Abrading – Frame or mount – Rotary tool supporter
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-25
2001-06-26
Banks, Derris H. (Department: 3723)
Abrading
Frame or mount
Rotary tool supporter
C451S366000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250999
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a lapping machine comprising a revolving turret carrying at least several lapping spindles that can be bought selectively into the machining position so that the spindles can machine, in turn, one and the same cylindrical internal surface of a component.
Patent application FR-A-2 654 969 discloses a bore-lapping machine comprising at least one expansion lap, at least two progressive laps and means for bringing each workpiece in turn to the expansion lap and to each of the progressive laps.
For greater detail regarding expansion lapping, on the one hand, and progressive lapping, on the other hand, reference is specifically made to the above patent application.
According to the aforementioned application, the machine which combines the two types of lap comprises two parallel expansion lapping lines each of which comprises an expansion lap, a progressive lapping line comprising several progressive laps and means for bringing the workpieces from each of the two expansion lapping lines to the progressive lapping line. This machine, which is designed for mass-production, is bulky and expensive.
From another source, a lapping machine is known that comprises a revolving head with a turret carrying only progressive laps, in this instance twelve of these. This machine is also bulky and expensive. Furthermore, a complete lapping operation on one and the same workpiece using this machine with a revolving head is lengthy because of the large number of successive lapping passes that this machine needs to make using its many laps.
The object of the present invention is to provide a general purpose lapping machine with a simple structure, a relatively small bulk and a relatively low cost, which allows a complete lapping operation that may involve the removal of a significant amount of material with high precision, with a monitoring facility, using a small number of machining passes, the complete lapping operation taking a short time.
The lapping machine of the invention comprises a revolving head with a turret carrying several lapping spindles that can be bought selectively into the machining position. The laps borne by the turret comprise spindles of at least two different types, preferably at least one expansion lap and several progressive laps.
The combination of at least one expansion lap and several progressive laps on one and the same turret makes it possible to derive maximum benefit from the advantages of each of the two types of lap, and the small number of laps makes it possible to use a machine of the usual structure with a revolving head of the type which is conventional in the field of machine tools. It is thus possible to make maximum use of existing technology in the field of laps, on the one hand, and in the field of machines with revolving heads with a small number of spindles, on the other hand.
As is well known in itself, an expansion lap requires supplies (electrical and/or fluidic) for expansion control and/or measurement. The invention can make provision for the or each expansion lap to carry, on its non-rotating part, a stationary connector part that can be automatically coupled to a moving connector part when the expansion lap is in the machining position.
Thus it is only when the expansion lap is in the machining position that the supplies are connected via the connector.
In cases where the oscillating movement required for lapping between the lap and the component to be lapped is applied to the revolving head, the moving part of the connector is mounted on a part of the machine that takes part in the oscillating movement.
In cases where, on the other hand, the oscillating movement is applied to the support of the component to be lapped, the moving part of the connector can be mounted on a stationary part of the machine.
It is possible, in the context of the invention, to equip the or each expansion lap with a head for measuring diameter.
To allow the lapping to be monitored, the turret of the revolving head may carry at least one spindle which bears a head for measuring diameter in addition to the laps.
The advantage of such devices for measuring diameter, which are mounted on the turret like the laps, lies in the fact that, for measuring, they perform the same movement as the laps perform for machining, along the same axis, and this gives high measurement accuracy.
However, prior art expansion laps including an integral expansion control are relative bulky and heavy, causing a significant imbalance in a revolving turret. To remedy this drawback, in one particular preferred embodiment of the invention, it is proposed to equip the machine with an expansion control part for the expansion lap or laps mounted not on the turret of the revolving head but at a fixed position on the machine. This single expansion control part comprises an expansion control rod penetrating into the revolving head and provided with coupling means at the end inside the head. The or each expansion lap of the turret in this case comprises a lap mount fixed to the turret of the revolving head and including a transmission rod mobile in axial translation having a first end inside the revolving head and carrying coupling means and a second end outside the revolving head for connection to the expansion rod (dagger) of the expansion lap. The two coupling means provided, one on the expansion control rod that does not participate in the rotation of the turret and the other on the or each lap mount fixed to the turret, are designed to be coupled automatically when the lap mount is in the machining position.
This transmission of the expansion control movement via the revolving head is possible on a revolving head such as that sold by PIBOMULTI, Le Locle, Switzerland, for example. In this prior art revolving head, both the rotation movement of the turret and the rotation movement of the laps carried by the turret are produced by a single drive system, for example an electric motor mounted in a fixed position on the machine equipped with the revolving head. A transmission spindle mounted to rotate in the turret support, mobile in axial translation between two positions and driven by the drive system at the end outside the head carries teeth and a positive clutch system inside the head. In one axial position of the lap the teeth engage with teeth on the turret to rotate the latter and in the other axial position the positive clutch system meshes with a complementary positive clutch system provided on each of the laps carried by the turret. On the machine in accordance with the invention the expansion control rod can be mounted inside the transmission lap of the revolving head, being mobile in axial translation relative to the lap, so it is not affected by the axial translation movement of said lap and can selectively rotate the turret and the laps carried by the turret.
The coupling means on the expansion control rod and on the transmission rod preferably comprise a female part on one of the rods in the form of a yoke and a male part on the other rod in the form of a head engaging in the female part when the mount carrying the expansion lap moves to the machining position, said two parts being shaped so that they can, in this position, transmit traction and thrust movements of the expansion control part fixed to the expansion rod (dagger) of the expansion lap.
The male part in the form of a head is preferably in the form of a spherical head to simplify its engagement in the female part in the form of a yoke.
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patent: 2
Bonachera Richard
Pineau Jean Claude
Banks Derris H.
Smith Gambrell & Russell
SPMS Honimatic
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