindles to different angles between the spindle axes and in this way avoids the need for different mountings for different such angles. Also, the tool capacity of the machine is not limited to the capacity of a turret mounted on a slide.
According to a more specific aspect of the invention there is provided a method of operating a machine tool; in which machine tool one of said spindles is continuously rotatable the other spindle is rotationally positionable, said rotary cutting tool is securable to the continuously rotatable spindle and said workpiece is securable to the rotationally positionable spindle; the method comprising locking the rotationally positionable spindle against rotation and securing the workpiece to the continuously rotating spindle for performing the cutting operation against the stationary cutting tool secured to the locked spindle. In this method, the use of the rotary cutting tool requires that this tool is secured to the continuously rotatable spindle and the workpiece is secured to the rotationally positionable spindle, while the use of the stationary cutting tool requires that the latter tool is secured to the lockable and rotationally positionable spindle and the workpiece is secured to the continuously rotatable spindle. This has the advantage that the two spindles can be designed for their respective functions, viz. continuous rotation and
REFERENCES:
patent: 3477121 (1969-11-01), Martin
patent: 4065988 (1978-01-01), Lohneis et al.
patent: 4404727 (1983-09-01), Zankl
Bilinsky Z. R.
Renishaw plc
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