Abrading – Accessory – Guard or housing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-25
2004-06-15
Rachuba, M. (Department: 3724)
Abrading
Accessory
Guard or housing
C451S455000, C451S457000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06749495
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine tool with a working area closed by walls and a roof covering, in which working area a device for receiving a work piece and a headstock with a main spindle are arranged, into which main spindle tools for machining the work piece can be clamped, whereby the device and the headstock are movable relatively to each other, and whereby in a front wall an opening to be closed by a door leads into the working area.
2. Related Prior Art
Such machine tools are known from the prior art.
In known machine tools, a housing is provided, which completely surrounds the working area and the headstock, the housing being further divided by inner walls, so that the working area is closed towards the guide rails and other equipments of the machine tool. This closed working area ensures that chips arising from machining the work pieces and used coolant do not result in contamination of the ambient and e.g. of the guideways, which would be disadvantageous for obvious reasons. In the working area, a device for receiving the work pieces to be machined is provided, whereby, further, the headstock projects, at least with its spindle head carrying the main spindle, into the working area, so that the tools clamped in the main spindle can be used for machining the work piece.
For the exchange of the work piece, the door provided in the front wall of the housing is opened, whereupon the work piece is first of all sprayed off/rinsed off by means of compressed air or a cleaning liquid, before it is then taken off. After that, the device is cleaned by means of compressed air or cleaning liquid, before a new work piece is clamped into the device, the door is closed and the machining is continued.
In such machine tools, it is further known to divide the working area into a loading side and a machining side, and to provide a partition wall between the loading side and the machining side in such a way that, during the machining of a work piece on one side, a readily machineed work piece can be exchanged against a new work piece to be machineed on the other side. The loading side and the machining side can be, in this procedure, exchanged in the rhythm of the work piece machining.
It is known for machine tools with closed working area to configure the rear wall of the working area by a bellow, which is fixed with its one end at a side wall of the housing and with its other end at the headstock. In this way, the bellow is shortened or lengthened in x-direction. Usually, on both sides of the headstock, there are two bellows, which, correspondingly, lengthen and/or shorten in opposite direction, if the headstock is moved in x-direction.
It is also known to configure the roof covering by such bellows, which are arranged between the respective side wall and the assigned side of the headstock. It is further known to arrange a bellow extending in y-direction between the face of the headstock and the front wall of the housing, whereby this bellow is lengthened or shortened in y-direction, if the headstock is moved.
All these machine tools have the disadvantage that only devices and work pieces with certain dimensions can be loaded and discharged through the opening provided in the front wall, a crane loading of very bulky and/or very heavy work pieces and/or devices is only possible by using a U-shaped fork laterally engaging through the opening into the working area. Such a loading is, however, disadvantageous both of static reasons and of handling reasons.
To remedy this problem, it is already known for fully enclosed machine tools to extend the door in the front side of the housing to the top and to extend the door to the rear over the roof area, so that a door is created, which is angle-shaped in the cross section, and, when being moved, releases a loading opening, which releases the working area both to the front and to the top. For such a door with a “roof section”, consequently, also a crane loading from the top is possible.
Such machine tools have the disadvantage, however, that the door is very heavy and very large, so that it is large-scale in design, and the guidings have to be configured correspondingly. This results not only in very expensive and awkward designs, the whole construction height of the machine tool is, moreover, very large, as the door has to extend up to over the height of the headstock. A further disadvantage in such machine tools is that such a large door is only with high effort configurable in such a way that it provides, in a closed state, for a safe sealing of the working area to the outside.
A further disadvantage in such machine tools is to be seen in the fact that heat accumulation arises in the working area. The heat arising from the operation of the motors, e.g. for the moving of the headstock or the drive of the main spindle, heats up the working area and, thus, influences negatively the thermal stability of the machine tool.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to allow a simple loading from the top of the known machine tool in a design constructively as simple as possible, by reducing the disadvantages from the prior art.
In the machine tool mentioned at the outset, this object is essentially achieved, according to the invention, in that at least a part of the roof covering is movable between two positions in such a way that it closes the working area to the top in a first position, and in a second position opens the working area to the top for loading.
In this way, it is now possible, additionally to the opening lockable by the door, to alternatively release a large loading opening, which is accessible from the top and through which a crane loading of even largest and heaviest parts is possible. The inventors of the present invention have namely recognized that not an enlargement of the door provided in the front section and its extending into the roof section results in a better loading capacity, but, rather, a roof covering to be opened independent of the door can be reached with constructively simple measures. The roof covering can, in this procedure, be upward folded, be moved to the front or to the rear and/or to the side, or it may be rolled up, so that, to the top, a loading opening arises, which can be considerably larger than the opening lockable by the door in the front wall. In other words, even if the machine tool is configured for machining very bulky and/or heavy work pieces, there is not an extremely large door necessary, the accessibility is, rather, made possible by the removable part of the roof covering.
It is then preferred if the roof covering comprises at least one bellow, which is movable both with and separated from the headstock.
In this measure, it is advantageous that the opening and the locking of the roof covering is performed in a constructively simple way, namely by moving a bellow. Another object is in this design that the machine tool in its entirety can be constructed with a lower height, since the bellow forming the roof covering can be fastened laterally at the headstock or near to same in such a way that it protrudes partly to the top over the bellow, a housing reaching over the headstock is not necessary.
It is further preferred in this connection if a console is provided, which is movable to-and-fro between the headstock and a first side wall, and that the at least one bellow of the roof covering extends between the console and the headstock, wherein preferably on both sides of the headstock, a console with corresponding bellow as roof covering is provided.
This measure is in particular constructively advantageous, by a simple moving of the console, the working area is opened to the top on the corresponding side of the headstock. If two such consoles exist, the machining side and the loading side can be loaded alternately.
It is here generally preferred if the roof covering comprises a further bellow, which extends between the headstock and the front wall, and which is movable both with and separa
Blazek Pavel
Grund Peter
Niederberger Walter
Schmid Siegfried
Rachuba M.
Stama Maschinenfabrik GmbH
Weingarten Schurgin, Gagnebin & Lebovici LLP
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